Allen & Unwin The Body in the Ice book Fiction English Paperback 368 pages

A killer is at large and Reverend Hardcastle and Mrs Chaytor are on the case - but with a family feud raging and a vast inheritance at stake, it's going to be a challenge. Will they be able to solve the crime and save the villagers of St Mary from the murderer in their midst?

Christmas Day, Kent, 1796When an unidentifiable body is discovered in the ice-covered pond of the empty manor house, it soon becomes clear that foul play was involved and the villagers of St Mary fear a murderer amongst them.Local law enforcement is distracted by the ongoing smuggling runs between Dover and Calais, and the victim's servant status doesn't warrant great attention so it falls to the Reverend Hardcastle in his new appointment as justice of the peace to investigate. But with the identity of the victim unknown, no murder weapon and no motive, this seems like an impossible mission. Employing the help of his trusted friend, Amelia Chaytor, Hardcastle begins the process - and soon discovers there's more to the mystery than he first thought. The Body in the Ice, with its unique cast of characters, captivating amateur sleuths and a generations-long family feud at its heart, is a twisting tale that vividly brings to life eighteenth-century Kent and draws readers into its pages.

A.J. MacKenzie is the pseudonym of Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, a collaborative Anglo-Canadian husband-and-wife duo. Between them they have written more than twenty non-fiction and academic titles, with specialisms including management, medieval economic history and medieval warfare. The Body on the Doorstep (2016) was their first novel.