Agatha Raisin's neighbouring village of Ancombe is usually the epitome of quiet rural charm, but the arrival of a new mineral-water company - which intends to tap into the village spring - sends tempers flaring and divides the parish council into two stubborn camps. When Agatha, who just happens to be handling the PR for the water company, finds the council chairman murdered at the basin of the spring, tongues start wagging. Could one of the council...

Nuneaton, 1875. Lily Moon, the local miner's daughter, spends her days as a parlour maid for Lord and Lady Bellingham at Oakley Manor, on the outskirts of Nuneaton. She's always been happy with her lot in life, and never expected more. But one day, everything changes when she temporarily becomes lady's maid to the Bellingham's daughter, Arabella, who is pregnant with the illegitimate child of her lover, and about to be unhappily married off to a man...

There were four courtyards and a conglomeration of passages. Situated at one end of each of these courtyards was a row of toilets, and we watched as queues formed outside each of them. We were soon to become accustomed to this distressing necessity. It would be almost impossible to describe every aspect of this dirty lane, but this much can be said - even in those days of housing shortages and woeful sanitary facilities, the conditions that prevailed...