The Deadly Flying Club (Abigail Summers Cozy Mysteries Book 9)

The Deadly Flying Club

At the Chiltern Valley Flying Club, a quiet evening ends in murder when Trevor Patterson is found bludgeoned in the hangar. Trevor was an avid radio ham, and Abigail Summers—dressmaker in life, sleuth in death—can’t help wondering if he overheard something he shouldn’t have. When the club’s owner is discovered dead the very next day, suspicion spreads across the airfield.

With the help of psychic medium Hayley and her police constable husband, Tom, Abigail begins to unravel a mystery that stretches far beyond the runway. Meanwhile, anonymous love letters are being delivered to Becklesfield and neighbouring villages. Not long after each note arrives, someone dies. Are the killings linked to a lonely hearts column in the Chiltern Weekly, or to a singles club at The Spotted Bull? As Abigail and her spectral allies follow the trail, Hayley’s visions point to a disturbed mind shaped by tragedy. With time running out, they must identify the ‘Sealed With A Kill’ murderer before another letter becomes a death sentence.

Blending village intrigue, humour and the gentle touch of the paranormal, The Deadly Flying Club is the ninth instalment in Ann Parker’s Abigail Summers Cozy Mysteries—a series perfect for readers who enjoy traditional British crime with a ghostly twist.

Discover the secrets hidden at the flying club and join Abigail Summers for another cleverly crafted cozy mystery.

Excerpt from the book

Trevor Patterson was usually the last to leave the airfield. He had just said goodbye to Marcie Drew as she closed up the bar for the day, and Arthur McBride was still in the office, but he could lock that up himself. After checking there was no one left in the visitor centre, he walked over to the hangar. He saw that the last Cessna had landed for the day, so he could get back home. He checked that all was well with the pilot, and then Trevor went into the large hangar.

It was always rather creepy in there on his own, as everything echoed, especially on the dark nights; even though it was only five o’clock. But he preferred to close early as it gave him time for his first love - his radios. Josh, the mechanic, had already closed the large sliding doors at the front, and he only needed to check if it was empty and lock the one at the back and turn off the lights.

Most of the other staff thought the airfield was haunted by the young men who had been killed when it was used by the pilots during the Second World War. Squadron Leader Peter Carmichael was one of the ghosts said to haunt the hangar and the main building.

Trevor hadn’t seen anything himself, although he had often heard footsteps running. The others put this down to the pilots scrambling to their Hurricane fighters to intercept a bombing raid. But he preferred to think it was the old metal of the hangar moving with the change of temperature.

He turned around when he heard footsteps and rolled his eyes. “Ghosts. No such thing,” he told himself.

Trevor went towards the exit and stopped when he saw a shadow in front of him. He didn’t feel so brave when he remembered that Josh always said he’d seen a shadow man lurking in corners.

The shadow moved, and that’s when Trevor relaxed. It was just someone behind him, probably a visitor who had nearly got locked in.

As Trevor turned, he said, “I thought you were a ghost for a minute…”

But it definitely wasn’t a ghost that raised its arm and brought the wrench down three times on Trevor’s head, and then twice for luck.

Police Constable Tom Bennett thought his wife Hayley was going to love this case. Even he had heard the stories about the haunted airfield. In fact, it had once been featured on a television programme about the most haunted places in England. Although he’d bet it wasn’t nearly as haunted as his own house in the small village of Becklesfield. Thanks to his wife being a psychic medium, there were any number of ghosts going in and out at all hours of the day. Luckily he couldn’t see or hear them.