Grace Fox poisoned her husband in January, 1953. Or did she? Though she was tried for murder and subsequently hanged, Grace remained a silent and enigmatic figure to the very end.

When Chris Lowe returns to his native Yorkshire to live in the isolated Kilnsgate House nearly sixty years later, in the wake of his wife’s untimely death, he wants only to be left alone to compose his piano sonata after years of soul-destroying, though lucrative, work writing film scores. Soon, however, as he learns the troubled history of Kilnsgate, he becomes fascinated by Grace’s story. The more he discovers about her life and her work as a Queen Alexandra’s nurse during the war, the more certain he becomes that she couldn’t have murdered her husband.

As Chris searches for other explanations of what might have happened on that snow-bound January night, through rumours of half-glimpsed figures, mysterious strangers and a missing letter, his quest to prove Grace’s innocence becomes entangled with his own need to sift through the ruins and loose ends of his own life in search of some kind of meaning and order, and his new relationship with local estate agent Heather Barlow.

Alternating between a contemporary account of Grace’s trial, her wartime journals of Dunkirk, Singapore and Normandy, and Chris’s quest for the truth, Before the Poison is a suspenseful exploration of guilt, self-sacrifice and redemption, moving inexorably towards a revelation that, when it is uncovered, will prove shattering and surprising both to Chris and to the reader.

Read an excerpt of the book here.

Peter is delighted that all readers – those who read on paper, and those with visual deficiencies – enjoy his books, and he was particularly happy to see how popular his books are with the RNIB.

We still have no news regarding foreign sales, either for broadcast or on DVD. But as soon as we hear something, you’ll read about it here.

Stephen Tompkinson plays DCI Banks, Andrea Lowe is DS Annie Cabbot, Lorraine Burroughs is DS Winsome Jackman, Jack Deam is DC Ken Blackstone, Colin Tierney is Chief Supt. Gerry Rydell and Tom Shaw is DC Kevin Templeton. Guest stars include Charlotte Riley, Monica Dolan, John Bowe, Ian Bartholomew, Sian Breckin, Tamzin Merchant, Barry Sloane and Michael Maloney.

The series was shot in Yorkshire, with Otley standing in very nicely for Eastvale, and Banks’s cottage near West End is a sight to behold. Robert Murphy adapted three of the four stories, and Laurence Davey adapted Friend of the Devil. More details are available online at imdb.com.

At the moment, I am still waiting to hear about overseas sales and the commissioning of a second series. Keep checking this website for details, and I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

The event will take place from 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start, with tickets priced at £20 which includes a copy of the book, welcome drinks and canapés. To book a place please visit the Literati Book Club website, email mailto:literati@marriotthotels.com or call +44 (0) 207 499 6363.

In Playing with Fire, two bodies are found after a fire on some narrow boats and Banks and DS Annie Cabbot find themselves on the trail of an arsonist who has killed two people.

In Friend of the Devil, a young student is attacked in the middle of the city and in another part of Yorkshire a woman has her throat cut, but the two different murders have disturbing similarities.

Cold is the Grave is a case terrifyingly close to home as Banks is asked by his boss, Superintendant Gerry Rydell, to find his missing teenage daughter…

ITV’s web site has more about the series, with videos and interviews with cast members.