''Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie'' The Sunday Times

Named by the CWAs as one of ''The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time'', The Killings at Badger''s Drift is the first spectacular novel in the Midsomer Murders series by Caroline Graham, the novel that inspired the ITV hit drama, now featuring an exclusive foreword by John Nettles who played best-loved TV detective and star of Midsomer Murders, DCI Tom Barnaby.

If you love Agatha Christie, M C Beaton and James Runcie''s The Grantchester Mysteries, you won''t be able to get enough of the Midsomer Murders mysteries.

The village of Badger''s Drift is the essence of tranquillity. But when resident and well-loved spinster Miss Simpson takes a stroll in the nearby woods, she stumbles across something she was never meant to see, and there''s only one way to keep her quiet.

Miss Simpson''s death is not suspicious, say the villagers. But Miss Lucy Bellringer refuses to rest: her friend has been murdered. She is sure of it.

She calls on Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby to investigate, and it isn''t long until the previously unseen seamy side of Badger''s Drift is brought to light.

But as old rivalries, past loves and new scandals surface, the next murder is not far away.

Praise for Caroline Graham''s novels:

''One to savour'' Val McDermid

''A mystery of which Agatha Christie would have been proud. . . A beautifully written crime novel'' The Times

''Tension builds, bitchery flares, resentment seethes . . . lots of atmosphere'' Mail on Sunday
''A witty, well-plotted, absolute joy of a book'' Yorkshire Post

''Swift, tense and highly alarming'' TLS

''Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing'' Independent

''Read her and you''ll be astonished . . . very sexy, very hip and very funny'' Scotsman