Anthony Aberford talks to Paul Burke about his new cost crime novel The Conservatory, Aunt Lily, ancient myth, homeopathy, Malta, Yorkshire and owning a brewery.

The Conservatory: Some secrets are best left buried; others are better never planted!

In a restored Victorian conservatory, four grieving women from the local wellness centre discover that their friend's mysterious death, amongst her toxic plants, was not an accident.

When eccentric homoeopath Aunt Lily arrives on her tricycle, she seems just the person to help uncover answers. But who is she really, and why is she there?

A sixteenth-century journal hidden in the conservatory holds dark secrets that could change everything. And an enigmatic stranger will stop at nothing to find it - making false promises and real threats.

Can the friends resist his temptations and unlock the book's hidden secrets in time? Do they have the strength to make an impossible choice before it is too late?

Anthony Aberford, is a businessman and writer with a strong bond to Yorkshire and Malta. His Detective Zammit series set on the island of Malta was published under the name AJ Aberford (also published by Hobeck Books). The Conservatory is set in Yorkshire and is a cross genre cosy/supernatural/murder mystery. The opener for a new series.

Paul Burke is the editor of Aspects of Crime, a CWA Dagger judge and his first book is Spies on Screen: From Silent to Streaming will be published in September.

Paul Burke is the editor of Aspects of Crime.
Spies on Screen: From Silent to Streaming - Sept '26

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