Stories made with care, read by heart.
Penwright Press is an independent publisher of page-turning fiction, in Kindle and paperback. Our first series, the Little Wending Witch Mysteries by Hattie Ambrose, opens now.
The Little Wending Witch Mysteries
See Book One →-
No. 1What the Ivy Heard
Ebook US$3.99 · Paperback US$11.99 - Coming NextThe Yew RemembersNo. 2
The Yew Remembers
September · Harvest Festival - In the WorksThe Holly and the LieNo. 3
The Holly and the Lie
December · Wreath-Making - In the WorksA Bad SeedNo. 4
A Bad Seed
March · Seed Swap - In the WorksRosemary for RemembranceNo. 5
Rosemary for Remembrance
May · Village Fete - In the WorksThe Oak Keeps CounselNo. 6
The Oak Keeps Counsel
Midsummer · One Year On
What the Ivy Heard
The most hated man in the village is dead in the vicarage greenhouse.
Bea Thorne came to Little Wending to run her late aunt's herb shop and be left alone. On her ninth day, Gerald Pike turns up dead among his prize tomatoes, and the police find foxglove in his tea. Every clue points to Bea's sister-in-law, Marian.
But Bea has a family secret. When she touches a living plant, she can hear the last words spoken beside it. Only once. And never who said them.
Now Bea has thirteen words, a tortoiseshell cat with opinions, a skeptical detective sergeant, and four days until the flower show to work out what they mean.
- FormatsKindle ebook (free with Kindle Unlimited) and paperback
- PriceEbook US$3.99 / £2.99 · Paperback US$11.99 / £8.99
- Length198 pages · 45,000 words
- ContentClean: no swearing, no gore, no love triangles
- SettingAn English village in June. American spelling.
What the Ivy Heard
You'll vote for it on Thursday, or I'll tell them about the money.
Thirteen words, spoken in a greenhouse the night Gerald Pike died. No voice, no tone, no name. Bea has four days to work out who they were said to.
- Living Plants OnlyA cut sprig holds nothing. It must be alive and rooted.
- Once, and GoneThe last words said within arm's reach. Touch it again and there's silence.
- Words, Never VoicesNo accent, no way to tell a man from a woman.
- It Costs HerCold hands to the wrist and a headache like a drawing pin.
Chapter One: The Bell Complains
Gerald Pike came into the shop at five past nine with a clipboard and no intention of buying anything.
The bell over the door had a crack in it, so it didn't ring so much as complain. Bea had been in Little Wending for nine days, and in that time she had learned three things. The bell complained. The cat ate at six, not ten past, and would let the whole street know if breakfast was late. And nobody in the village bought anything on a first visit, because they hadn't come to shop; they had come to look at her.
Gerald Pike didn't look at her. He looked at the shelves.
"Winifred never could keep a straight line," he said.
He was a tall man in a mustard bow tie, with the high color of someone who enjoyed his lunches, and he carried a tartan Thermos under one arm like a rolled newspaper. He set it on her counter and laid the clipboard beside it, squared to the edge, as if he were measuring the place for carpet.
"Good morning," Bea said. "Can I help you with something?"
"Gerald Pike, chair of the parish council." He held out a hand, and it was damp, the way some men's hands always were. "You'll be the niece."
"I'll be the niece."
"American." He made it sound like a diagnosis.
* * *
By the next morning, Gerald Pike will be dead.
Hattie Ambrose
Hattie Ambrose writes cozy mysteries set in English villages, where the gardens know more than they let on. In her books the murders happen off the page, the cat has the last word, and every clue is there for the reader to find.
Penwright Press
A wright is a maker, like a wheelwright or a shipwright. Penwright is a small independent press that treats stories the same way: built with care, finished properly, and made to be enjoyed. We publish in series, so when you find a world you love, there is more of it waiting.
Our books are sold through Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions, and many are free to read with Kindle Unlimited.