Books by Jo A. Hiestand

by Jo A. Hiestand
|
8 books
I love a good mystery. I love it even more if the characters in the story know each other and live in the same village or town. This leads to personal connections and emotions caused by those connections. It also leads to entwined backstories and motives for anger or hatred that boils over into murder. This, of course, is the backbone of the closed circle mystery—a type of mystery that excludes government agents or foreign entities who might be paid to knock off someone. Strangers. That’s too impersonal for me. I like the intricacy of people hiding behind masks and veiling their feelings or plans so the reader can discover them, rather like peeling the layers of an onion. This makes detection more fun. I tend to write these types of stories, so each of the books I’ve chosen for my own Closed Circle Mystery list fits this definition. These are eight favorites of the nearly two dozen novels I’ve penned in my McLaren Mystery series. Set in Derbyshire, England, Michael McLaren is a former police detective who now investigates cold cases on his own. I hope you will find some new favorites in my list. Thank you if you do!
Read more... Read less...

Black Moon

Jo A Hiestand, 2019
I’ve belonged to writers’ groups, the types that meet monthly to discuss works-in-progress or to give members help with a tricky scene. I wasn’t a good fit. Unfortunately, once in a while you join one that has an undercurrent of competition and feigned friendliness. I can’t stand that sort of thing, but what a great basis for a mystery book! A closed group of people in a secluded place, with animosity running rampant. In Black Moon, during a mystery writers’ retreat on England’s Stanton Moor, one of the group is killed. The Moor is an isolated spot: moody and mysterious and limiting the number of suspects. Perfect for murder. Everyone hates the group leader, so anyone can be the killer. Hey, it could happen!

Related By Murder

A McLaren Mystery (The McLaren Mysteries)
Jo A. Hiestand, 2021
From the moment ex-police detective Michael McLaren arrives at his friend’s house in Cumbria, he’s plunged into a nightmare of a case. Two men, hanged a year apart, each killed on a Good Friday. A barrister. A solicitor. Related careers. Related by murder. They moved in the closed circle of court trials and clients and judges. And felons. They also moved in the limited circle of village residents. Two small communities that might have merged for an instant to produce a murderer. But who is it?

Overdue

(The McLaren Mysteries)
Jo A Hiestand, 2023
A spate of three murders in as many months has Derbyshire’s local police and populace in near panic. And there will most likely be a fourth killing in two weeks unless something happens to stop the cycle. Each of the three crime scenes is the same, yet different: the same types of things but not the same specific things left with each body. The victims seem unconnected by occupation, age, hobby, schooling, employment, and place of residence. But something must link them if they are selected victims. This is a larger closed circle of victims, unknown to each other, but there is some unknown element that bonds them, that encloses them, and makes them targets. McLaren just has to figure it out before time runs out!

Haunted Water

A McLaren Mystery
Jo A Hiestand, 2021
Haunted Water takes place in a small Cheshire village that is famous for Dwfn Mere, a body of water that is supposedly haunted by a Welsh water sprite who lures men to their watery deaths. A death does occur in the lake, but is it death by the sprite or by a human hand? The village is surrounded by moorland and, though not particularly isolated, is off the beaten track. Murder suspects tend to be limited to villagers, and in particular to those who were angry at the victim’s stance on keeping the heath in its pristine condition. I kept the community small so the closed circle of acquaintances who could have committed murder is also small.

Arrested Flight

Jo Hiestand, 2017
A story dealing with the murder of a young musician and strange happenings at Uther Pendragon’s ruined castle in a Cumbrian village. Again, since the village is small, the suspects are limited. Motives are numerous: jealousy, love, secrets... Add to the general village tension of neighbors occasionally not getting on with other neighbors, and a mentally-slow man who insists he sees fairies, and there are several closed circles that overlap and deepen the mystery.

Hide and Seek

Jo Hiestand, 2020
Playing a mystery game seems the perfect way to celebrate police officer Jamie Kydd’s promotion to Detective Sergeant rank. But the game turns real when a body turns up in the pretend crime scene. Perhaps worse than spoiling the party, the corpse is someone Jamie knows. But this is just the beginning of the maze that McLaren needs to hunt through to find the murderer. There are several small groups that contribute to the storyline: the victim’s ex, his burglary partner, a childhood friend... All have feelings toward the victim and all have a reason to dislike him. When introduced, these people may seem unrelated to each other, but as the story progresses, you see how they intertwine. It’s still a finite group: you just have to sort through the connections to reveal whodunit!

The Low Road

A McLaren Mystery (The McLaren Mysteries)
Jo A Hiestand, 2022
Former police detective Michael McLaren arrives in Scotland, ready to immerse himself in the fun of the Highland Games. But the old saying of plans oft going awry rears its ugly head: Simon Shaw, one of McLaren’s friends, dies. Murdered a year to the day following his uncle's death. Now, you might be thinking ‘Hey, Jo. There are a thousand people at these Games. How can this be a closed group?’ It can be when McLaren digs into the case and uncovers family anger as well as suspicions connected to an old hunt for diamonds. These misgivings quickly link to another death, which might tighten the circle of suspects even further and spotlight the killer.

An Unfolding Trap

Jo A Hiestand, 2016
We’re in Scotland for this book. It’s December, and Michael McLaren has arrived at his grandfather’s house north of Edinburgh. He’s eager to accept the olive branch the older man apparently has extended. But he hasn’t, as McLaren finds on being greeted with anger and the door slammed in his face. This is the start of a series of incidents that have been set to trap him. They unfold slowly at first, then gather speed and intensity. McLaren doesn’t know anyone in Scotland but his grandfather and uncle, so his circle of acquaintances is small. It broadens, however, as he is pulled into the scheme that is targeting him. This group of bad guys is small, yet dangerous, proving it takes only one person to be a murderer...if he is the right one.