Showing results by author "Ian Shimwell" in All Categories

Bossy Margaret joins Trench at the Stokeham Herald as they investigate: A nefarious night school; a life-changing book; a footballing mystery and a menace of a once familiar manor-house... Extras include a never-before-published deleted scene.

Trench and Old Tom follow the clues for finding the old fellow's long-lost friend from the past, Eleanor. Can Trench find her, for his old friend, before illness strikes a deathly blow? And discover the final secret of the armchair detective..? All five mysteries of the last-ever series of The Armchair Detective.

A curious Christmas cuckoo; a clockwork mystery; a capital investigation and a suspiciously helpful Mandrake... Be the armchair detective alongside Trench and Old Tom in four more cosy mysteries. Plus Extras: Play of the Month Guide & Planning The Armchair Detective

The shop around the corner… Following a clue to find Old Tom’s friend from the past, Eleanor, Trench visits The Stokeham Shop and can’t quite believe what he sees there. Why for a busy shop, does it seem to take little or no money? Why is there an abundance of security cameras? And what is the connection between a member of the shop’s staff and a particular awkward customer? What’s more, Trench and Debsy want to actually shop there, but find it to be… impossible.

"Old Tom, I've lost my memory..." Trench turns up on Old Tom's doorstep barely knowing how he came to be there, having seemingly lost all of his memories. Old Tom sits him down and suggests that Trench forgets his lack of memory for now, and carry on as usual. The old fellow even has to hand-draw him a map of how to reach the Stokeham Herald. At the Herald, Trench meets the new temporary girl, Diana. They soon start looking into an alarming number of recent shop closures which may have a connection to forgotten figures from Trench's own unreachable past...

A major sponsor of the Stokeham Herald, a gadgets factory, severs its ties with the newspaper. Trench finds his new colleague, Debsy infuriating, exasperating and dizzy in turn - but can she somehow help? What is the reason for all the sudden changes at the factory? And will Trench, once more, seek guidance from an old friend with a fondness for armchairs..?

"You look as though you need a holiday, Trench.” Old Tom encourages Trench to take a holiday to the Bayview Guest House in sunny Clayton-on-Sea, primarily to see if he can discover anything of a previous guest there, a certain Eleanor. But as Trench steps into the guest house, he finds it curious to say the least. An old-fashioned atmosphere seems to permeate through the very walls. The vintage colour television in the lounge looks like it hails from the 1970s. There is no mobile telephone coverage, and don’t even think about a Wi-Fi signal. Trench considers his fellow guests and ...

A shoebox has appeared on Trench's desk at the Stokeham Herald - he has no idea of how it came to be there. Trench opens the box to reveal three wooden dolls. Trench looks at the dolls. Two boys and a girl. Their clothes are dishevelled and bedraggled. Their wooden faces are dark and stained with age. He looks into their eyes. Somehow Trench knows that they were once, perhaps a lifetime ago, much loved. Trench wonders what the dolls would say if they could speak. He places the lid back upon the shoebox. He decides to take the dolls to Old Tom, with a hope to discover just what their story, ...

Like everything else Mandrake has accomplished in his life, he has meticulously planned and prepared his final memoirs. Mandrake knows that Thomas and Trench will have to, not only examine every word, but also read in-between the lines, if they’re to have any hope of unearthing the clue, for finally finding Eleanor…

"Kind sir, would you buy a match? Only a penny each..." Trench finally visits the secretive Fellowship - the link behind the management conspiracy - and finds them just that, secretive. He sends Debsy and Steven to do some Fellowship research, while he picks up a story - about a children's care home, the Workhouse. The Workhouse do a good job in helping poor and vulnerable children, but Trench discovers, round the back of the Workhouse, something impossible on a cold, fog-fuelled cobbled alleyway that shouldn't even be there - a little match girl, selling matches...

“Goal! A record-equalling goal!” Watched by Margaret and Trench, ‘Strike‘em in Staunton’ scores for the ninth game in a row, equalling Stokeham United’s all-time goal scoring record. But then striker Staunton suffers from a series of suspicious mishaps. Could someone at the club be attempting to stop Staunton from breaking the goal record by using foul play? Old Tom suggests delving deep into the club’s historical records, but soon realises that the footballing mystery is becoming more complicated than the off-side trap…

"The end days are upon us." For over a thousand years, The Fellowship has survived, evolved, planned and prepared for one purpose and one purpose only. The Fellowship believe the wrath of the ancient Gods will soon cause a cataclysmic event. They believe, as it is written, that only one person can provide salvation - and that person happens to be Trench. Trouble is, Trench doesn't even know what he's supposed to save them from, never mind how to do it. Perhaps, as always, the final secret lies with his armchair-bound friend, Old Tom...

Tearing Debsy away from her latest craze, logic puzzles, Trench looks into a noisy neighbour story with a difference. Why does Harris play very loud music at such precise, regular intervals? What is the purpose of a Bank in the middle of a housing estate? And is Harris' obsession with the Cold War anything to do with the price of fish? Helped again by Old Tom, Trench needs to take a leaf out of Debsy's book, and start looking at the problem, logically...

TRENCH'S HOLIDAY CHECLIST (for a visit to the sleepy coastal village of Fisherman's Cove) TOOTHBRUSH - CHECK BUCKET & SPADE - CHECK (I'll need to do some digging.) MYSTERY - CHECK (An enduring fifty year-old one: whatever happened to the brothers Quinn?) GIRLFRIEND - NOT EXACTLY (But Sally-Anne's coming along.) ARMCHAIR - AFRAID NOT (Sorry Old Tom, but it won't fit in the suitcase.)

Trench returns to the Riverside Hospital, but still barely remembers it. What is the reason for the severe cutbacks at the hospital? And why, for a struggling hospital, does it have one particular doctor looking after only one particular memory-loss patient? Trench begins to remember. Could he be at the very centre of an extraordinarily elaborate and meticulously twisted plot? Or is it something else? Can Old Tom finally help Trench recover his lost memories..?

Love is in the air, so Editor Law introduces a ‘Loved Up’ section to the Stokeham Herald. Trench and Old Tom can’t help thinking that one particular Loved Up message seems slightly strange. Why did David send the message so close to his big day? Why is he paying for the whole wedding? And is there more to his fiancé’s relationship with their wedding planner than is rightfully proper? Old Tom begins to believe that love can be a many suspicious thing...

"Access denied." Trench and Diana visit the local computer fair, The Computer Colony, and start to feel its logarithm is slightly skewered. Why has the computer fair been in town for years instead of weeks? What is behind the 'Strictly No Admittance' door? Just why has The Computer Colony embedded itself deep within the heart of Stokeham? Old Tom senses it may all come down to... memory. "The Colony will be in control."

Can Trench somehow recover his lost memories by investigating: Targeted shop closures; a curious computer fair; three abandoned old dolls and more memory problems at the Riverside Hospital? Extras include a specially written prequel.

Before the beginning of a mystery legend... Trench and Editor Law discover the Stokeham Herald is losing sales fast to a new rival newspaper, the Stokeham Star - whose star reporter always seems to be the first to a news story exclusive. And... why are the Stokeham Star offices so close to Downtown Stokeham? What is the Star's connection to shady businessman, Stonebridge? And does the Star's editor have his own hidden agenda? The investigation will lead Trench to future colleague, Sally-Anne and eventually to the Mayflower Court flats where a certain mysterious and elderly gentleman will be...

"Housewife the 'mouse' wife..." What has turned an independent woman into a Stepford Wife? An old college girlfriend of Sally-Anne's has disturbingly changed since her marriage. Is her friend's controlling husband responsible? Trench and Old Tom have plenty to think about. To help, they must uncover a frightening secret from the past...