British crime fiction where characters become people and place is part of the story. Some people are just rotten to the core. Acting DCI Beatrice Stubbs is representing Scotland Yard at a police conference in Portugal. Her task is to investigate a rumour - a ghostwritten exposé of European intelligence agencies - and discover who is behind such a book. Hardly a dangerous assignment, so she invites family and friends for a holiday. Days at the conference and evenings at the villa should be the perfect work-life balance. Until one of her colleagues is murdered. An eclectic alliance of international detectives forms to find the assassin. But are they really on the same side? Meanwhile, tensions rise at the holiday villa. A clash of egos sours the atmosphere and when a five-year-old child disappears, their idyll turns hellish. From Lisbon streets to the quays of Porto, Parisian cafés to the green mountains of Gerês, Beatrice realises trust can be a fatal mistake. Each book works as a stand-alone novel. If you enjoy Donna Leon, Patricia Wentworth and Ann Cleeves, you'll love Bad Apples. "Murder at a crime conference, family fireworks and all the ingredients for a rollercoaster adventure" - Francis Guenette, author of The Crater Lake Series