Suzette A. Hill Books In Order

Publication Order of Francis Oughterard Mystery Books

Publication Order of Rosie Gilchrist Books

Suzette A. Hill is a bestselling mystery fiction novelist best known for the Francis Oughterard series and the Rosie Gilchrist series of novels. Early on, as a young adult, Hill went to the Newcastle/Tyne and Nottingham Universities. She would then go on to teach English literature at Reading College for many years before she retired in her 60s. When she retired from academia, she decided to move to Herefordshire.

Hill was born in 1941 in Eastbourne, Sussex which is a place she still loves very much. However, given the nature of her lifestyle, she has lived in several other locations including Berkshire, the Midlands, New Castle Upon Tyne, and Nottingham. At her home in Herefordshire, she is known for her conviviality. She also spends a lot of time writing novels and socializing with her neighbors. Writing is something she loves to do which she attributes to the fact that she always loved storytelling and reading and even studied in college where she specialized in literature, before she became a professor of English literature. Nonetheless, Suzette A. Hill never thought about writing creative fiction herself. She was quite content analyzing other people’s prose and poetry, which provided a lot of satisfaction.

Growing up, Suzette A. Hill was influenced by the likes of Richmal Crompton, A.A. Milne, and Lewis Carroll. He also loved reading the adventure fiction of the time such as the Scarlet Pimpernel and the exploits of Biggles. In her teenage years, she came across the novels of W. Somerset Maugham, Aldous Huxley, and Compton Mackenzie. Even though she did not have a good understanding of the novels at the time, reading them made her feel very grown up. When she was 17, she stumbled upon Graham Greene, a writer whose novels she has been reading till today.

Despite her love for reading, Suzette A. Hill got started on her career as an author late in life when she was already retired and well into her sixties. It all happened by chance as her first attempt was a short story she wrote just to see what the creative process felt like. It was this short story that would then become A Load of Bones the debut novel that she published in 2005. The work was all about the antics of Reverend Francis Oughterard and his beloved but very talkative pets the supercilious cat, Maurice, and the stroppy mongrel dog Bouncer. Since that time, she has published several other works of fiction most of which are set in the 1950s. Suzette has become known for writing light-hearted crime fiction whose main concern is how the characters deal with the many embarrassing situations they find themselves in.

Suzette A. Hill’s novel A Load Of Old Bones introduces Reverend Oughterard, a man who believes he has found the perfect place to live and work. He has been enjoying the tranquility of his new parish and even found something he never thought he would ever need. Elizabeth Fotherington likes the new reverend and likes to spend time with him. On his part, he knows he needs to do something as she may just spoil the good life he has become so used to. The interesting thing is that while Francis Oughterard is a clergyman, he does not have a calling and is only doing it out of convenience. He is not the cleverest of men and in fact, he is quite impulsive. The good thing is that he has two companions who will do anything to help him correct his mistakes. Bouncer the dog and Maurice the cat believe they will never get a better boss than Francis and hence they will do anything to ensure he does not sabotage himself. It is a cleverly written and witty story that makes for a great combination.

Suzette followed his debut with Bones in the Belfry, a work in which Francis Oughterard is still jumpy after killing Elizabeth Fotherington his annoying parishioner. However, things have calmed down somewhat as the police have quietly left the scene. But just when he is thinking that he can get back to his peace and tranquility, Maud Tubbly Pole and Gunga Din her dog come into his life. She is an author who has come into town after she read about the Moleshill murder and intends to put the story into her next novel. As if that was not enough, Francis also has to contend with a shady character named Nicholas Ingaza who asks him to keep safe some paintings he had stolen. Oughterard is deep in the mud this time around and every time he thinks he has extricated himself, it comes up and bites him in the behind. It is yet another brilliant offering with a Wodehouse feel to it particularly when things spin out of control and Francis finds himself entangled with imposters and intrigue.

Suzette A. Hill’s third novel of the Francis Oughterard series of novels is Bone Idle. The work follows on from what happened in the first and second novels of the series. Like before, Francis the clergyman who has now been made Canon by playing complicated church politics, is stumbling from one disaster to the next. It does seem that there is nothing he can do to prevent people from finding out that he killed someone in addition to being an accomplice to fraud and art theft. When the daughter of the original murder victim Elizabeth Fotherington is also found murdered, it does seem that his exposure will come sooner rather than later. Like before, he has Bouncer and Maurice to depend on, as they are more active than him in dealing with such situations. The author expertly switches voices between Bouncer, Maurice, and Francis though they remain distinct. Suzette is very good at moving her plot along without long exposition segments or needless repetition. The plot goes in the tradition of anything can go wrong with the lead repeatedly thinking he might be safe only to fall from the frying pan into the fire.