Divided Treasure

by David Williams

Published 1 January 1987

Llanegwen - on the coast of North Wales - used to be an attractive, healthy place for respectable people. But now it's a mixed bag of allsorts - there's a masked rapist stalking the streets, a petty thief with an eye to the main chance and anonymous businessmen who take over the local sweet factory after a highly convenient death. And when there is a polite and discreet demonstration by the workers outside his home, Mark Treasure is drawn into a fight to save their pension fund and even their jobs.

Treasure needs all his skills as a banker to uncover the layers of greed and deceit at the factory. But he must turn sleuth again when a saucy scamper around the shop-floor ends in a bizarre double murder. Can he get to the heart of the mystery before everything goes sour and another life is lost . . . ?

`His sense of character is as keen as his sense of place, and the plot, while as thick as the sugar syrup it involves, is also completely convincing. Tasty fare.' Financial Times

`Treasure is a likable suave hero' Booklist

`An efficient, deft thriller.' Publishers Weekly


Treasure By Degrees

by David Williams

Published 12 April 1977

University College, Itchendever is short of funds - and up for grabs. The rival parties in the proposed takeover seem to be the American Funny Farms Foundation, run by the widow of a board-games mogul, and a calculating Arab prince. Banker sleuth Mark Treasure tries his hardest to adjudicate, but instead finds a baffling murder on his hands.

And this isn't a mere case of finding the culprit - there are other knotty problems with a bearing on the case. Who sent the gory sheep's head to the eccentric American millionairess? Was the celebrated Dr Goldstein, senior tutor and TV personality, behind the bomb scare? And why have the Arabs kidnapped an English Literature lecturer?

The second of David Williams' wonderfully witty murder mysteries, starring the urbane banker and classy detective Mark Treasure, Treasure by Degrees is sure to delight.


Holy Treasure!

by David Williams

Published 1 January 1989

Hardly anyone attends St Martin's Church, Kengrave Square, in West London, and it's very nearly falling down. But when news gets out that it's to be closed, and possibly sold, there's a significant flurry of interest. The site is worth millions. Aziz Developments are after it, and so is the Community of Investors for Jesus - a curious American group of televangelists. Enter Kengrave Square resident, the Honourable Mrs Monica Lodey, whose grandfather built the church. The venerable Mrs Lodey is determined to save St Martin's. She's not only rich but she can also exert huge influence: her brother is Chairman of Grenwood, Phipps, the merchant bankers, where Mark Treasure is Chief Executive.

When the vicar's wife launches a fund to repair St Martin's, there's a rowdy parish meeting where Treasure's actress wife Molly is the first to promise money. Treasure hopes that can be the extent of his involvement. But when a sudden death follows, spawning more dramatic events, both he and Molly find themselves gradually drawn into yet another investigation, and this time very close to home.

As cleverly plotted and wryly funny as ever, Holy Treasure! is another thrilling escapade from fiction's best banker-detective.


Treasure in Oxford

by David Williams

Published 1 January 1988

It's high summer in Oxford. The university vacation has just begun. The eight governors of the Moneybuckle Endowment architectural library are assembling at All Saints College for the annual dinner before their meeting under chairman Mark Treasure, merchant banker.

The talk at the table is of some pricey sketches said to be by Constable, and an offer from a dealer in the town. But the talk turns to shock when murder is done in Walton Street, with the sketches as the obvious motive. The police are quick to make an arrest, but Treasure is sure they've got the wrong suspect - even though all other likely culprits are Moneybuckle governors, or Moneybuckle's custodian himself...

Treasure in Oxford marks the twelfth outing for David Williams' utterly charming banker-turned-detective in a cleverly plotted mystery that is sure to delight.


Unholy Writ

by David Williams

Published 29 July 1976

When Arthur Moonlight, a financially troubled aristocrat, has second thoughts about selling the family mansion to the fanatical 'Forward Britain' movement he calls in his friend, London financier Mark Treasure, to stop the sale. But the situation is far more complicated than it first seems and when evidence comes to light that a valuable Shakespearean manuscript is hidden at Mitchell Hall, the Moonlight family's former country seat becomes a centre of death and intrigue.

In the space of a few short days, an old lady has died of fright, a grave-digger has suffered a fatal fall, and linked to these strange incidents are a menacing American posing as a clergyman, a power-hungry MP, and a famous antiquarian supervising a team of Filipino labourers.

This, the first of Mark Treasure's investigations, will lead to even more startling revelations - and unexpected rewards.