In Catherine Aird's Stiff News, a letter received by an old woman's son after her death alerts Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan that one woman's death by natural causes in a local nursing home may actually be murder. But that is just the beginning of the odd goings-on in this nursing home catering to former members of a WWII regiment.

Catherine Aird is one of the masters of the British crime novel. She is the author of more than thirty novels and story collections--including Losing Ground, Past Tense, and Dead Heading--most of which feature Detective Chief Inspector C. D. Sloan. She holds an honorary MA from the University of Kent and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).