Zoe Markham Books In Order

Publication Order of Miss Busby Investigates Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Zoe Markham
Zoe Markham is a mild-mannered editor during the day, puppet master of broken souls at night, which is fueled by her chronic tea addiction. She sometimes writes a little bit when she runs outta things to read.

Zoe creates, destroys, giggles maniacally, and cries dramatically all whilst consuming an epic amount of builder’s tea and trying to keep her cats off her keyboard, all in a tiny, tumbledown bungalow in the wilds of West Oxfordshire.

Zoe likes her fiction disturbing and dark, has this is inexplicable fear of mushrooms, and will do whatever she has to in order to avoid interacting with the Real World wherever possible.

“Murder at Little Minton” is the first novel in the “Miss Busby Investigates” series and was released in 2023. A picturesque Cotswolds village at Christmas in 1922, this man is discovered face down floating in the lake. He was known to take risk, he was an insurance salesman; charming, debonair, and sweet talking. His clients were all ladies of a certain age, however nothing was as it appeared; he was playing this game, he pushed his luck, he put a price on his own head and somebody decided they should collect.

Miss Busby helped Major Heathcliff Lennox solve this series of murders at Bloxford in the Cotswolds. Now she finds herself pulled into this new murder, however this time around, it is only her, and she has to rely on her sharp mind, and even sharper wits, in order to catch this Cotswold killer. Along with one handsome police inspector, and a reporter that is keen to make her mark.

Filled with turns and twists, this is a real page turner which will keep you guessing until the very end. With a strong protagonist and a charming Christmas time setting, it’s a must read for fans of cozy mysteries and classic whodunits alike.

“Death of a Penniless Poet” is the second novel in the “Miss Busby Investigates” series and was released in 2024. Mr. G. R. Travis, a book binder and poet, has lived and worked above this popular village bookshop for so many years now. His story is a tragic one, and his murder even more so.

The cops are convinced that the book shop owner is the culprit; Ezekiel Melnyk an erudite and elderly man.

Adeline Fanshaw is not quite so convinced. She is outraged that the cops could even consider such a thing of this venerable bookseller. So she naturally turns to Miss Busby, persuading her to bring her sleuthing abilities to unpick the truth of this matter. Miss Busby, in doing so, uncovers another tragic mystery, one which has lain dormant for way too many years by this point.

“Under My Skin” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2015. We are all monsters on the inside. Chloe was a normal girl once. Up until the night of the car crash which almost claimed her life. Now her dad is the shell of the man he once was, her mom is dead, and the secrets which had so carefully kept their family together are falling apart now.

A new start is all that Chloe and her dad can hope for, however when you think you are no longer human how can you ever begin pretending?

This is a contemporary reworking of a British horror classic, “Under My Skin” follows Chloe (seventeen years old) into this isolated world of pain and darkness, while she struggles to comprehend what it truly means to be alive.

Set against the familiar backdrop of everyday, typical normal teenage worries, her world has become anything but.

“White Lies” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2015. A boarding school story, with a shockingly dark twist.

Everybody hurts. For Abigail, a new school could be the fresh new beginning that she so desperately needs. With her parents in the army and Beth (her sister) too far away to run to, she knows this year has to be different. She has never been a part of the cool crowd and for the very first tine Abby wants to fit in. And all it takes is just a single white lie, since there are some truths are much too painful to share.

Everybody lies. However at Cotswold Community College, Abby is not the only one that has a past that she would rather forget. And when she comes across this closely-guarded secret, Abigail realizes that her little white lie could reveal everything that she has worked so very hard to hide.

Fans found that there is this dark edge to Zoe’s narrative, this scary feel to the events and that little something which touches you on an emotional level when reading grips you fully.

“Blood Bank” is the third stand alone novel and was released in 2017. Benjamin is a programmer that moonlights as a security guard at this seedy club, called Dystopia, which caters to the desperate, the addicts, and the down-and-outs. He has been building his reputation, saving for his way out, however when he rescues this young woman from the nearby estate, he might have just stepped too far outta line this time.

Lucy is just ordinary; a girl with a normal life, a deadbeat boyfriend, and college studies. However once her world takes this odd twist, she begins wondering about the situations she is in, the people that she is meeting, the strange aversions and attacks happening all around her. They are just coincidences, aren’t they?

Zack is also in deep trouble too. He is drowning in debt, losing his girlfriend, and has got dwindling job prospects, and that is not even the worst of it. His debt is to some people that will never forget it, and that want the things closest to Zack’s heart: his blood and his life. In the heart of Swindon, this ancient order is hiding in plain sight, spreading their influence through the streets a lot like a disease. However despite their widespread power they’re catching up to the modern world: the vampires are going online, and the Order is soon going to become more power than even they would have ever dreamed.