A Field Guide to Murder -- Michelle L. Cullen, Paperback

A cranky widower and his spirited caregiver team up to solve his neighbor's murder in this charming and original mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors' affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry's mysterious neighbor, Sue, phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue's house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry's quaint condominium community--putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Readers of Kristen Perrin and Deanna Raybourn will be charmed by this quirky, cross-generational murder mystery.

Author: Michelle L. Cullen
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9798892424639

About the Author
Michelle L. Cullen has lived, traveled, and studied all over the world: from working as a (decent if powered by enough espresso) bilingual secretary in Paris; to backpacking around Europe, Central America, and Southern Africa; to helping rebuild communities after war throughout Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific. She earned her master's degree in anthropology at Melbourne University in Australia and her PhD in sociology at the London School of Economics in England. A fan of adventure, she has a black belt in Taekwondo, has summited nine hundred feet rock climbing, and has flown a helicopter (once, during a lesson, for five terrifying minutes). She currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where she's either doing yoga, playing outside, or plotting murder.