Recently widowed, Anna Southwood opens up her own detective agency.Tired of investigating minor cases of missing pets and nuisance calls, she is about to call it quits.Until she is hired to solve the disappearance of local girl, Beth Channing.Leonie Channing is currently being charged with the murder of her daughter, yet refuses to say anything. Even to her defence lawyer.Rex Channing is frantically searching for any trace of his daughter.Anna soon realises there is more to this case than a missing child.Similarities to Beth and another girl who disappeared two years prior cause Anna to delve further into the Channing family history.Even when her life is threatened by delving too far into certain suspects, Anna is determined to continue her investigation.Are the two disappearances related?Or are the similarities purely coincidence?Is there a serial murderer in her midst?Or are the children runaways?With no bodies located, Anna holds out hope that at least Beth can be found alive.What she doesn’t realise, is that even the seemingly trustworthy citizens have their own secrets.Worse than Death is a gripping crime novel, full of unexpected twists that will keep you guessing until the final page.

Jean Bedford is an English-born Australian writer who is best known for her crime fiction, but who has also written novels and short stories, as well as nonfiction.