British Crime Fiction

Now recuperated after the violent incident that cost him his arm - and nearly his life - DCS Serrailler has returned to work, though he prefers to spend his spare time sketching the medieval angels being restored on the cathedral roof. With crime rates down, Lafferton has been quiet, until one night when two men open their front door to a distressing scene. Serrailler makes a serious error of judgment when handling the incident, and the stress of this, combined with the ongoing trauma of losing his arm, takes its toll.

The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: “I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.” Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

An eye for an eye. A death for a death. Some people will do anything for revenge. And one detective will do anything to stop them. DI Fiona Williams returns from a short break to a station stretched by the antics of a gang of youths, staff absences and three murders in quick succession. With unconnected victims and widely different murder methods, the only link is they seem motiveless. Forced to work in small groups rather than as a team, frustrations and jealousies flare-up between the officers creating a minefield of tension and a headache for Fiona. As the most experienced officer, she ...

When a celebrity chef from Exmouth mysteriously disappears, private investigators Lockwood and Darrow are discreetly enlisted to investigate, keeping a step ahead of the relentless press. Though the chef's known mental health struggles hint at a possible explanation, as the duo delve deeper, they unearth a tangled web of secrets that suggest a far darker narrative. The quest for truth threatens to have wide-ranging implications, placing them in the crosshairs of the town's most dangerous secrets. The pair must work swiftly to expose the truth before the town's underbelly consumes them.

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot's breakfast, confessing that she is a murderer - and then promptly disappears. Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.

Inspector Maxwell Abaline is back, and this time, the stakes are higher, the shadows darker, and the terror more personal. In a sinister follow-up to The Devil’s Tourniquet, Abaline finds himself on the trail of a sadistic killer, a merciless figure driven by vengeance and an unsettling, twisted sense of family loyalty. When 84-year-old Joseph Clancy vanishes without a trace, the investigation takes a harrowing turn. The last known sighting of him is as he prepares to walk his dog up on the moors, late in the evening. Abaline, tasked with finding Joseph, is drawn into a case that cuts far...

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past. But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes? Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences.

DI Sheridan Holler is used to solving crimes on Liverpool’s streets, but after a decayed corpse turns up in a cemetery, she finds herself reopening not one but two cold cases. Seven years earlier, two women were gunned down and the only suspect, small-time drug dealer John Lively, was never seen again. Case closed. Until the body in the cemetery is identified as his.

A Thrilling Murder Mystery Novel set in the quaint town of Chesterwood, England during the sweltering summer of the 1930s. When Vienna Ludwell invites her friends to her family's grand home for the annual lawn tennis tournament, the stage is set for an unforgettable week. But beneath the veneer of camaraderie and competition, dark secrets and hidden tensions simmer. As the heatwave intensifies, so do the personal dynamics among the guests, culminating in the shocking murder of the beautiful and enigmatic Stella Palfreeman. Dr. Kendrick, a man of hidden depths and a sharp intellect, finds ...

When the body of a renowned archaeologist is discovered deep within the haunting caverns of Wookey Hole, a rusted trowel lodged in her throat, the echoes of ancient history awaken a modern-day murder mystery. DI Harriet "Harry" Lambert and DS Tom Reed return in this gripping sequel to The Taunton Tension, drawn into a web of academic rivalries, buried secrets, and dangerous obsessions. What begins as a tragic death soon unearths something far older—and far deadlier. A lost Saxon sword, a hidden chamber, and a cryptic warning suggest the past is not as silent as it seems. As the ...

As the sun sets into the sea over the pretty Cornish town of St Ives, a young woman, Freya Kempston, hasn’t returned home after a day out in the mall at St Austell. Panicking, her husband begs Detective Lauren Pengelly and her team to find her. Has Freya run out on her stable, loving marriage, or has something more sinister taken place? Grainy security footage from the mall provides the first break in the case—capturing Freya talking intently with a well-known local mechanic on the day she disappeared. But when cornered, the mechanic denies even knowing her.

Has cyber-crime escalated to murder? Forensic accountant Kat Munro puts her traumatic past behind her and begins dating journalist Connor O’Malley, whose investigations into online crime attract the wrong kind of attention. When a colleague’s teenage son goes missing, and his friend’s body is discovered, Kat finds herself working with DS Adam Jackson again. The murder enquiry leads Adam to an exclusive London school where allegations of drugs, gaming fraud and child pornography abound. As he gets deeper into the investigation, Adam is forced to face issues in his private life while ...

DI Zoe Finch has been working in Cumbria for a year. She’s finally got to grips with her team, the area, and much of its criminal underworld. But when a body is found outside a burning barn, the investigation leads her both out of Cumbria, and closer to home. Why was the victim there? Who was he with? And is this murder linked to other cases her team has worked on? The clock is ticking, and the killer isn’t done with Cumbria yet. There’s more blood to be shed, and it might belong to someone Zoe knows.

Melissa couldn’t be happier that summer has arrived. She’s delighted to have her mother back by her side, and she is extending her beloved Hawthorn Cottage so her new family can live together. Meanwhile, Melissa’s mother, Sylvia, is back in good health and enjoying a brief stay at a stately retirement home. She loves getting to know the residents, until first a dog and then his owner are both found dead in the dining room. Like mother, like daughter, Sylvia decides to do a little investigating of her own.

All is not as it seems. Is it possible to be so unlucky in love and so lucky with money? In Charlie’s absence, Peter Hatherall steps in to assist Simon with a new case. Lucy Lewis has asked him to prove her father didn’t kill his girlfriend. The problem is that Peter isn’t convinced he’s innocent. Neither are the police. Neighbours heard Rob Lewis violently arguing with his girlfriend around the time of her death. He has no credible alibi for the evening, and he’s set to inherit a fortune. Just like he did after the violent death of his first wife. Simon stubbornly believes Lucy ...

When a body is found draped over Swanage’s iconic Globe monument, DCI Lesley Clarke is called in. A message points to the motive: Go Home. Is this a hate crime? Or something closer to home? Lesley must find the killer before he or she strikes again, all while dealing with a mutiny in her team and political pressure from her boss. At the same time, a local journalist has been investigating the death of Lesley's predecessor - and claims to have key information. Wary of involving her team, Lesley brings in her old colleague Zoe Finch to help.

Ten years ago, DCI Oldroyd was the only person who could see the monster hiding behind Adam Blake’s charm. Oldroyd proved that Blake was a deadly serial killer, responsible for murdering many innocent people. Having vowed to take revenge on Oldroyd, on a crisp autumn morning Blake escapes from jail… Hours later, in the Yorkshire market town of Otley, a man is found strangled inside the old courthouse. Written in bold black ink across the victim’s forehead is a single chilling word: vindicta—revenge. Oldroyd’s blood runs cold when he picks up a call and hears an all-too-familiar voice.

Cornwall, 1937. Kitty Underhay has been called to investigate some fishy goings-on in the beautiful coastal village of St Mawes. The body of Lady Cordelia Hedges’ beloved father was found floating in the sea, and shortly afterwards Cordelia herself was almost killed… Determined to piece together the puzzle, Kitty spends her first evening in the Cornish bay at one of Cordelia’s lavish parties. But she’s not just soaking up the idyllic surroundings with her husband Matt, she’s at the party to get to know those closest to their host.

Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard has just published a new book of poems and has taken a brief respite from publicity on the remote Larksoken headland on the Norfolk coast. A psychotic strangler of young women is at large in Norfolk, and getting nearer to Larksoken with every killing. And when Dalgliesh discovers the murdered body of the Acting Administrative Officer on the beach, he finds himself caught up in one of the most baffling murder cases of his career.

Book 1 in the thrilling new crime series, by David J. Gatward, author of the DCI Harry Grimm crime series, and set in the hauntingly beautiful Somerset countryside.