British Crime Fiction

While visiting his old friend Flambeau, Father Brown attempts to explain to an inquisitive American the 'secret' of his detective method, by means of eight stories of crime, murder, and obsession, including: a poet accused of the murder of a magistrate; stolen jewels and stolen fish; a theatre manager dead in a locked room; a mourner shut away in a castle; and the case of the worst crime in the world.

Hercule Poirot is travelling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned him to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. There is one strange condition attached to this request: Poirot must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family.

An unassuming Dottie Ellis falls for bad boy Jimmy Carson, who sweeps her off her feet. But after discovering she is pregnant and learning that Jimmy has gone back to his ex-girlfriend Carrie Verne, her happiness falls apart. Heartbroken, Dottie runs home, only to unearth a disturbing family secret that rocks her to the core. She is now faced with an agonizing decision to protect her unborn child. What she does shocks the town. In a moment of solidarity, Carrie makes a promise to Dottie, cementing an unlikely bond between them.

Join ace crime reporter Colin Crampton and his feisty Australian girlfriend Shirley Goldsmith as they embark on a new adventure. It all starts when Colin spends a lazy afternoon by the beach with Shirley. But when a daring robbery takes place, Colin reckons he's on the trail of a big story. But nothing about the robbery is what it seems. Colin and Shirley are drawn deeper into danger. Colin encounters a motorcycle rocker with bad teeth, a dyslexic tattooist, and a seller of novelty toilet roll holders as he chases down his story.

James was in high spirits because he’d finally completed his long awaited autobiography. He didn’t leave a suicide note. But even more suspiciously the record of his life’s environmental achievement, his magnum opus, has gone missing. Troubled, Meg calls in amateur sleuths George and Molly Palmer-Jones to investigate. They soon uncover that life in the Morrissey family is not as idyllic as it seems—relations with ex-wife Cathy are not as friendly as Meg makes out and James appears to have fallen for another women.

SOLVING A COLD CASE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER, OR THE WORSE Detective Superintendent Ian Wilson's life appears to be spiraling uncontrollably into the abyss. The absence of his once steadfast partner has left a void that feels impossible to fill, and the job he was once passionate about has slipped through his fingers. The relentless weight of despair presses down upon him until, out of the blue, a flicker of opportunity presents itself in the most unexpected form. A 42-year-old murder case, long buried beneath layers of obscurity, is placed squarely on Wilson's plate. This case ...

It's only 10 days since Douglas Remfry's release from prison, having served seven years for rape, and now he's dead: naked on a bare mattress in a grubby north London hotel room, his head hooded and his hands tied with a brown leather belt. Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some punishment of his own. And when a second sex offender is found dead, DI Tom Thorne knows he has a vicious, calculating vigilante on his hands.

In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a serial murderer and rapist is leaving a trail of bloodshed. His savage calling card: the word ‘MINE’ carved into each of his victims. DI Kate Young struggles to get the case moving - even when one of the team’s own investigators is found dead in a dumpster. But Kate is battling her own demons. Obsessed with exposing Superintendent John Dickson and convinced there’s a conspiracy running deep in the force, she no longer knows who to trust.

When Blake Barton opens the door to a stranger one morning, he comes face to face with an unimaginable evil. Because this stranger claims to be the devil, and he promises to kill Blake—not now, but in six days, six hours, and six minutes exactly. Plunged into a nightmare race to save his wife and young son, Blake finds himself fighting not only the stranger but an army of young men who call themselves the devil's disciples—men who will do anything to please their master. As time runs out, Blake realizes that in order to fight evil, he must find the devil inside himself.

Who hung the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Halloween Party? Almost everyone in Heppleburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Medburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster’s enigmatic wife but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to prove her innocence. With the help of his restless daughter Patty, Jack digs into the secrets of Heppleburn, and uncovers a cesspit of lies, adultery, blackmail and madness.

Dorothy Martin’s husband, Alan Nesbitt, is heavily involved in the complex and lengthy process of choosing a new bishop for Sherebury Cathedral. The very day that the short list is announced publicly, one of the candidates is found murdered in his own church. With a long list of possible suspects, including Alan himself, Dorothy and Alan start to delve into the history of the victim, hoping to find some clue to a motive for murder. Then a second candidate is found dead, and the case becomes very complicated indeed. Who is murdering England’s clergymen and why …?

When DI Tom Thorne is called to conduct a routine assessment at the site of a suicide, he expects to be in and out in no time. But when he arrives at the metro station, where a woman named Philippa Goodwin threw herself in front of an underground train, Thorne inexplicably senses something awry and feels compelled to dig deeper. He soon discovers that she was the victim of a callous con-man who preys on vulnerable women, and whose deception plunged Philippa to her end. Thorne enlists DI Nicola Tanner to help him track down the swindler and bring him to justice.

1914, Fiji: Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise. After a promising start to his career in his native India and in Hong Kong, he got sent to work in Fiji as punishment for a professional mistake he's too embarrassed to talk about. Akal longs for the day he can finally solve a big case and win the inspector-general's favour, thereby redeeming himself and being permitted to return to Hong Kong. When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji's newspapers scream 'kidnapping', the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case.

Unconventional Detective Declan Miller has a problem. Still desperate to solve the murder of his wife, a young man has just appeared on his doorstep with a briefcase...containing a pair of severed hands. Miller knows this case is proof of a contract killing commissioned by local ne'er do well Wayne Cutler - a man he suspects might also be responsible for his wife's death. Now Miller has leverage, but unfortunately he also has something that both Cutler and a villainous fast-food kingpin are desperate to get hold of.

Welsh Inspector Ian Drake is back on duty, but struggles as he comes to terms with his father’s death. When a fisherman is found impaled on the sand in a small island community, Drake comes up against a wall of silence. When a young girl is killed, Drake is stumped by the motive for her death. But with lots of money at stake with the development of a nearby nuclear power station, Drake believes there are powerful forces at work.

When the dead body of a woman is found on public display, the murder scene bears all the hallmarks of a famous work of art. DI Ian Drake knows he is dealing with a very creative and intelligent killer - one who enjoys having their work showcased for all to see. As more murders take place, each copying a famous work of art, Drake faces a murderer who always seems to be one step ahead.

DI Bliss attends the aftermath of an apparent murder-suicide—but the scene tells him and his colleagues something very different occurred. Now the Peterborough Major Crimes Unit face an adversary like no other. They have no idea why his victims had to die. They have no idea who he is. They have no idea where he might strike next—only that he will. But while the killer is cunning, leaving no evidence for them to find, his biggest mistake might be in underestimating the team now hunting him. Because when Jimmy Bliss is on the case, all bets are off.

Wild Fire is the eighth and final book in the Shetland series from Ann Cleeves, the number one bestselling author and creator of Vera and the Two Rivers. Rumours of an affair surround a woman found hanged – on the most troubling case of his career, Inspector Jimmy Perez must work with Willow Reeves once again, and she has news that will change his life forever.

Does nine-year-old Buddy Norris even have a chance? He’s been missing for two days and the only person who might know where he is has just been killed by a hit-and run driver. The search for Buddy is concentrated in downtown Port Alma, a scenic coastal city. The massive cliffs overlooking the water and the quaint Lower Town streets are a major tourist draw, and hold an infinite number of places to hide a child. But Constable Holly Towns is drawn to the countryside on the outskirts of the city. Holly likes her police job but her future is a coin-toss. She’s either on the way out, ...

Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now.