British Crime

There is nothing quite so annoying as having the police arrive when you are trying to cover up a crime that may or may not have happened. Lord Bernard has died unexpectedly. Is Deputy Head Porter being framed? Head Porter just wants to kept out of the picture. In this fast-paced whimsical British romp, a priceless work of art - the portrait of Old College founding father Lord Arthur Layton - has gone missing. There is nothing for it but for our heroine to don her trusty bowler hat and embark upon another eccentric investigation. In this sequel to PorterGirl - First Lady of the Keys, Old ...

From the moment John Black stepped foot in his hometown, he knew darkness would follow. The Northern England landscape held bittersweet memories for John - memories of childhood innocence and a lost love. But as he attends a family funeral, those memories are shattered by the discovery of a body in the dunes of Cross Hill, a place where John used to play as a child. And it's a body of a woman he once knew. Haunted by his past and driven by a set of mysterious coordinates left for him at a local pub, John races against time to confront the killer. But as the body count grows and the police ...

Sooty, sulfurous, and malign: no woman should be out on a night like this. A spate of violent deaths—the details too foul to print—has horrified the capital and the smog-bound streets are deserted. But Rachel Savernake—the enigmatic daughter of a notorious hanging judge—is no ordinary woman. To Scotland Yard's embarrassment, she solved the Chorus Girl Murder, and now she's on the trail of another killer.

If there was one piece of advice Olive Crisp always followed, it was that "one should never attempt to solve a crime on an empty stomach..." 1970s. Cambridge, England. A POISONED SCONE: When a customer drops dead in the cafe during the lunch rush Olive is horrified. What's worse, the cause of death was one of her delicious scones. Now solving the case has become personal; not only does Olive want to solve the murder in order to explain the mystery she also needs to clear her name. A COSY COMMUNITY: Despite protesting her innocence, only her two best friends, Millie and Blythe, and the ...

If there was one piece of advice Olive Crisp always followed, it was that "one should never attempt to solve a crime on an empty stomach..." 1970s. Cambridge, England. A COLD CASE AT CHRISTMAS: After officially launching her Biscuit Tin Detective Agency, Olive is delighted when she receives her first case. Miss Westmacott asks her to investigate a cold case: the disappearance of her sister, Enid, over 50 years ago. Having waited months for a bite, the detective agency café is finally in business! A COSY COMMUNITY: Together with Hugo, Olive reopens the case and tracks down the remaining ...

Meredith Mitchell's old friend Sally Caswell and her scientist husband have moved from London to the quiet of Oxfordshire, but find nothing but trouble. Quarrels between the moody scientist and an eccentric neighbour; goats in the backyard, and a letter bomb in the mail all add to malice, mystery, and murder—and another case for Meredith and her police inspector friend Alan Markby to solve.

Amber’s about to face her biggest challenge yet! When movie star Reed Colcannon is murdered in the waiting room of the steam railway he owns, Amber is sent to try and track down who shot him. The railway, surrounded by spooky moorland and lit with vintage gas lamps, is cloaked in secrets, lies and mysteries galore and promises to challenge Amber in more ways than one! But the first mystery Amber has to get to the bottom of is who she will be working with on the investigation... As Amber tries her hardest to crack the case she soon realizes this could actually be the end of the line for ...

It’s Christmastime in London, and Sherlock Holmes takes on two cases. The angelic three-year-old child of a wealthy couple is the target of a vicious kidnapper, and a country aristocrat worries that his handsome, favourite son has mysteriously vanished from his London pied à terre. Holmes and Watson, aided by the colourful Heffie O’Malley, slip slide in the ice to ensure a merry Christmas is had by nearly everybody.

The six true-crime stories included in this collection are dark and chilling, and will leave you with a new understanding of just how fragile the human mind can be.

On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice's canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man's presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city's far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim.

Still grieving the death of his long-time partner, Chase reunites with his dear friend and fellow Anglophile Billie Mondreau for a seacoast holiday of historic sightseeing. Assigned a pair of guides from the tour company Wanderers, Chase and Billie join seven other like-minded Americans looking forward to an English getaway. All except for Ronald Gretz. The wealthy entrepreneur behind the international Golden Sunset nursing-home chain doesn’t like anything about walking, touring, or England.

Fresh from solving a spate of murder mysteries, Diana Bakewell and Zaf Williams are separated when Zaf goes on a course to gain his qualification as a tour guide. The course is at London's iconic St Paul's Cathedral, which Zaf is expected to get to know so he can be tested on his tour guide abilities. Meanwhile, Diana is forced from her wonderful London home by her unscrupulous landlord. But all this has to be put aside when a resident at a local hostel is found dead, apparently poisoned.

With his partner away on a honeymoon, Yorkshire detective Andrew Dalziel tries to beat the blues by taking a vacation of his own. But after getting caught in a torrential rain and running into a funeral procession, he winds up accompanying a crowd of upper-class mourners to a crumbling country house. Dalziel isn't known for his elegant manners, but he has bigger problems than not fitting in: The owner of the home has died under unusual circumstances, and soon more bodies are turning up.

Melissa Craig is struggling with her new novel, so when the invitation arrives to visit a nearby country house for some writing time, she decides a bit of peace and quiet is just what she needs. The house is everything she could have hoped for, even if the staff do seem rather unsettled. She has barely unpacked when the owner of the house persuades Melissa to investigate some threatening notes he has received. But before she can do any digging, he is found murdered in his own orchard.

London’s Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, Sir John Appleby, is invited on a break to the Scottish Highlands for a trout-fishing weekend but his detective skills are soon put to the test when he discovers the body of their host, and all the guests seem to have a motive for murder....

Niall and Eden Paternoster start their Sunday the same way they always do - with a long drive, a visit to a country house and a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way home. But this Sunday ends differently - because while Niall waits and waits in the car park for Eden to pick up supplies, Eden never returns. She’s not waiting for him at home, and none of their family or friends have heard from her. Gone without a trace, Niall is arrested on suspicion of her murder.

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.

If Alison Girling, former principal of England's Holm Coultram College, died in an avalanche in Austria, why has her skeleton been unearthed on campus? While no love is lost between conservative detective Andrew Dalziel and the entirety of Liberal Arts, his attention to the grim discovery must be paid. But when he and Peter Pascoe scour the ivory tower for answers, they discover that the shady faculty and creepy student body have more to bury than just one corpse. Try two-and counting.

What's playing at the Calliope Club may draw a furtive crowd, but as far as the CID's Andrew Dalziel can tell it's all perfectly legal. His partner, Peter Pascoe, begs to differ. From what he hears, an actress's violent ordeal on film looked all too real. When she turns up unharmed, it appears his suspicions were wrong . . . if Andrew and Peter can trust what they see. Because if this dirty business is well and good, why has the film in question vanished? Why has the theater been set ablaze? And why has its proprietor been beaten to death?

Widowed Georgina Drake has no regrets about moving to beautiful, sleepy Little Wenborough in rural Norfolk. Until she opens the door to her rental property and finds the dead body of her latest guest, irritable university professor Roland Garnett. And on top of that she’s suddenly hearing a woman’s voice through her hearing aids. Completely shaken by the discovery, Georgina can hardly believe it when the police conclude that Professor Garnett was poisoned, with a dinner delivered by Georgina herself.