British Detective Mysteries

Hallowe'en is coming... A series of mysterious murders dating back decades presents Kit Aston with his greatest challenge yet in this macabre tale. The latest victim is found by a medium, the mysterious Eva Kerr. Kit Aston discovers this murder is the tip of the iceberg. Is it a killer like Jack the Ripper or something much worse? And why have the murders been covered up over the years? With the help of Scotland Yard, London’s Gangland and Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Kit Aston is in a race against time to bring a sinister cult to justice. What reviewers are saying about Jack Murray’s Kit ...

Inspector Ralph McGinniss, Lord of the Realm, returns to his ancestral seat at Daroonga Castle in Oxfordshire for his annual holidays, only be called upon to investigate the housekeepers’ death from his cousin’s estate. Agnes Tonbridge is found dead on the front lawn. Was this an accident, or a chance to cover up other dealings by the inhabitants? Bedwin Hall is full of surprises. Lady Petunia, the daughter of the house is under suspicion. Ralph’s brother Stephen McGinniss is making a nuisance of himself with the Inspector’s fiancé, Lady Annabelle Frampton. Claire Lane, noted ...

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 LIZARD, A MONKEY & A MURDER: When a tyrannical businessman is murdered Olive discovers that half the citizens of Cambridge wanted him dead. And finding which one actually killed him is like trying to find a poisonous needle in a murderous haystack. A COSY COMMUNITY: Events take a turn for the bizarre when the victim’s son begs Olive to rescue his kidnapped lizard. Are the two crimes connected? As Olive delves deeper into ...

NEW FOR 2023 – STAND-ALONE, #21 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL ... A reality documentary crew is on the hunt for a victim. An unsolved murder from the 1970s that could leave the authorities red-faced. Celebrity criminologist Professor Simeon Freud plans to bask in the glory. Posing as a researcher, DS Jones joins the production team, but Skelgill must work in the shadows. His instincts rebel – not least that his protégé is prey to a narcissist on the one hand and a killer on ...

When London’s finest jazz musicians, the Dizzy Heights, are booked to play the glitzy Midsummer Ball at a country house in Oxfordshire, they expect a weekend filled with flappers and toffs having a roaring good time. But the festivities at Bilverton House take a turn for the worse when the group are stranded by a summer storm. And when a member of the Bilverton family turns up dead in a locked room in an apparent suicide, Skins, Dunn and Ellie realize this is going to be a much tougher gig than they thought.

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #17 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." TWELVE CLOSE FRIENDS, ONE DEADLY ENEMY. A Ouija board spells out ‘MURDER’ and next morning wealthy widow Daisy Mills is found drowned at a Lakeland beauty spot. Was this a warning from beyond the grave, or an agent provocateur among the house party? Could the earlier death of successful businessman Simon Mills really be the accident it seemed? And was it by coincidence that the same clique of old school friends had met before each tragedy? Pitched into ...

“Watson, there is not a moment to lose. If you care to join the chase, pack your bag at once!” Likewise, enthusiasts of the greatest detective will not want to miss this opportunity to join Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in a whirlwind of exciting new adventures… A daring thief penetrates the defenses of the Tower of London in search of a secret treasure. A profligate young actor is accused of murdering his exemplary sibling. From the safe of a prominent London banker, a priceless heirloom is stolen. Upon a high cliff, a ghostly assassin commits an impossible murder. A kingpin of ...

A luxury home. A deadly dinner. A brutal execution. Property developer Grant Cooper had it all—wealth, power, enemies. But when he’s murdered mid-meal, DI Hogarth finds himself unravelling a crime that’s more than just blood and betrayal. Beneath the lies, beyond the crime scene—Hogarth is about to uncover a truth no one can bear to face. As rival forces close in, Hogarth must fight a war on two fronts. One deadly case. Two powerful enemies. Is this the end of the line? ★★★★★ “Fast paced! Cant wait for the next one!” If you love gritty crime thrillers, shocking twists,...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #5 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY."A SPATE OF VICIOUS ATTACKS upon valuable Herdwick sheep, the sudden disappearance of a foreign hiker, and the unexplained drowning of a woodland hermit – a series of apparently unconnected events – draw Detective Inspector Daniel Skelgill to the white-knuckle passes and isolated dales of deepest Lakeland. s straws in the wind suggest there is sorcery afoot – and a connection to an equally sinister trade in human traffic – Skelgill and his team risk dire ...

Inspector Hogarth is in deep trouble. The two men who once sought his blood now aim to eliminate each other. Only Hogarth stands between them. To stop them, he must plunge into deadly danger—and to protect his colleagues, he must do it alone. With the town teetering on the edge of a gang war, Hogarth faces a harrowing truth: he has become the catalyst for a new crimewave. He will fight on, alone. He will attempt to conceal the truth. But DS Palmer won’t stand idly by. Nor will the other woman in his life… The trouble is, their intervention might make things far, far worse… Against ...

NEW FOR 2022 – STAND-ALONE, #19 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." EVIL LIES UNDETECTED. When shepherd Jud Hope finds an American passport in a fox’s earth, a connection is made to an unidentified fatality – an elderly female walker who fell to her death in a treacherous rocky gill near Ambleside. Meanwhile, a spate of ‘nighthawker’ incidents sees ancient monuments desecrated under cover of darkness. The spotlight falls upon Derek Shaw, a museum curator exploring Cumbria’s Roman heritage. Onto this stage emerges a ...

This four-book series of short murder mysteries, follows the adventures and lives of four detectives. Set in in the mid-1970s a small Norfolk seaside town provides the setting. Each book provides a complete story and each story focuses on the detection of at least one crime. Great for readers who like a short story with a satisfactory conclusion. The characters in this four-book series also provide a thread which links the books together.

NEW FOR 2023 – STAND-ALONE, #20 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." AN ATTEMPTED MURDER in the United States … a tragic road death in a Cumbrian forest … an old photograph stolen from an ancient coaching inn. Unrelated events – until a midnight drowning below Ouse Bridge exposes a connection. After two decades, has a killer returned to Cumbria to ply their trade? Does a suspect hide in plain sight among loose acquaintances? Who is truthful and who is lying? Skelgill must patiently circle … until finally he picks up ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #4 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY."BY THE TIME Detective Inspector Skelgill becomes the tenth person to be stranded on secluded Grisholm (Pigs’ Isle in Old Norse) where a writers’ retreat is taking place, one of the assembled literati is already dead. Though natural causes may provide the explanation, a second ‘accidental’ death and a raft of curious experiences convince Skelgill that a cold and calculating killer is at large. But where is his evidence? Set around Derwentwater in the ...

Cynically exploiting the Christmas Eve suicide of her husband Alasdair, beautiful Eilish Macbeth has turned tragedy into triumph by writing a million-selling book for children who have suffered the heartbreaking loss of a parent. But then a witness emerges who claims that Alasdair Macbeth was murdered, plunging private investigator Maggie Bainbridge into a case that is as perplexing as any she ever has worked on. Can Maggie and her little team battle their way through a mountain of lies and deceit to get to the truth?

In July 1939, three men are shot dead within a few days of each other. The incidents are all in Lancashire but in different police force areas. When it is eventually realised that the cases are linked, the various constabularies agree to call in the expertise of Scotland Yard. Detective Chief Inspector Adair, who has been holidaying with his wife and daughter in the same county, is tasked with investigating the crimes. These do not appear to be random shootings. It seems that the gunman has a motive for killing each of the victims. But what could that be? And is the grudge against each one ...

1936. In Lincoln, two men are on trial on charges of manslaughter. The trial has hardly started when one of the jurors dies in the jury box in the courtroom. It is quickly found that she has been poisoned. Chief Inspector Acton, already present in the courthouse for other reasons, takes charge of the investigations. A suspect soon emerges – and anonymous letters point the detectives towards the same man. But is all as it seems? And even if the suspect is innocent of this murder, are his hands quite clean? DCI Acton and his colleagues filter out the red herrings, and arrive at a solution.

SPARROWHAWK –The Accidental Death of a Dead Man. It was reported as a straightforward road accident. Perhaps it was but the crash scene gave rise to more questions than answers. For Sparrowhawk, this might well be seen as an accidental death; but it couldn’t possibly be the accidental death … of an already dead man … could it? Then there was Merrick Nethercutt. Maybe he was just a frustrated writer and novelist, hungry for literary success … or perhaps a narcissistic psychopath prepared to commit murder in order to claim a place at the table of world prize winning authors. ...

A threatening letter is sent to a Cornish news website, warning that a dead body has been hidden at a remote clifftop location. When Detective Inspector Zennor races to the scene, she discovers that the victim is still alive - but barely. Journalist Jason Blake has been beaten and left to die in the elements of the wild Atlantic coast. The man has a checkered past... could it be that an old score is being settled? The news comes just as DI Zennor, Cartwright, and Boswell are ready to make a breakthrough in the human trafficking case - forcing them to divert their time and attention ...

A quirky, dark-edged mystery full of twists, turns and playful surprises Max Black, retired stock broker and single parent, is facing a crisis. His daughter has left for university, and despite the companionship of his faithful Cairn terrier Monty, he feels panicked, untethered and not very well. His doctor tells him to get out more, change his lifestyle and find himself a job. Could Duntisbourne Hall, a rundown stately home recruiting tour guides, be the answer to his empty-nest syndrome? Joining the team of eccentric retired professionals who shuffle the general public around on tour, he ...