British Detective

It's not always a question of "whodunit?" Sometimes there's more mystery in the why or how. And although we usually know the unhealthy fates of both victim and perpetrator, what of those clever few who plan and carry out the perfect crime? The ones who aren't brought down even though they're found out? And what about those who do the finding out who witness a murder or who identify the murderer but keep the information to themselves? These are some of the mysteries that we follow through those six stories.

Rita is an artist, still recovering from an attack by three men. Deborah is a nurse and a killer, as much at ease ending people’s lives as prolonging them. Maybe, if they hadn’t been lovers, it wouldn’t have gone beyond talk. But they are. And it does. The police start finding bodies. And more bodies. Because, once you start killing people, it’s difficult to stop. New names get added to the list. All men, and all sexually interfered with. Why not? That’s what the three men did to Rita. Revenge is sweet. PC Jamie Pearson and Rita were teenagers together once. Jamie wants to find ...

A family outing to Tattershall Castle comes to a chilling end when eleven-year-old Tommy Burton disappears without a trace in broad daylight. All that remains in his place is a small blue teddy bear. DS Karen Hart and her team are called in to investigate the unusual circumstances—but for DI Morgan the crime scene is eerily familiar.

The body of a missing boy is dredged from the seabed off the Sussex coast, missing vital organs. Soon after, two more bodies are found . . . A teenager in Brighton will die if she does not receive an urgent transplant. When the health system threatens to let her down her mother takes drastic action and goes to an online broker in black-market organs. The broker can provide what she wants, but it will come at a price. As Roy Grace investigates the recovered bodies, he unearths a gang of child traffickers operating from Eastern Europe.

Early one morning, DS Robin Butler is summoned to a crime scene. Not as a policeman, but as best friend to renowned meteorologist, Dr Finn Mason. The morning after studying an enormous storm, Finn has locked himself in a van. Bloodied, confused, and with no memory of how he came to be there. And alongside him - a dead body.

From the bestselling author of Murder at Rutherford Hall, Murder at Ravenrock and The Riverton Case, comes the fourth book in the Rachel Markham Mystery Series - The Santinelli Case. Set in the exciting world of post-war Paris, in the winter of 1947, Rachel and Jeremy are called upon to investigate the sensational murder of Countess Santinelli in a Montmartre art studio. Their quest to uncover the truth leads them from the charming avant-garde streets of fashionable Paris and the gilded rooms of the Ritz and Maxim’s to the dingy by-lanes of Montmartre - a place that offers refuge to ...

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 Metropole Hotel, Brighton. After a heady New Year's Eve ball, a woman is attacked as she returns to her room. A week later, another woman is assaulted. Both victims' shoes are taken by the offender . . . Roy Grace soon realizes that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. Dubbed 'Shoe Man', the perpetrator was believed to have attacked five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

“Ames, with her great writing and brilliant story, has created a masterpiece of her own in Marked Masters. She leaves her readers doing their own research between the pages. Like Laurel, Ritter keeps the story with its rightful owner—the reader.” – Crimespree Magazine Laurel Beacham made working solo a personal success story and is known for her nerve, instincts, and ability to do whatever necessary to return each priceless masterpiece safely intact. As the world’s leading art recovery expert, she’s thwarted more heists than the average law enforcement professional. Museums ...

DS Whitney Walker wants a promotion, but it’s hard when she’s trying to balance motherhood with a career. When a newborn baby is kidnapped from the local hospital, she draws on her skills as a mother to help. Despite being ordered not to, and when the leads are going nowhere, Walker enlists the help of a local journalist who’s convinced it’s the work of an international baby smuggling ring. Walker’s plan backfires and she fears they’re running out of time.

In Liverpool, a woman inexplicably leaps to her death. The following morning, two bodies are found on nearby Crosby Beach: a woman tied to a statue, and a man buried up to his neck and left to drown. When a nine-month-old murder case is reopened, DI Sheridan Holler is shocked to uncover family connections between the victim, Daniel Parks, and the three unexplained deaths. With Daniel’s body still missing and the number-one suspect cleared of the crime, Holler’s cold case suddenly becomes a major murder investigation.

Halloween means parties and the local residents association are planning a get-together at the Queen Languoreth to celebrate Halloween. However, with everyone out in the street at the same time, this opens the window for a gang of cat-phobic robbers to come in and take advantage. Leger and Ginger have overheard the men planning the robbery in an alleyway but can they uncover the identity of Gus and Andy in time? Meanwhile, a local man has discovered the body of a cat who looks just like Leger and taken the body to Annabella for burial. Annabella isn't sure it's really Leger who has died but...

The evidence was all there: a dead body, two dessert plates, and a gun. Could it be that Mr. Ashbury was sharing his cake with his killer? The old bloke had enemies galore - even his own daughter disliked him. Mr. Ashbury's son-in-law doesn't want Inspector Witherspoon asking questions. Of course this doesn't stop Mrs. Jeffries and her staff from snooping around.

“What I read in your hand is tragedy—a horrible tragedy that doesn’t come to one in a million people.” Bookseller Theodore Terhune buys the substantial library of the recently deceased James Strudgewick, a wealthy Yorkshireman who fell and drowned at a local beauty spot. Though his death was deemed accidental by the coroner, the locals remain suspicious and dislike Strudgewick’s nephew and heir. But Ronald Strudgewick has a cast-iron alibi—he was 30 miles away visiting with friend Robert Shilling in Thirsk at the time of his uncle’s death, and the police have already picked ...

`A mischievously entertaining crime novel' SIMON BRETT The sixth instalment in The Falconer Files, Andrea Frazer's insanely grippingvillage detective series with a delightful slice of humour. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Lillian Jackson Braun and Midsomer Murders. READER'S CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF ANDREA'S QUIRKY CRIME NOVELS! ***** 'I am a great fan of her books which are entertaining, light-hearted and very, very clever. Written by someone who is intelligent, observant and has a great sense of fun' Reader Review ***** 'Excellent story. Great characters. Good plot. I loved the book. I ...

Murder at the Manse is the fifth installment of Andrea Frazer’s Falconer Files, a detective series chock-full of picture-postcard villages, dastardly deeds, and a delightful slice of humour. Jefferson Grammaticus and his business partners, Jocelyn and Jerome Freeman, had spent two years on the extensive renovation of a two hundred year old building, set in expansive grounds, with the River Darle as it's northern-most boundary. The building work was now finished, the decoration and furnishings were in their appointed rooms, rich drapes adorned the windows, and French crystal chandeliers ...

Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.

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 ...

When a long-serving Master at one of England's most prestigious public schools drowns in Bassenthwaite Lake, Detective Inspector Skelgill is summoned to investigate his apparent suicide. It soon becomes clear that senior members of staff are not all that they seem. As the school closes ranks, Skelgill realizes he is pitted against a sinister power struggle for control of its highly lucrative operation.

When a film shoot on Wharfedale’s vintage railway turns into a grisly crime scene, DCI Oldroyd’s idyllic visit to the countryside with his partner Deborah is well and truly stopped in its tracks. One of the film’s stars has been shot dead in a train carriage while the cameras rolled outside. But nobody else went in—or came out. Has the killer really pulled off the perfect, impossible crime?