British Women Detectives

A bomb threat at Middlehampton’s Powerhouse music venue sends DS Kat Ballantyne spiralling into a nightmare—her husband and son are inside. As the city reels in terror, Kat fights to keep her family safe while being pulled into another deadly case that may well be connected… A journalist investigating a controversial football club takeover makes a chilling 999 call before collapsing. Hours later, he’s dead. His apparent murder marks the beginning of a dangerous trail of corruption leading to a foreign royal family. Or is the killer closer to home?

When homeless man Bobby Stover insists his friend’s suicide was really murder, DI Sheridan Holler is sceptical—until she uncovers a series of deaths, all of them in Liverpool, all ruled as suicides, that suddenly look like anything but. The killings span years, each one chillingly staged, the truth buried beneath an illusion of despair. This murderer is following a mysterious pattern—and there seems to be no end in sight.

Some cases get buried. Vicky Pearce digs them up. Detective Vicky Pearce has a reputation: sharp-tongued, relentless, and unafraid to walk into the shadows others avoid. When a string of missing rough sleepers is dismissed as just another tragedy of the streets, Vicky’s instincts tell her there's more beneath the surface — and she’s determined to uncover it. With a new detective sergeant by her side, still battling his own ghosts, Vicky follows the trail into the heart of a hidden world where society’s most vulnerable vanish without a trace. As the case escalates, her investigation ...

Here comes the fifth globetrotting adventure in the fast-paced Bodies of Art Mystery series from USA TODAY bestselling author Ritter Ames. A masterpiece swapped for a forgery, a murder victim left behind, and a relentless game of hide and seek keeps Laurel Beacham and Jack Hawkes on the run. They are racing to find answers despite roadblocks at every turn. The chase crisscrosses the Atlantic as they pursue threads to murders and thefts that extend from the current day and back several decades. A startling forgery points toward an unexpected new nemesis, and the team pursues a Paris forger ...

(This book was previously published with the subtitle 'The Strange Case of the Exploding Dolly-trolley') When tragedy comes to Daisy's doorstep, it's way too close for comfort. Those responsible have to be brought to justice... and quickly, before they strike again. It’s been two weeks since Daisy brought Finn’s aristocratic world crashing down, and village life reverted to as normal as it ever gets where she is concerned. But then one morning it all changes, in a very disturbing way. To begin with, Daisy believes someone from her past is to blame. Before she retired, she had a job very...

Mystery, ghosts and gowns. In the charming Regency seaside town of Sidmouth, Devon, Trinity Bishop is thrilled to open her Jane Austen-themed tearoom on the picturesque seafront. However, the grand opening takes a dark turn when a guest is found murdered shortly after the festivities begin. After the chaos, a mysterious package arrives at Trinity’s door containing a ring that uncannily resembles one owned by Jane Austen herself. When Trinity slips it on, five ghosts materialize, bearing a striking resemblance to characters from Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice*. With her spectral ...

Anna is a wife, a mother, a businesswoman...and a serial killer. As part of a unique support group comprised of like minded compulsive multiple murderers known as the Bristol Savages, she has been able to suppress the compulsion to kill and begun to carve out a normal life for herself. But someone is aware of the Bristol Savages, and is targeting its members...and making it look as if Anna is responsible. At the same time, a new task force is set up to focus solely on psychopaths, and as this new unit begins to close in on her and the Bristol Savages, Anna must race against the clock to ...

Revised - Revamped - Refreshed in 2025 A Gripping Psychological Thriller That Will Keep You Riveted Until the Very Last Page… Investigating historical murders is nothing new for crime writer James and his new partner Geraldine—until the past turns dangerously personal. When Geri becomes the target of a relentless killer, their research takes a deadly twist. The closer they get to the truth, the more perilous the game becomes. Next door, Lee Barnes is preparing for his wife Lydia’s return. She’s spent six years behind bars for the unimaginable—killing their infant son. But as he ...

Teenager Cordelia Mathison went missing during a gap year trip in 2017. When her freshly dumped body is found three years later, in fields less than a mile from her home, local police are baffled. Detective Inspector Nate Lawrence is new to his posting on the east Essex coast. His first case here will challenge him like no other. The investigation takes him to a remote Mediterranean island and throws him together with Bridie Croft and her parents; an intriguing local family who may just hold the key to unlocking what seems like an impossible mystery.

When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he’s willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims. But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than Vera anticipates as her investigation takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate.

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.

Professor Claire Lane interrupted by a sudden telephone call to help in a murder investigation leaves the tranquility of Edinburgh for the country lanes of Oxford. Lord of the Realm, Inspector Ralph McGinnis is puzzled. Unlike his colleague Miss Lane is adamant this is a copycat murder. Last seen in the seventeenth century by an overzealous Venetian statesman. A well-known Australian financier is dead. Propped up in the Nativity scene outside the church. The vicar is acting strangely, could he have been persuaded to preach peace and good will during this festive season, or will Claire work ...

The new novel from Sunday Times No.1 best-seller, Martina Cole, sees the return of her iconic heroine DCI Kate Burrows. If you liked The Ladykiller you'll love Damaged. The 'undisputed queen of crime writing' ( Guardian) and the biggest selling female crime writer in the UK, Martina's unique, powerful storytelling includes Dangerous Lady, The Take, Betrayal and many more.

Diamonds are a girls best friend & the Russian Mafia's. The Russian Mafia are in the throes of abducting Anastasia, a seventeen year old school girl. Private detective Jack Hamma intervenes but the Mafia are the least of his problems, the Australian police are on his trail and, just to make things interesting, Anastasia falls for Jack hook, line and sinker ***Winner of the Rodney Fisher Award*** ‘A fantastic cast of characters in a smoothly written plot, with plenty of action to keep the reader interested.’ 'I finished the book. I then downloaded and read the next book in the series, ...

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.

When human remains are discovered under Bradford’s derelict Odeon car park, DS Nikita Parekh and her team are immediately called to the scene. Distracted by keeping her young nephew out of trouble, Nikki is relieved when the investigation is transferred to the Cold Case Unit, and she can finally focus on her family. But after the identity of the victim is revealed, she’s soon drawn back into the case. The dead man is a direct link to her painful past. As the body count begins to rise, Nikki must do everything she can to stop the killer in their tracks before anyone else gets hurt.

Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope's only thought is to get there quickly. But the snow is so heavy that she becomes disorientated and loses her way. Ploughing on, she sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her. With the driver's door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter, but when she inspects the car she is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat. Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child and drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognises as the house her father, Hector, grew up in.

A puzzling series of events … A strange scent … A unique gift … Dr Neroli Sonnclere knows when she smells a rat—and not just literally. Authorities are baffled when restaurants in Central London are suddenly plagued by rats. When it becomes clear that it’s more than a sanitary issue, Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Adam McClellan reluctantly calls on police consultant, Dr Neroli Sonnclere. Dr Sonnclere is an olfactory scientist born with an extra keen sense of smell. She has the unique ability to discern odours undetected by ordinary human beings. For her, smell tells a story. ...

A truth drug … A secret uncovered … A desire for revenge … Who do we trust? Our loved ones, our friends, strangers? In a world where the truth is not always straightforward, scientists have tried time and again to engineer a drug that would compel people to reveal all. But is it always a good idea? Scientist and Police Consultant Dr Neroli Sonnclere is pulled into the middle of a great discovery—of a powerful new truth drug. It seems everyone sees the advantages in using it, but not always for the right reasons. Neroli soon realises that those close to her have hidden agendas. She ...

Silent Voices is the fourth book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series - which is now a major TV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera. When DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim's throat - death is never that simple...