British Historical Crime

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France.

A village mystery… A Victorian Christmas Inspector Josiah Abbs is off to Norfolk, reunited for Christmas with his sister, Hetty. He’s anticipating a quiet week, while he weighs up his future. But beneath the surface, life in sleepy Aylmer is not all it seems. Someone is playing malicious tricks on the villagers. A tragic accident has shocked friends and neighbours. With little time to act, and determined to protect Hetty, Abbs feels compelled to uncover the truth… An Inspector Abbs mystery novella – linking the first and third novels in the series. .

The Phantom is back... It's 1920 and a series of daring diamond robberies take place in London's fashionable West End by a thief who leaves a calling card. Kit Aston investigates, and this time he's brought his aunt... What seems a straightforward case spirals out of control as London gangland's 'Elephant Boys' become involved. Can Kit, his fiancee Mary, Aunt Agatha and a film-making chauffeur called Alfred succeed where Scotland Yard have failed? 'The Phantom' is a fast-paced whodunnit, sparkling with romance and humour. The Kit Aston mysteries mix real life historical characters and ...

A Riviera crime novel the way you want it to be! The newly married Kit Aston and Mary are back in their latest crime caper that takes you from a stag weekend in Scotland to the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s latest film and onto the gaming tables of Monte Carlo. When Kit and Mary join Agatha in Monte Carlo, they are shocked to discover that Prince Albert I has asked her to investigate unusual gambling activities in the casino. This becomes a murder investigation when Kit’s Uncle Alastair is accused of being a killer. The finger of blame points towards the mysterious Bluebeard Club. Can Kit ...

Christmas at a snowed in country house. You know what happens next… Not necessarily. Agatha Aston is invited to spend the weekend before Christmas with some old friends. Accompanied by her Machiavellian Basset hound, Talleyrand, Agatha encounters murder, ghosts and romance at a country house where nothing is as it seems. While Agatha has her hands full solving a murder, Talleyrand has his own problems in the shape of Bismarck, the hosts’ unfriendly German Shepherd. Expect fireworks. Containing a short ghost story within a story, The Christmas Murder Mystery is a twisty box of delights, ...

All chess games end in a murder... It's 1920, the murders of a trade unionist, a knight and a bishop shock Britain. The finger of blame seems to point to Russia. As the body count rises, Kit Aston plays a deadly game of chess with a Russian grandmaster where checkmate is a matter of life or death. The latest Kit Aston whodunnit is a gripping historical crime thriller, full of twists and hilarious one liners which fuses classic murder mystery with a spy novel. The Kit Aston mysteries mix real life historical characters and events with crime thrillers full of red herrings. No books are the ...

New York on New Year’s Eve 1921 glitters like a diamond in a police searchlight… Kit and Mary Aston join Aunt Agatha and Uncle Alastair in New York to usher in 1922. At a lavish murder mystery party hosted by the charismatic writer, Amory Beaufort, tensions simmer among the elite guests before his murder throws the party off its Foxtrot and into a a wild chase to prevent the next death. Containing a short mystery story within a story, The New Year’s Eve Murders is perfect holiday reading for murder mystery fans of all ages who like Agatha Christie with a dash of PG Wodehouse and Damon...

A mysterious stranger carrying a swordstick walks the gaslit alleys and night houses of Victorian London.What is he seeking?London in 1853 - a mist-shrouded city where the grand houses of the wealthy lie a stone's throw from the vilest slums and rookeries of the poor.Who is this man so determined to fight for justice against all the wrongs of Victorian society? What are the origins of the mysterious William Quest?In a pursuit from the teeming streets of London to the lonely coast of Norfolk, Inspector Anders of Scotland Yard is determined to uncover the truth.To an explosive climax where ...

In the Lake District National Park, where unprecedented drought has exposed the ruins of Mardale Green—a village submerged since 1935—Detective Inspector Tobias Stone discovers human remains on the floor of the old village smithy. What begins as a puzzling cold case evolves into something far more complex, revealing connections between a missing librarian from 1972 and celebrated local author Victor Matheson's literary career. When forensic evidence suggests deliberate murder and concealment, Stone must navigate both a half-century evidence trail and the treacherous intersection of ...

“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 ...

Victorian London 1874… In public halls and darkened parlours, the fever for spiritualism is at its height… A stranger in the great Metropolis, Josiah Abbs must solve his first case at Scotland Yard. A grieving architect has been murdered. Seemingly, he disturbed an intruder. Only Inspector Abbs believes the truth is darker and more complicated. London is seeping over its green borders like a blot of dark ink… Some thrive here among the teeming, heart of Empire. Others are silently sinking, caught in a mystery of lies and loss. When two cases tangle, Abbs will risk everything to ...

When an elderly priest is murdered, the killer searches the victim so roughly that his already ragged cassock is torn in the process. What was the killer looking for? And what had a dying woman confided to the priest on her deathbed only hours earlier? Mark Easterbrook and his sidekick, Ginger Corrigan, are determined to find out. Maybe the three women who run The Pale Horse public house - and who are rumored to practice the "Dark Arts" - can provide some answers....

Bubble, bubble, toil, and murder... When a woman is found dead near her village in Norfolk, the verdict is suicide. Not everyone agrees. Detective James Simpson is ordered to investigate and he brings Agatha Aston, Betty Simpson and Talleyrand the hound, with him. They stumble across a tale of murder that stretches back two centuries. Part occult story, part murder mystery - this creepy tale is steeped in witchcraft and strange rural festivals where everything is not as it seems. The second Agatha Aston murder mystery is full of laughs, twists and things that go bump in the night. Golden ...

Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs. In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before.

When a grocer is found dead in his corner shop, it seems clear that he was killed by the same man apprehended for other robberies in the area. But DCI Tyler is not convinced that the case is that simple. The pressures of inner-city policing are relentless, and Tyler is only adding to his reputation as a maverick and a liability by keeping on with the investigation, despite repeated warnings from above. But the detective, true to form, is like a dog with a bone, regardless of the consequences. When complaints about his methods start to pour in, Tyler becomes more convinced that he is onto ...

Philippa Langley reveals the findings of a remarkable new research initiative: ‘The Missing Princes Project'. In the summer of 1483, Edward V (aged 12) and his brother Richard Duke of York (aged 9), disappeared from the Tower of London. For over 500 years, history has judged that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle Richard III. Following years of intensive research in UK, American and European archives, astonishing new archival discoveries have been uncovered that change what we know about the fate of the Princes in the Tower.

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.

When a woman with a past is brutally murdered, the detectives assigned to the investigation discover that there’s no shortage of motives and suspects. A faceless corpse is found in a local park. DCI Tyler and DS Mills establish that the dead woman was working at two brothels in the city, and operating under the name Scarlet. A wealth of suspects and motives are uncovered, and Scarlet, a complex young woman with an interesting past, appears to have been leading a secret life. The investigation stalls, and Tyler’s long-suffering boss goes off sick, his ambitious replacement demanding a ...

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot's breakfast, confessing that she is a murderer - and then promptly disappears. Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.

The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: “I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.” Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.