British Traditional Detectives

Chief Inspector Brian Hooley has a plan, and it won't make him popular. He wants to bring back autistic detective Jonathan Roper. Currently suspended on misconduct charges, his condition, coupled with a relentless work ethic, makes Roper a unique investigator with observational skills that allow him to see what others miss. But he is also a complex man who doesn't get social boundaries, and plenty of his colleagues just don't like him. Hooley doesn't care about that. He knows Roper is the one to make a difference.

A detective on the edge. A hit-and-run. A dangerous truth. DI Joe Hogarth's private troubles have exploded out of control. When reformed villain Benny Spencer becomes the victim of a hit-and-run, a new case opens—one that threatens to be the end of DI Hogarth in more ways than one. ★★★★★ “Fast paced - difficult to put down!” As Hogarth grapples with his secret crisis, he's forced to investigate the hit-and-run. Stretched to his limits, Hogarth's bad choices and mistakes could cost him his job—or his life. ★★★★★ “Gripping… He writes so vividly that it's almost...

The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex-DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.

Girls Together magazine agony-aunt 'Mrs Friendly-wise', aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine's regular correspondents, 'Amista'. But reaching the address – a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all the descriptions in the letters – nobody has even heard of 'Amista'. As Katinka begins to fall for the dashing master of the house, Carleon, more strange mysteries emerge and the plucky Detective Inspector Chucky joins the search for the truth in this self-consciously lurid mystery-melodrama.

Sherlock Holmes is sent to America to negotiate on behalf of Mycroft while a serial killer has Scotland Yard in a twist. The clock is ticking, and only Holmes can piece together the clues to stop the killing spree. With an ocean span away, Holmes's return is critical. He must make it back, but is there enough time?

A stand-alone mystery featuring DCI Peter Hatherall. Malicious pranks or a deadly obsession? Everyone knew the significance of the noose left hanging in the tree outside James Palmer's home. A young man hung himself from the tree two years earlier. Someone is determined this time the guilty ones will pay. DCI Hatherall must unmask a master of disguise before everyone connected to the suicide is slaughtered.

One of the greatest locked-room murder mysteries of all time, hailing from 1938, returns to baffle a new bevy of armchair detectives. James Answell, visiting his father-in-law Avery Hume in his locked study, has the misfortune to wake up from a drugged-Whisky swoon to find his host dead, skewered with an arrow. He is, of course, prime suspect.

Time to discover a brilliantly twisty mystery series. A tradesman is set alight in his vehicle on an isolated road. His daughter is missing. And time is running out. “I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t read fast enough.” “Totally riveting.” “Superb murder mystery and police procedural.” DI Fiona Williams is a driven detective juggling work with a family crisis and growing suspicions about her new boss. Her plan to take a break is shattered when she comes across a burning van while driving home late after visiting her father in hospital. It’s too late to help the ...

A stand-alone mystery featuring DCI Peter Hatherall.Vivien Morse, a young social worker is discovered battered to death in Silver Lady Woods. Everyone assumes she was attacked by her estranged husband until her supervisor disappears. The connection appears to be Vivien’s last client. A damaged and disturbed girl who believes a bundle of rags is her lost baby and never leaves the family farm while she awaits the return of her lover. The matter is confused by the arrival of a stranger to the area clearly searching for something or someone and an escaped convict with connections to the area....

She should say no. She’s not a detective after all. But how can she? When Felicity Philips receives a panicked call from an old friend, there simply isn’t a way that she can turn him down. Edward, the jeweller to the crown, is in deep trouble and he cannot tell the police. His terrible truth must be kept secret. But what is his motivation for calling Felicity? Does he really believe she is the only one who can help? Or are his motivations more personal and dark than he is letting on? With her usual cast of supporting misfits, Felicity is going to see what she can do … … but when she...

One buried body. Many hidden secrets. When the body of an unknown teenage girl is discovered following a storm, the community of Birkbury closes ranks to protect their secrets. As a seasoned detective, DCI Peter Hatherall’s expectation of solving the historic case is low. No local girls were reported missing twenty years ago, and she was buried in a field easily accessible from a major road. Beneath the villagers’ good manners and polite smiles, he discovers deep-seated resentments and family feuds spanning decades, but little interest in what happened to the girl. With only two ...

A stand-alone mystery featuring DCI Peter Hatherall. The police are baffled by the discovery of a stranger shot in the forehead and left in a disused barn on land belonging to a local racehorse trainer. When people connected to Elmsgrove Racing Stables start turning up dead, the race is on to uncover how the stranger is connected to the area and who is behind the murders. The racing community is about to learn their deadliest enemy may be someone close. The quiet drinker in the corner of the pub may be a serial killer. And the crazy drunk may be the key to unlocking the mystery. A classic ...

A single mother is brutally murdered in her garden. DI Fiona Williams interprets the crime scene differently from her colleagues but fears her history of failed relationships taints her judgment. The wrong decision will change the lives of three children forever. In a male-dominated department, with mounting evidence pointing in the other direction, will she find the courage to trust her instincts and narrow the investigation? An intriguing mystery that blurs the distinction between the villain and the victim.

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.

Albert and Rex are going to the palace. It’s the day the Kings' birthday honour list recipients get their knighthoods, but like everywhere else they go, there is trouble to be found. With his three children and youngest granddaughter, Apple-Blossom, in tow, Albert is a little embarrassed by the lavishness of the affair. Yet all that is forgotten when he spots a man he knows. A man guilty of murder. A man who can only be at the palace for one thing. But Albert is about to be presented to the king, now is not the time to be chasing criminals. I guess that's why he's Rex's sidekick. Step ...

In the peace and tranquility of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring. The phone belongs to DC Smith, and it isn't unusual that the call is from Kings Lake Central police station; what is unusual is the fact that he seems to be the subject of an investigation rather than taking part in one. What can the links be between a prisoner's violent death in another county, the disappearance of two teenagers, and the highest profile case in Kings Lake for many years?

Sherlock Holmes must contend with his past upon returning from the great hiatus. Unanswered questions linger in his mind. Holmes is aware that Watson is hiding something, but Watson struggles with the secret. The veil begins to tear by a visitor at their door, and what seems a simple request turns into a life or death encounter.

In a tranquil Kentish village, Dr Sandys and his wife are preparing for Christmas with their guest, Liane 'Lee' Crauford. Festivities start badly when their party is spoiled by an enigmatic widow new to the village, and the atmosphere hits rock bottom when the pompous local nobleman and ceramic-collector Sir Henry Metcalfe unexpectedly dies. Sensing potential villains among Metcalfe's circle, Lee teams up with Detective-Inspector Hugh Gordon to discover the killer playing merry hell with her holiday in this lost vintage mystery, republished for the first time since 1952.

The latest in the USA Today bestselling CSI Reilly Steel series. A summer celebration. Two victims. And the perfect cover-up... When the body of a teenage boy is found beaten to death in his own bedroom, and a girl attending a party at his house reports an attempted assault, the police believe both incidents are related. But when a sweep of the crime scene throws up some truly puzzling forensic evidence, CSI Reilly Steel wonders if those initial suspicions are correct. And as the investigation deepens, and her GFU team begins to delve into the online lives of both teenage victims, even more...

Impossible crime stories have delighted people since the invention of detective fiction as puzzle-lovers sought more cerebral entertainment. Following on from Miraculous Mysteries, CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards brings together a whole new casebook of mystifying locked room mysteries and impossible crimes. Featuring more great stories by John Dickson Carr, Julian Symons and Margery Allingham alongside newly rediscovered writers, this selection of stories will bring you more insight into one of the most celebrated and dazzling sub-genres of detective fiction.