Scotland Detective

In January 1938, a young man is found shot dead in the garden of the West London house where he is a lodger. Within days, two more men of similar age are murdered in the same area. The circumstances are almost identical in each case. A small-calibre weapon had been used – and given the absence of noise, it was almost certainly fitted with a silencer. Chief Inspector Adair investigates. Clearly, a serial killer is at large, and the newspapers are full of ‘Jack the Ripper’ references, with innuendos about the competence of the police. Then a fourth man is found. This time, the pistol is...

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 ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #6 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." SUMMONED TO AN ISOLATED maximum-security hospital, DI Skelgill inadvertently catches the eye of a notorious female serial killer. Does she read his censorious thoughts? Is this the trigger that turns a routine investigation into a rollercoaster of murder, mayhem, escapes and hostage taking? And what of the establishment? Are these crises purely coincidental, or is some conspiracy afoot? Could it be blackmail, corruption, a power struggle ... or something ...

A dead man’s secret. A government that kills to keep it. And a PI who won’t let go. When PI Callie Munro finds her tech specialist murdered inside his fortress-like Edinburgh flat, she knows the killing wasn’t random. He let his killer in. What he left behind is far more dangerous...

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 ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #3 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." WHEN A MAN IS FOUND STRANGLED by a climbing rope beneath the Lake District's notorious Sharp Edge, it is assumed he is the victim of a tragic accident. But Detective Inspector Skelgill suspects otherwise, and his fears are borne out when a second corpse is discovered close to Striding Edge. Soon it appears that a ritualistic serial killer stalks Cumbria's fells. As the body count increases, Skelgill must determine the connection between the seemingly randomly ...

The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysteries series, finds private investigator Jackson Brodie following three seemingly unconnected family mysteries in Edinburg. "The best mystery of the decade." —Stephen King Case One: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case Two: A...

Two more cases for Philip Bryce. 1. An affluent elderly lady dies. The death certificate cites ‘natural causes’, but the servants are uncomfortable. A parlourmaid decides to go to New Scotland Yard, and talk to someone there. She is fortunate, because Detective Sergeant Haig happens to pass through the foyer while she is trying to explain. The busy desk officer intercepts him, and asks to him to listen to the maid’s story. Haig listens politely, but is ready to dismiss the story as tittle-tattle, when he hears one thing which makes him take notice. He goes to report to his boss, DCI ...

There are at least two reasons why Robin Whitaker wants to eliminate his wife, Dulcie. He is not allowed to drink any alcohol, nor to gamble. Dulcie controls his life to an extent that he finds intolerable. But she is also wealthy, so merely leaving her is not an acceptable option. In most circumstances Dr Whitaker thinks and acts like the very intelligent and highly-educated man he is. However, he has somehow convinced himself that the action of killing his wife is justified. He is also certain that his innate brainpower will give him a significant edge over any police detectives, and ...

In July 1949, an unpopular and deeply unpleasant man is stabbed to death in the courthouse of an English city. As the murder has been committed in a room to which the general public doesn’t have access, it seems probable that the culprit is someone involved with the business of the courts. Suspects include a number of lawyers, police officers, and magistrates. For various reasons, the local Chief Constable decides to ask Scotland Yard to investigate the murder. Chief Inspector Philip Bryce and Sergeant Alex Haig are assigned to the case. Theirs is a recent partnership, but the two men ...

1952. In a very upmarket London brothel, two people - a patron and a prostitute - are found dead. The establishment is frequented by some of the most influential figures in the country - MPs, senior civil servants, military officers, businessmen, members of the peerage, etc. Some thirty years earlier, an attempt to close the place down had ended in ignominious failure. Whether this is a double murder or a murder and suicide is unclear. But whichever it might be, the deaths have occurred in a place with very sensitive connections (and a history which has become a legend in the Metropolitan ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #11 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." WHEN BEAUTIFUL YOUNG SOCIALITE Scarlett Liddell apparently commits suicide during a ‘Murder Mystery Weekend’, extravagantly staged at a Lakeland castle, the coroner calls in DI Skelgill to tie up the loose ends. Post mortem results, however, cast doubt upon the provisional verdict – and circumstantial evidence begins to point to one obvious suspect – the woman’s multi-millionaire husband, Will Liddell. And when Will Liddell is accused of a separate ...

A beautiful summer day turns violent when a crowd witnesses a sudden act of extreme road rage where a tap on a fender triggers a nearly homicidal attack, leading one of the bystanders—Jackson Brodie, ex-cop, ex-private detective, new millionaire—to take on the case. The event thrusts Jackson...

Days before the outbreak of WW2, in the great house of one of London’s famous socialite hostesses, a guest is shot dead in his bedroom. The local CID, aware of the prominence and influence of the owner and her typical guests, passes the matter to Scotland Yard. The case is given to Chief Inspector David Adair and two of his colleagues. Adair finds that none of the other guests knew the victim, or at least hadn’t seen him since his childhood. None of the servants had ever met him at all. The detectives’ first job was to find a motive – and that would not prove an easy task.

The new installment in the “relentlessly engrossing series” (The Wall Street Journal) finds Karen Pirie and her team investigating the murder of a journalist paved under a motorway—but was it his work or his private life that put him there? Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain...

Six dark Highland mysteries. One relentless detective. Sarah Lynch has become Fort William's most skilled investigator, solving impossible crimes across the unforgiving Highland landscape. This collection brings together six standalone mysteries that showcase her methodical brilliance, from locked-room puzzles to environmental murders, family betrayals to ritual killings. THE WHISKY GRAVE (Book 7) A master distiller found dead inside a sealed whisky cask. Family secrets fermenting for generations. Sarah must navigate century-old feuds and modern greed to expose a killer hiding behind ...

In 1950, a death occurs under the uniquely-banded cliffs in Hunstanton. It is soon realised that this is a case of murder, but the Norfolk police inspector runs into difficulties, and Scotland Yard DCI Philip Bryce finds himself back in the county for the second time in a matter of months. A local amateur detective with a considerable knowledge of murder cases (both real and fictional) is determined to help the police, and comes up with various suggestions. However, initially neither he nor the police seem to be able to pin all the usual key elements – means, motive, and opportunity – ...

Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives—known as “The Murder Squad”—to investigate thousands of murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant...

Following a shooting in a seedy London public house in 1945, the female killer was never found – never even identified – by the local police. Six years later, another victim is shot. It soon appears that this may also be the work of the woman who carried out the Rabid Dog murder years before. Scotland Yard is called in. With no other senior officer available, Philip Bryce takes the case himself, supported by DS Lomax and DC Firth. Their hunt requires them to involve police in other cities in both England and Scotland.

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #15 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." VIRILE; HANDSOME; RUTHLESS. When gamekeeper Lawrence Melling takes over at traditional Lakeland sporting estate Shuteham Hall he soon ruffles the feathers of not only elderly Lord Edward Bullingdon and his younger model wife Miranda, but also their adult offspring and fellow estate workers. Meanwhile local conservationists perceive an existential threat to rare hen harriers nesting on nearby Over Moor. And when Miranda’s jewellery worth a six-figure sum goes...