British Detective Mysteries

He’s already murdered eight women. Now, he’s coming for me. We find her on a grey November day on Dartmoor, England. I’m excavating a Bronze-Age cairn, expecting to find a burial urn and maybe some bronze tools if I’m really lucky. And then I see her fingers poking through the soil as if she’s trying to claw her way out of her grave. I’m an osteoarchaeologist, used to dealing with bones, and I know immediately she’s been in the ground for months rather than thousands of years. Then I find a message in the grave that’s clearly meant for me. It turns out the girl is the eighth...

Inspector Ralph McGinniss, Lord of the Realm, returns to his ancestral seat at Daroonga Castle in Oxfordshire for his annual holidays, only be called upon to investigate the housekeepers’ death from his cousin’s estate. Agnes Tonbridge is found dead on the front lawn. Was this an accident, or a chance to cover up other dealings by the inhabitants? Bedwin Hall is full of surprises. Lady Petunia, the daughter of the house is under suspicion. Ralph’s brother Stephen McGinniss is making a nuisance of himself with the Inspector’s fiancé, Lady Annabelle Frampton. Claire Lane, noted ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #16 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY."NOBODY SAW HER. NOBODY CAN FIND HER. When 37-year-old Lisa Jackson sets out for work one Friday morning she is in high spirits. Things are going well with her new boyfriend. But when she does not reach her desk, or answer her mobile phone, her colleagues and family raise the alarm. Suspicion immediately falls on co-worker Ray Piper. A married man, he and Lisa have recently ended an affair. But steely-eyed Piper denies any knowledge of Lisa’s disappearance.Yet...

Hallowe'en is coming... A series of mysterious murders dating back decades presents Kit Aston with his greatest challenge yet in this macabre tale. The latest victim is found by a medium, the mysterious Eva Kerr. Kit Aston discovers this murder is the tip of the iceberg. Is it a killer like Jack the Ripper or something much worse? And why have the murders been covered up over the years? With the help of Scotland Yard, London’s Gangland and Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Kit Aston is in a race against time to bring a sinister cult to justice. What reviewers are saying about Jack Murray’s Kit ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #5 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY."A SPATE OF VICIOUS ATTACKS upon valuable Herdwick sheep, the sudden disappearance of a foreign hiker, and the unexplained drowning of a woodland hermit – a series of apparently unconnected events – draw Detective Inspector Daniel Skelgill to the white-knuckle passes and isolated dales of deepest Lakeland. s straws in the wind suggest there is sorcery afoot – and a connection to an equally sinister trade in human traffic – Skelgill and his team risk dire ...

NEW FOR 2023 – STAND-ALONE, #21 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL ... A reality documentary crew is on the hunt for a victim. An unsolved murder from the 1970s that could leave the authorities red-faced. Celebrity criminologist Professor Simeon Freud plans to bask in the glory. Posing as a researcher, DS Jones joins the production team, but Skelgill must work in the shadows. His instincts rebel – not least that his protégé is prey to a narcissist on the one hand and a killer on ...

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.

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #17 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY." TWELVE CLOSE FRIENDS, ONE DEADLY ENEMY. A Ouija board spells out ‘MURDER’ and next morning wealthy widow Daisy Mills is found drowned at a Lakeland beauty spot. Was this a warning from beyond the grave, or an agent provocateur among the house party? Could the earlier death of successful businessman Simon Mills really be the accident it seemed? And was it by coincidence that the same clique of old school friends had met before each tragedy? Pitched into ...

STAND-ALONE MURDER MYSTERY, #13 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "MAD, BAD AND JUST A LITTLE BIT COZY."MURDER ON THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS? When the exclusive London-to-Edinburgh sleeper plunges into a snowdrift deep in the Cumbrian fells, DI Skelgill awakes to discover one fellow passenger dead and another missing. Through a blinding blizzard Skelgill leads a daring evacuation – but even before they reach the sanctuary of an isolated coaching inn, a third traveller suffers a life-threatening mishap. As suspicion pervades the elite group of apparent strangers, ...

A luxury home. A deadly dinner. A brutal execution. Property developer Grant Cooper had it all—wealth, power, enemies. But when he’s murdered mid-meal, DI Hogarth finds himself unravelling a crime that’s more than just blood and betrayal. Beneath the lies, beyond the crime scene—Hogarth is about to uncover a truth no one can bear to face. As rival forces close in, Hogarth must fight a war on two fronts. One deadly case. Two powerful enemies. Is this the end of the line? ★★★★★ “Fast paced! Cant wait for the next one!” If you love gritty crime thrillers, shocking twists,...

Inspector Hogarth is in deep trouble. The two men who once sought his blood now aim to eliminate each other. Only Hogarth stands between them. To stop them, he must plunge into deadly danger—and to protect his colleagues, he must do it alone. With the town teetering on the edge of a gang war, Hogarth faces a harrowing truth: he has become the catalyst for a new crimewave. He will fight on, alone. He will attempt to conceal the truth. But DS Palmer won’t stand idly by. Nor will the other woman in his life… The trouble is, their intervention might make things far, far worse… Against ...

“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 ...

This four-book series of short murder mysteries, follows the adventures and lives of four detectives. Set in in the mid-1970s a small Norfolk seaside town provides the setting. Each book provides a complete story and each story focuses on the detection of at least one crime. Great for readers who like a short story with a satisfactory conclusion. The characters in this four-book series also provide a thread which links the books together.

NEW FOR 2022 – STAND-ALONE, #19 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK BRITISH DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." EVIL LIES UNDETECTED. When shepherd Jud Hope finds an American passport in a fox’s earth, a connection is made to an unidentified fatality – an elderly female walker who fell to her death in a treacherous rocky gill near Ambleside. Meanwhile, a spate of ‘nighthawker’ incidents sees ancient monuments desecrated under cover of darkness. The spotlight falls upon Derek Shaw, a museum curator exploring Cumbria’s Roman heritage. Onto this stage emerges a ...

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 ...

SPARROWHAWK –The Accidental Death of a Dead Man. It was reported as a straightforward road accident. Perhaps it was but the crash scene gave rise to more questions than answers. For Sparrowhawk, this might well be seen as an accidental death; but it couldn’t possibly be the accidental death … of an already dead man … could it? Then there was Merrick Nethercutt. Maybe he was just a frustrated writer and novelist, hungry for literary success … or perhaps a narcissistic psychopath prepared to commit murder in order to claim a place at the table of world prize winning authors. ...

A threatening letter is sent to a Cornish news website, warning that a dead body has been hidden at a remote clifftop location. When Detective Inspector Zennor races to the scene, she discovers that the victim is still alive - but barely. Journalist Jason Blake has been beaten and left to die in the elements of the wild Atlantic coast. The man has a checkered past... could it be that an old score is being settled? The news comes just as DI Zennor, Cartwright, and Boswell are ready to make a breakthrough in the human trafficking case - forcing them to divert their time and attention ...

A quirky, dark-edged mystery full of twists, turns and playful surprises Max Black, retired stock broker and single parent, is facing a crisis. His daughter has left for university, and despite the companionship of his faithful Cairn terrier Monty, he feels panicked, untethered and not very well. His doctor tells him to get out more, change his lifestyle and find himself a job. Could Duntisbourne Hall, a rundown stately home recruiting tour guides, be the answer to his empty-nest syndrome? Joining the team of eccentric retired professionals who shuffle the general public around on tour, he ...

When a top Hollywood Agent is found poisoned in the bathtub of her home, suspicion quickly turns to one of her two nieces. But Carol Childs, a reporter for a local talk radio station, doesn’t believe it. The suspect is her neighbor and friend, and also her primary source for insider industry news. After a media frenzy pits one niece against the other—and the body count starts to rise—Carol knows she must save her friend from being tried in the court of public opinion. Even the most seasoned reporter can be surprised, and when a Hollywood psychic shows up in Carol’s studio one night ...

STAND-ALONE, #18 IN THE SERIES. MEET MAVERICK DETECTIVE DI SKELGILL... "A COMPELLING BRITISH CRIME MYSTERY." A BLIND EYE TURNED, AN INJUSTICE DONE. High in lonely Swinesdale, notorious burglars Jake and Boris Baddun perish in a burnt-out stolen Mercedes. Known associate Dale Spooner leaves his biological signature and the predatory DI Alec Smart moves in for the kill. Spooner is convicted, and now languishes in jail. A rumour reaches Skelgill: Spooner is innocent and can prove it – a cast-iron alibi, a video on a hidden mobile phone. But Spooner will not talk. At stake is the safety of ...