British Detective

'A fantastic writer.' Donald Ray Pollock 'Nigel Bird is fast becoming one of the top writers in his genre.' Luca Veste DIRTY OLD TOWN is the debut collection from the prize-winning writer Nigel Bird. His brilliantly observed slices of life allow us to visit places we may not normally choose to enter and to walk a few miles in the shoes of others. Though his tales have darkness at their core, they are also full of a heart and spirit that one rarely finds in the world or ‘noir’ or ‘crime-writing’. There are 9 stories here: Drinking Wine (Spo-Dee-Oh-Dee); Dirty Old Town; Sea Minor; ...

When is a death a murder? There’s trouble brewing in the idyllic town of Faukon Abbey. The main employer, Gwedrow Glassworks plans big layoffs and tempers flare. When Marion Rivers, a pillar of the community, is found lifeless in her bathtub, it becomes a case for DI Peter Greene and DC Terry Ford. Their efforts are compounded by one injured cyclist and another cyclist who has disappeared. As secrets emerge, yet another chilling death further shatters the peace. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter from the Faukon Abbey Chronicle, digs in to unravel the twisted web of lies and motives. Will Greene’s...

A new assignment for Penny Küfer! Has Niní Delight, the head of a luxury lingerie chain, really taken her own life with arsenic? The young woman had everything one could wish for: the villa of her dreams, professional success, a famous burlesque diva for a sister and, on top of that, a mysterious new lover. Who’d want to end such a life in this way? The police have ruled out foul play. But—as Penny will soon discover—nothing is what it seems in the world of silk, French lace, and glamour...

In the idyllic lakeside town of Tumblebrook, stories are currency—and silence is power. When beloved librarian Eleanor Perkins dies under suspicious circumstances, innkeeper Amelia Farnsworth discovers that her quaint community is built on more than cobblestones and cordial smiles. What was once a postcard-perfect community on Minnesota’s North Shore soon reveals a hidden past—one written in coded journals, forged documents, and whispered betrayals. With the help of her sharp-eyed friend Clara Henderson and the inn’s feline guardian, Lady Grey, Amelia begins to piece together ...

All has been quiet in Liverpool, suspiciously quiet… So, when a frantic 999 call comes into Hale Street Police Station reporting a missing woman, it seems like there’s work to do. Except for DI Sheridan Holler there are questions. Why did Caroline Crow take her purse, suitcase and even tell friends she was going away? There’s no reason to suspect foul play…until a severed, burned hand is delivered to another address.

Lord Francis and Lady Ottilia Fanshawe have suffered a devastating blow. With Ottilia sunk deep into a depression, Francis is desperate to get his beloved wife back. So when he hears about a murder at the seaside town of Weymouth, an idea starts to form.... A young girl's body has been discovered, laid out in an open coffin, surrounded by candles. The staged scene, and the fact that the victim was a member of a theatrical troupe, suggests one of her colleagues is the killer. Knowing Ottilia's sharp intuition and penchant for solving mysteries, Francis brings her to the murder site.

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past. But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes? Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences.

Detective Jake Jackson left London for a quiet life in Caelum Parvum. The idyllic country village offers the peace he craves—tending to his chickens, swimming in his lake, and spending long, lazy evenings with his new love, Livia. It’s the perfect setting for their relationship to blossom. Then a case from the past re-emerges, shattering the calm and plunging Jake into the shadowy world of No Taboo—a clandestine group which serves the extravagant whims of Britain’s elite.

Hours later, the man’s cold body lies in the city mortuary, alongside the woman he couldn’t save. And his sister, unconventional nurse Gemma Tate, tracks down troubled police inspector Sebastian Bell to unravel the truth. Sebastian has enough pressure to solve the murder of an aristocratic heiress without Gemma meddling in his case. But the cryptic sentences she brings him from her brother’s notebook could be a crucial lead. If only they knew what “milky way” meant.

The last thing DS Stephanie Johnson and DS Andy Carter expected during their much-needed canal holiday was a murder. When retired folk musician Annie Shipton is found stabbed through the neck at the helm of her barge, the couple can’t help investigating the seemingly impossible crime. Nobody else boarded Annie’s boat—so how was she killed from behind?

Amazon Best-Selling Author Bronze Medal winner--Global Book Awards Haunted by obscure clues Hunted by a madman Faced with an impossible choice Tabitha Black is ecstatic. The man of her dreams, Charles London, Scotland Yard’s best Detective Inspector, needs her to drive him to Ghost Haven so he can recuperate from a bullet to the head. Her mind imagines witty conversations and maybe a stolen kiss or two. But on the drive down, he makes it very clear that he wishes she wasn’t driving him. Later at Ghost Haven when he collapses from his head wound, Tabitha is forced to approve emergency ...

BIRDS OF A FEATHER, KILL TOGETHER A smuggling operation, orchestrated by paramilitary groups representing both religious factions, takes a fatal turn when a local farmer loses his life, and journalist Jock McDevitt is left injured from a gunshot. This incident hits close to home for Ian Wilson, the leader of the Belfast Murder Squad, intensifying his determination to apprehend the perpetrators. As the Belfast Murder Squad delves into the investigation, they uncover a web of criminal conspiracies that transcend old rivalries, uniting former foes from opposite sides of the sectarian divide. ...

In 1950s Dublin, Rosa Jacobs, a young history scholar, is found dead in her car. Renowned pathologist Dr. Quirke and DI St. John Strafford begin to investigate the death as a murder, but it’s the victim’s older sister Molly, an established journalist, who discovers a lead that could crack open the case. One of Rosa’s friends, it turns out, is from a powerful German family that arrived in Ireland under mysterious circumstances shortly after World War II. But as Quirke and Strafford close in, their personal lives may put the case—and everyone involved—in peril, including Quirke’s own daughter.

Rilton Castle has been peaceful for many months but the discovery of the body of a young Indian man dumped in a ditch near the village shatters the calm. Chief Inspector Muga starts an enquiry into the man’s death and discovers he had been digging into the private life of several of the local residents. Who killed Ramjap Shastri? Was it Mike Ash, to protect his nephews? Was it Dax, to protect the only family that had ever made him feel welcome? Was it Ben Hillor to protect his wife from shame? Or was it someone from outside the community who also bore a grudge against Shastri? As the ...

Book #1 in the Rupert Mulligan Golfing Mysteries The story opens with Rupert Mulligan receiving an urgent plea for assistance from Michael Foley, a wealthy businessman residing in Magennis, Northern Ireland. Foley is convinced his life is under imminent threat and seeks Mulligan's immediate intervention. Intrigued by this troubling request, Mulligan sets off for Ireland accompanied by his trusted companion, Colonel Lockhart. Upon arriving, they are confronted by the grim scene of Foley's brutal murder on his own golf course, close to a newly refurbished putting green. The investigation ...

Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sits the corpse of Mrs.Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her. With only 24 hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he'd overheard back in Jerusalem: "You see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?" Mrs. Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he'd ever met....

Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, along with his partner Thomas Llewelyn, has a long, accomplished history—he's worked with all aspects of society, from the highest (including the Crown and the government) to the lowest (various forces in London's underworld). He's been the target of murder attempts, character assassination, bombings and attacks upon his closest associates but never has he and his agency partner Thomas Llewelyn faced such destruction and potential disaster.

The Adventure of the Deadly Dish is the first case of The Missing Cases of Sherlock Holmes. In this case, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are faced with a most unusual set of circumstances. Can they put the puzzle together?

A dead man on the beach. A detective with everything to prove. And a secret that won't stay buried. When a man’s body washes up on the North Yorkshire coast with a gunshot wound to the chest, DCI Tom Raven is handed the case. The only clue to the victim’s identity? A ring engraved with two names. Raven hasn’t set foot in Scarborough for over thirty years. Now he’s back – leading a murder investigation and facing ghosts from his past.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside. The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.