Showing titles in Traditional Detectives

Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, spends a lot of time looking at death. But now death has found her, with the news that her long-time friend Dan Golding has been killed in a house fire. Ruth's grief soon turns to suspicion of arson when she receives a desperate letter from Dan, sent the...

Ten full-cast vintage BBC Radio crime dramas featuring Michael Gilbert’s most enduring characters, including Mr Calder and Mr Behrens, Inspector Hazlerigg and Inspector Petrella A treat for any fan of crime dramas, this collection stars legendary voices including Prunella Scales, Maurice...

Kate Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not - outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon penny dreadfuls. Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig - and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan. 

**A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SUMMER BOOKS OF 2026 PICK** 'A deeply atmospheric tale' The Times 'A race against time, in every sense. A beautifully written crime thriller set against an atmospheric Brighton backdrop' Elly Griffiths Arthur Cotton is losing his once sharp mind to dementia. But when a...

“If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.”—Jeffery Deaver In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man’s life and his past to find a killer...

The best of the golden age crime writers, praised by all the top modern writers in the field including P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers created the immortal Lord Peter Wimsey. In his eighth appearance (and the second book featuring Harriet Vane), he solves a murder on a deserted English beach. With an introduction by Elizabeth George. A young woman falls asleep on a deserted beach and wakes to discover the body of a man whose throat has been slashed from ear to ear...

When a dog walker discovers a decaying corpse in Harterhow Woods it is surely just a matter of time before the police will close in upon the murderer. But despite a nationwide appeal the distinctive remains defy identification. Skelgill believes he knows the perpetrator - but his team have other ideas. As they unearth contradictory clues Skelgill becomes impatient - an arrest is made. But when the victim is finally named a new prime suspect emerges. Skelgill is determined to prevail - but the facts don't fit his gut feel.

When an English expat is brutally murdered, his charred corpse left on a Loire Valley hillside, the police turn to juge d’instruction Matthieu Lombard to find the perpetrator. Instead, Lombard discovers a wealth of secrets, grudges, and feuds in the idyllic town of Saint-Genèse-sur-Loire. He begins to suspect that the remaining members of the Comité des Fêtes know more about the death than they are letting on.

Round the Fire was the title of a series of 12 mystery and suspense short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, published monthly in The Strand Magazine between June 1898 and May 1899. The series was popular with contemporary readers, and while some of the individual stories, such as "The Brown Hand", have been regularly anthologised for many years and are well-known, there are some overlooked gems here, too.

The DS Tomek Bowen Series are fast-paced crime fiction stories featuring DS Tomek Bowen. The first three full-length books in this gripping series are brought together for the first time in this great value boxset.

'A deeply satisfying read' Sunday Times Christmas Day, and DCI Tom Reynolds receives an alarming call. A mass grave has been discovered on Oileán na Caillte, the island which housed the controversial psychiatric institution St. Christina's. The hospital has been closed for decades and onsite...

Judge Crowdy Lobbett has found evidence pointing to the identity of the criminal mastermind behind the deadly Simister gang. After four attempts on his life, he ends up seeking the help of the enigmatic and unorthodox amateur sleuth, Albert Campion. After Campion bundles Lobbett off to a country house in Mystery Mile deep in the Suffolk countryside, all manner of adventures ensue. It's a race against time for Campion to get the judge to safety and decipher the clue to their mysterious enemy's name.

September 1940. As the Blitz takes its nightly toll on London and Hitler prepares his invasion fleet just across the Channel in occupied France, Britain is full of talk about enemy agents. Suspicion is at an all-time high, and no one is sure who can be trusted. In Canning Town, rescue workers are unsettled when they return to a damaged street and discover a body that shouldn’t be there. When closer examination of the corpse reveals death by strangling, Detective Inspector John Jago is called upon to investigate.

Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of the Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. The clues of the hunt have been devised by Coombe's thriller-writer friends, disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found murdered in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances.

Brought to you by Penguin. The clock is ticking… Detective Constable Angus MacVicar has just landed his dream job – transferred out of uniform and assigned to Oldcastle’s biggest ongoing murder investigation: Operation Telegram, hunting the “Fortnight Killer”. Every two weeks another...

It's 1958, and Lord James and his wife, Beth, are hosting the annual spring fair. Then wealthy recluse Delphine Brooks-Hunter is murdered. James is summoned to the reading of her will and is tasked with solving an intriguing riddle. Meanwhile, Beth tackles her own mystery after discovering a homeless man suffering from amnesia. As they delve deeper, a number of questions emerge. What links Delphine to the fairground folk? Who would harm such a refined lady? Are rumours of World War espionage true?

Dark secrets. Devastating lies. Truths that must never be told. The chilling discovery of a body at a romantic beauty spot shakes the village of Gilsland. Everybody knows everybody in the tiny hamlet on the Scottish boarder. And everybody has a secret that outsiders must never know.

Read by AudioFile Golden Voice Simon Vance. The latest gripping Inspector Lynley mystery from the No. 1 international bestselling author. The brand-new Lynley TV series is on iPlayer now. Amid the beauty of Cornwall’s coastline, the death of a local man shatters the peace with its violence...

Marcus Didius Falco discovers that rank brings problems, the most gruesome of which is a corpse buried under the tiles of his new bath house. The contractors have fled to Britain where, as the Fates have it, Falco is ordered. A local chief and ally of the Romans is having a Palace built by the Emperor Vespasian. However, the project is running late, and fatal accidents keep happening. Falco, troubleshooting for the Emperor, is without an ally and now next on the list for assassination.

Meet DCI Lesley Clarke. She’s a straight-talking city copper who doesn’t suffer fools gladly… and she’s been transferred to rural Dorset. After being injured in a bomb attack, Lesley is presented with a choice — early retirement, or a period of respite in a calmer location. But things don’t stay calm for long. Before she’s even started her new job, Lesley is dragged into investigating a murder at one of England’s most iconic landmarks, the imposing Corfe Castle.