Richard Simpson

The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. With friends and family gathered round the fire, all should be set for a perfect Christmas, but as the bells chime midnight, a mysterious murder takes place. Who can be responsible? The scorned young lover? The lord's passed-over cousin? The social climbing politician's wife? The Czech history professor? The obsequious butler? And perhaps the real question is: can any of them survive long enough to tell the tale?

Fearless journalist Clive Grail is bent on uncovering a scandal of blue films and blackmail in respectable Flaxborough. But when he publishes his revelations of the town's murky past he finds himself at the hub of a much more chilling and sinister crime...

Inspector Purbright tackles another mystery in the respectable market town of Flaxborough: a ritual killing is being linked to Satanism and black magic, but could it be a smokescreen for the real motive?

Clandestine operative Benbow Smith recruits a former Secret Service agent to bring down an enemy of the free world. Soon the agents are enmeshed in a spiraling web of blackmail, intrigue, and murder, fighting a predatory criminal who is a master of deceit and manipulation.

Morse is taken aback by the apparent suicide of Anne Scott at her home in Jericho. Morse knew her well as they were members of the same choir. But when her nosy neighbour is also killed, Morse is convinced that Anne was murdered...  Book 5 of series.

At the Central Criminal Court, a crowd awaits the trial of Victoria Lamartine, a participant in the Resistance during the war. She is now employed at the Family Hotel in Soho, where Major Eric Thoseby has been found murdered. Thoseby is believed to have fathered Lamartine's child, and the prosecution insist that his death is revenge for his abandonment of Lamartine and her arrest by the Gestapo. Lamartine's defence counsel grants solicitor Nap Rumbold just eight days to prove her innocence, with the highest of stakes should he fail.

The murder of a young woman; a cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem; and a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man - more than enough to set Chief Inspector Morse on the trail of a killer. But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis . . .  Book 12 of series.

A theatre-owner, a 'slightly sinister' producer, a burgeoning playwright and a cast of ego-driven actors have gathered at a country home to read through the script for 'Pigs in Porcelain'. Before the production ever reaches the stage, one of their number is found murdered in the grounds wearing what mysteriously seems to be somebody else's white pyjamas. Enter Inspector Harting and Sergeant Dane to unravel this curious plot.

When Grace Morland is found dead wearing her friend Francesca’s hat, Inspector Cockrill has to investigate a group of close friends whom he has known since their childhood. In so doing he finds that in friendship, as in so much else, there are secrets which are often best left buried.

The murderer walked through a locked door, shot his victim and vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty street, yet nobody saw him, and he left no footprints in the snow. And so it is up to the irrepressible Dr Gideon Fell to solve this most famous and taxing of locked-room mysteries.

In Flaxborough a secret agent has been horrifically murdered, and Inspector Purbright starts to investigate. Soon two more operatives arrive, amazed that their colleague has been mudered in such a bland town, also looking for answers. Purbright has to use all his skills to get to the truth.

Father Brown, the shrewd and modest clerical detective, encounters miracles, ghosts and prophets in this collection of ingeniously plotted tales. From South America to New York, his keen observation and quiet wisdom are a match for any mystery - even when he finds himself missing, presumed dead, in his own coffin ...

Whilst returning home from a cricket match at his father's country home, the Honourable Richard Rollison - alias The Toff - comes across an accident which proves to be a mystery. As he delves deeper into the matter with his usual perseverance and thoroughness, murder and suspense form the backdrop to a fast moving and exciting adventure.

Valerie Taylor had completely vanished on her way from home to school, and the trail was completely cold. Now, over two years later someone decides to supply new evidence for the case, and Morse believes that further investigation will just be sober and tedious routine!  Book 2 of series.

The only connection between the disappearance of two women in Flaxborough, seems to be the Handclasp House Marriage Bureau. As Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love investigate, a vulnerable-seeming lady with the charming title of Lucy Teatime signs up for a romantic rendezvous, so the detectives try extra hard to look out for her. But Miss Teatime has a few surprises of her own up her dainty sleeve!

This collection of short stories from Inspector Morse's creator, Colin Dexter, includes six ingenious cases for the world's most popular fictional detective - plus five other tantalizingly original tales to delight all lovers of classic crime fiction.

When Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard enters the scene of a fatal stabbing in the heart of Piccadilly, he uncovers a tangled web of love affairs, a cynical Soho underworld, and a motive for murder.

On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. The passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea - but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

The detective novel ‘The Front Page Men’ is a resounding success, but its author Andrea Fortune keeps herself hidden from the public. When a series of robberies are committed, a calling card is left bearing the legend of ‘The Front Page Men’. Then the murders begin. Paul Temple and his wife Steve assist Scotland Yard in finding the murderers, but Steve is in grave danger and the clock is ticking.

The bank robbers were caught straight away, but in the bag there was a 'Concise Oxford Dictionary' instead of money. Moreover, in Paul Temple's garage was the body of one of the robbers. So commences one of the strangest cases of Paul temple's career.

Brandon Baker, star of the new musical extravaganza, Blue Music, is shot on stage in the middle of Act 2 and soon after, another member of the cast is found dead. It seems to be a straightforward case of murder followed by suicide. Inspector Wilson of Scotland Yard - who happens to be among the audience - soon discovers otherwise.

By the 16th of July the Master of Lonsdale was concerned, but not yet worried. Dr Browne-Smith had passed through the porter's lodge at approximately 8.15 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 11th July. And nobody had heard from him since. Plenty of time to disappear, thought Morse. And plenty of time, too, for someone to commit murder...  Book 6 of series.

In the dead of night, a watchman is brutally attacked and with his dying breath cries out, “The Green Finger!” It is the latest in a series of robberies to take place that have left Scotland Yard mystified, and with no other choice but to call upon the expertise of Detective Paul Temple...

Chief Inspector Morse suspected continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's. Most people could still remember the murder of the churchwarden, and some could recall the suicide of the murderer. Now the case was closed until a chance meeting among the tombstones reveals startling new evidence...  Book 4 of series.

Young Jeremy Ware is suspected of stealing important papers, and Colonel Garrett of the Secret Service consults Benbow Smith about it. Even Rosalind Denny, still grieving for her late husband, suspects Jeremy. But when the young man, trying to exonerate himself, meets a beautiful sleepwalker in a cellar, matters quickly progress to a case of murder…