Showing results for "4" in Traditional Detectives

The 'Old Bastard' raised his grandson to be a hero, not a slow horse. Now, far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, River Cartwright is part of Jackson Lamb's team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House. Which doesn't mean he won't ditch everything and go rogue when his grandfather comes under threat. Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day, and knows better than most that this is no innocent old man.

Based on the real-life memoirs of the 19th Century investigator who inspired Sherlock Holmes, Inspector James McLevy, this atmospheric mystery series features the fictional casebook of Edinburgh's finest thief-taker. Accompanied by his loyal partner, Constable Mulholland, McLevy prowls the murky streets of 1840s Leith bringing criminals to justice—assisted by the madam of Edinburgh's finest bawdy-house, the deliciously immoral Jean Brash.

The sweet countenance of Reason greeted Morse serenely when he woke and told him that it would be no bad idea to have a quiet look at the problem itself before galloping off to a solution. Chief Inspector Morse was alone among the congregation in suspecting continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's. Most people could still remember the churchwarden's murder. A few could still recall the murderer's suicide. Now even the police had closed the case.

Grainy CCTV footage shows a man walking into a bank and putting a gun to a cashier's head. He tells her to count to twenty-five. When he doesn’t get his money in time, she is executed. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case. While Harry’s girlfriend is away in Russia, an old flame gets in touch. He goes to dinner at her house and wakes up at home with no memory of the past twelve hours. The same morning the girl is found shot dead in her bed. Then Harry begins to receive threatening e-mails.

June Whitfield returns as the deceptively mild spinster sleuth in three full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations. Specially broadcast to mark the 125th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth, these brand new dramas are based on three of her best short stories.

In the peace and tranquility of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring. The phone belongs to DC Smith, and it isn't unusual that the call is from Kings Lake Central police station; what is unusual is the fact that he seems to be the subject of an investigation rather than taking part in one. What can the links be between a prisoner's violent death in another county, the disappearance of two teenagers, and the highest profile case in Kings Lake for many years?

There were a lot of things you could call Stacey Evans. And many of them would be true. And unprintable. But did she deserve to be murdered? DI Winter Meadows has no doubt of the answer when he takes the case. The crime was violent. The victim helpless. But the motives are many, and the only clue is a word left on Stacey’s body. DI Meadows struggles to pierce the secrecy surrounding the teenager’s love life. But as each suspect is excluded, Meadows is convinced that something sinister is afoot. When another body is found, a veil of silence descends like a fog upon Gaer Fawr.

Detective Inspector Fenella Sallow is haunted by her past and cannot escape its painful truth… no matter how hard she tries. At a social designed to build team spirit, Fenella is called to a grim scene. A mummified woman throws her world into a spin, and the search for the truth tests Fenella to her limits. As the investigation begins, she peels away a web of intrigue, betrayal, lust and troubling secrets the victim took to the grave. In her toughest challenge yet, Fenella must face demons from her past and will pay a high price in the race to outwit a killer who leaves no clues.

It is the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay when Alison Reid admits a caller to her home. When her death is later reported, DI Clare Mackay attends the scene. The initial evidence does not rule out murder, but it’s not possible to say for certain if foul play was involved. Yet when the pathologist informs Clare about a post mortem of a young woman found in the Kinness Burn, and with some similarities to Alison’s case, it seems there’s a strong chance that there’s a killer on the loose in St Andrews.

There's Rosemary, that's for remembrance. Published in 1945, "Sparkling Cyanide" is all about remembrance. It begins with six characters recalling the horrific death of Rosemary Barton, a beautiful but shallow young heiress poisoned by a cyanide-spiked glass of champagne whilst celebrating her birthday at a smart London restaurant.

Meet The Honourable Richard Rollison—a.k.a the Toff. A debonair aristocrat and ace amateur sleuth, he's the scourge of London's criminal underworld: sometimes working alone, sometimes hand-in-glove with the police. But wherever he goes, he leaves his distinctive calling card: a jaunty caricature featuring a top hat, a monocle, a bow tie and a cigar. In these two gripping thrillers, he finds himself involved in rural intrigue and a wedding-day mystery.

Derby Day at Epsom Downs and a multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes and dustmen, bishops and beggars, privileged ladies and prostitutes. The gamut of Victorian society, though, is also a hotbed for crime and crooks of all kinds. With the country a-flutter in the run-up to this national occasion, events reach fever pitch when a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing.

On the surface, Richard Ainsworth has life where he wants it. Middle-aged navel gazing and Olympic levels of procrastination are exactly what rural life in France should be about. Then crisis hits his posh B&B when redoubtable housekeeper, Madame Tablier, is accused of murder. Even more surprisingly, it's the murder of a former fiancé, turned brother-in-law. None of which the stubborn old woman denies.

The Martin Beck books are widely acknowledged as some of the most influential detective novels ever written. Written by Swedish husband and wife team Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö between 1965 and 1975, the 10-book series set a gold standard for all subsequent Scandinavian crime fiction. Long before Kurt Wallander or Harry Hole, Beck was the original flawed policeman, working with a motley collection of colleagues to uncover the cruelty and injustice lurking beneath the surface of Sweden's liberal society.

Author and dramatist R.D. Wingfield was best known for creating one of Britain's most beloved fictional policemen, Inspector Jack Frost, who featured in 10 bestselling books and a hit ITV series starring David Jason. This collection includes the radio precursor to the novels and TV show, A Touch of Frost, plus four more gripping dramas.

David Nunn considers himself a good man. Employed as a counsellor for a mental health charity in North London, his typical day revolves around broken minds and dysfunctional lives. Then, one day in January, a young man staggers into the charity’s office; no appointment booked and seemingly in the grip of a drug-induced episode. David reluctantly agrees to see the young man. It proves a brief but fateful encounter.

A gripping collection of 15 BBC Radio full-cast dramas written by Bert Coules, inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. In the 56 short stories and four novels Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his great detective, how many times did Dr John Watson tantalise us with references to cases which were never written about in full? These original adventures flesh out those unrecorded cases to wonderful effect. Clive Merrison plays the great sleuth himself, with Andrew Sachs in the role of Doctor Watson.

Cold Blood- novels 4-6 in the Ian Drake series in one great value box set. Dead on Your Feet: When the dead body of a woman is found on public display, the murder scene bears all the hallmarks of a famous work of art. As more murders take place, each copying a famous work of art, Drake faces a murderer who always seems to be one step ahead. Drake knows he is getting closer to unmasking the culprit, but can he stop the killer before their grand finale - and a very public murder?

1957 - A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement. According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi.

Inspired by the real-life memoirs of Edinburgh's first detective, James McLevy, here are more fantastic fictional adventures featuring the tenacious Victorian crime-solver. Once again, McLevy and his faithful sidekick Constable Mulholland patrol the dark wynds and back alleys of 1840s Leith tracking down evildoers—aided by a surprising ally: the beautiful and resourceful brothel-keeper Jean Brash.