British Police Crime Fiction Booklist

A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author.Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
  • In and Out: Don Packham and Frank Mitchell
    Author: Coward, Mat
    Publisher: Five Star $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786230177 Date: 2001
    starBooklist
    When Arthur "Beans" Jones is found stabbed to death in his garden, Constable Frank Mitchell joins Inspector Don Packham to uncover the real dirt surrounding a killer.
    Updated 10/25/01
  • Now May You Weep
    Author: Crombie, Deborah
    Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060525231 Date: 2003
    starPW
    The acclaimed mystery author of Dreaming of the Bones returns with this evocative thriller of marriage, betrayal, and murder set in the wilds of Scotland.
    Updated 9.22.03
  • A Fine and Private Place
    Author: Davies, Freda
    Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 078670909x Date: 2001
    starKirkus
    Back in 1940s wartime Gloucestershire, a young Gl stationed at the village of Tolland disappears. Fifty years later a skeleton is unearthed, bearing the Gl's name on the dogtag buried beside it. In the search for his killer the fresh corpse of another victim is uncovered. It transpires that this was a blackmailer--but of whom, and for what reason? Keith Tyrell, the fast-track Detective Inspector sent to Tolland, tries to get under the skin of the village and it ways. The repercussions of the Gl's untimely death are still felt by some of the inhabitants and the identity and secrets of the blackmailer are destined to shake up the quiet village life. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Cold Cases
    Updated 9/7/01
  • A Ghost in the Machine: Chief Inspector Barnaby
    Author: Graham, Caroline
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312324219 Date: 2004
    starBooklist
    A gruesome murder in a small British village gets the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby in this seventh book in Graham's delightful village mystery series.
    Updated 8.13.04
  • Blood Sinister: Bill Slider
    Author: Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312274858 Date: 2001
    starBooklist
    While investigating the brutal murder of Phoebe Agnew, a journalist who criticized police, Detective Inspector Bill Slider must put aside his personal feelings as he struggles to untangle a web of lies and hidden relationships. Slider discovers that Agnew was concealing a secret--one that her killer is willing to protect by killing again.
    Updated 9/21/01
  • Ash & Bone
    Author: Harvey, John
    Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151011397 Date: 2005
    starLJ starBooklist
    Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch and retired Detective Inspector Frank reconnect when a phone call persuades the unsettled, unhappy Elder out of retirement--to find that a cold case has a devastating present-day impact.
    Suggested Reading: Cold Cases
    Updated 11.2.05
  • Death's Jest Book
    Author: Hill, Reginald
    Publisher: HarperCollins $25.95 ISBN: 0060528052 Date: 2003
    starLJ
    From the winner of Britain's prestigious Diamond Dagger Award comes a beautifully written, multilayered psychological thriller featuring Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe.
    Updated 9.25.03
  • Panicking Ralph
    Author: James, Bill
    Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393047628 Date: 2001
    starBooklist
    In this 17th edition of the "Harpur and Iles" mysteries, Ralph Ember, owner of the shady drinking club The Monty, longs to be respectable. The trouble is, his money comes from big-time drug dealing, where reputations are dubious and the risks are truly murderous. Meanwhile Detective Chief Superintendant Colin Harpur, bypassing his jealous superior Desmond Iles, is developing his own dangerous plan.
    Updated 5/17/01
  • Pay Days
    Author: James, Bill
    Publisher: Norton $ 24 ISBN: 0393042146 Date: 2001
    starBooklist
    Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his amoral superior ACC Desmond Iles face a political and personal dilemma when they suspect a police officer of taking bribes from underworld criminals Panicking Ralph Ember and Top Banana Mansel Shale. Is Nivette doing some unauthorized undercover work (as Harpur himself often does), or is he really bent? It's a question of intense interest to Ember and Shale as well.
    Updated 8/1/01
  • Death in Holy Orders
    Author: James, P.D.
    Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 0375412557 Date: 2001
    starKirkus starPW
    Commander Dalgliesh, P.D. James's great detective, returns after four years. An untimely death brings him to the East Anglian coast where a young man has fallen from a cliff at the small theological college of St. Anselm's. He agrees to investigate, but no sooner does Dalgliesh arrive than he finds himself drawn into the labyrinth of a violent mystery.
    Updated 3/14/01
  • The Murder Room
    Author: James, P.D.
    Publisher: Knopf $ 25.95 ISBN: 1400041414 Date: 2003
    starBooklist
    Commander Adam Dalgliesh, James's formidable and fascinating detective, returns to find himself enmeshed in a terrifying story of passion and mystery--and in love.
    Updated 10.2.03
  • The Business of Dying
    Author: Kernick, Simon
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312314019 Date: 2003
    starPW starLJ
    A remarkable first novel from an exciting new British talent-- "the crime debut of the year." (The Independent on Sunday, UK) Cynical and jaded, Detective Sergeant Dennis Milne earns money on the side by doing what he does best: punishing the bad guys. But this time he's been duped.
    Suggested Reading: Fiction & Mystery Debuts
    Updated 6.5.03
  • The House Sitter
    Author: Lovesey, Peter
    Publisher: Soho $ 25 ISBN: 1569473269 Date: 2003
    starPW starBooklist
    When a a top psychological profiler for the National Crime Faculty is found strangled to death on a beach, Detective Peter Diamond is called in. He must coordinate his efforts with the original investigating officer, and the cocky young officer charged with investigating the bizarre murder that the victim had been working on.
    Updated 4.28.03
  • The Malcontenta: A Kathy Kolla & David Brock Mystery
    Author: Maitland, Barry
    Publisher: Arcade $ 24.95 ISBN: 1559705272 Date: 2000
    starPW
    Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla and Detective Chief Inspector Brock of Scotland Yard learn that spas are not always good for your health, especially if you're a target for murder.
    Updated 7/6/00
  • The Chalon Heads
    Author: Maitland, Barry
    Publisher: Arcade $ 24.95 ISBN: 1559705701 Date: 2001
    starKirkus
    When Scotland Yard detectives David Brock and Kathy Kolla are summoned to a venerable dealer of rare stamps, they expect a simple case of theft. Instead, they find themselves on the trail of an extortionist when they learn that the wife of Sammy China, an unsavory figure from Brock's past, has been kidnapped.
    Updated 7/27/01
  • Death in the Family
    Author: McGowan, Jill
    Publisher: Ballantine $ 22.95 ISBN: 0345458486
    starPW Date: 2003
    In the midst of her maternity leave from the Stansfield police force, Detective Chief Inspector Judy Hill inadvertently becomes involved in the case of a baby kidnapping. At the same time DCI Lloyd, Judy's professional partner and fianc is immersed in a puzzling homicide investigation.
    Updated 1.3.03
  • Set In Darkness
    Author: Rankin, Ian
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312206097 Date: 2000
    starBooklist starKirkus starLibrary Journal starPW
    As the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years prepares to convene, Queensbury House is in the middle of John Rebus's turf, keeping him busy with ceremonial tasks. But when a long dead body is found in the fireplace, and two more deaths occur, Rebus is led to a confrontation with one of Edinburgh's most notorious criminals.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars | Scottish Crime Fiction
    Updated 9/29/00
  • The Falls
    Author: Rankin, Ian
    Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312206100 Date: 2001
    starKirkus starBooklist starPW
    A student is missing, a coffin is found, and John Rebus must match wits with a fiendishly clever killer as ancient and modern evils are brought together in contemporary Scotland.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars | Scottish Crime Fiction
    Updated 10/2/01
  • Resurrection Men: Inspector Rebus
    Author: Rankin, Ian
    Publisher: Little Brown $ 19.95 ISBN: 0316766844 Date: 2003
    starKirkus starLJ
    Inspector John Rebus has messed up badly this time, so badly that he's been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops. While there among the last-chancers known as "resurrection men, " he joins a covert mission to gain evidence of a drug heist orchestrated by three of his classmates.
    Suggested Reading: Scottish Crime Fiction
    Updated 1.16.03
  • Babes in the Wood
    Author: Rendell, Ruth
    Publisher: Crown $ 25 ISBN: 140004930x Date: 2003
    starKirkus
    Inspector Wexford is back, this time investigating the case of two teenaged children and their babysitter who have inexplicably disappeared.
    Updated 7.8.03
  • Cold Is the Grave
    Author: Robinson, Peter
    Publisher: Morrow $ 24 ISBN: 0380978083 Date: 2000
    starKirkus starBooklist starLibrary Journal
    After trying to destroy the career of Inspector Alan Banks, Chief Constable Riddle now turns to Banks for help when pictures of Riddle's missing daughter turn up on a pornographic web site. The search for the missing young woman draws Banks deep into London's sordid underbelly of drugs, crime, and sex.
    Suggested Reading: All Stars
    Updated 10/11/00
  • Aftermath
    Author: Robinson, Peter
    Publisher: Morrow $ 25 ISBN: 0380978326 Date: 2001
    starPW
    Set in Yorkshire, this Inspector Banks novel of suspense is a haunting tale of secrets, deception and murder from the Anthony Award-winning author of Cold Is the Grave and In a Dry Season.
    Updated 8/24/01