The body of a young man, almost naked, found in the car park behind a Haworth restaurant marks the beginning of the case, and it is his identity that is the first puzzle for DC Charlie Peace and his superior, Detective Superintendent Oddie. But before long the puzzle that most concerns them is the nature of the close-knit artistic community where Declan O’Hearn had acted as odd-job boy. The little knot of people seem united less by their ability as painters than by a common worship of the distinguished artist Ranulph Byatt, who seems to prefer the adulation of his inferiors to the judgement of his equals. Peace soon starts to wonder if there isn’t a sinister reason for this. And as the search for the killer gathers pace, Peace and Oddie uncover a series of dark secrets in the harsh Haworth landscape.

A complex story dealing with forgeries, people turning up alive who are supposed to be dead, and literary hoaxes.

Meet the cast of Jubilee Terrace, one of the most popular soap operas on British television. When one of the cast members dies suddenly of a heart attack, those in the production team are quick to make the most of the opportunity, making plans to bring in an old character for a major plotline. But when a suspicious letter emerges raising questions about the supposed 'natural death' and an arson attack kills two more of the cast, it would appear something more sinister is afoot. The script-writers are clearly not the only ones capable of killing off characters...

Sir Oliver Fairleigh-Stubbs, overweight and overbearing, collapses and dies at his birthday party while indulging his taste for rare liquors. He had promised his daughter he would be polite and charitable for the entire day, but the strain of such exemplary behavior was obviously too great. He leaves a family relieved to be rid of him, and he also leaves a fortune, earned as a bestselling mystery author. But the manuscript of the unpublished volume left to Sir Oliver’s wife, a posthumous “last case” that might be worth millions, has disappeared. And Sir Oliver’s death is beginning to look less than natural.

Robert Barnard, one of the great contemporary masters of classic mystery, returns with a brilliant new tale of passion and deception. Well-known actress Caroline Fawley has given up a successful stage and television career for love and life in the country. International business titan Marius Fleetwood can't marry her. He already has a wife, though he claims they are "just friends." But Marius has done something very special for Caroline: he has "bought" her Alderley, an elegant country home. If he should die, he's arranged to leave her enough money to maintain the extensive house and gardens. Of course, some inquisitive villagers would be happier if Caroline and Marius were respectably wed. People in small towns know all, and they will talk, especially about a glamorous actress. Caroline's adolescent children, Stella and Alexander, seem to accept Marius's weekend visits without distress. And older daughter Olivia, an opera singer on the rise, is too involved in her ow...

Professor Belville-Smith had bored university audiences in England with the same lecture for fifty years. Now he was crossing the Australian continent, doing precisely the same. Never before had the reaction been so extreme, however, for shortly after an undistinguished appearance at Drummondale University, the doddering old professor is found brutally murdered. As Police Inspector Royle (who had never actually had to solve a crime before) probes the possible motives of the motley crew of academics who drink their way through the dreary days at Drummondale and as he investigates the bizarre behavior of some worthy locals, a hilarious, highly satirical portrait of life down under emerges.

Can the rich get away with murder, or is there always a price? Two days in May bring Colin Pinnock’s career to a peak. His party wins a stunning election victory and he wins a new government office. What a pity that among the congratulations pouring in lurks one grubby card asking: “Who do you think you are?” Is this someone trying to put him down a peg, or is it someone holding damaging information? As he probes, he’s led back in time to an old political scandal and a murder case ushering a politician out of office, and out of sight ever after. Soon events in the present start tangling with those of the past and Colin finds himself facing something worse than the toppling of his career; his life is in danger. Barnard mixes fact with surmise from an actual 1980s murder case to great effect.

Scotland Yard’s Perry Trethowan never wanted to make the trip to Norway for the World Association of Romantic Novelists convention. But it was hard saying no to his newly published sister, Christobel. And besides, the worst he expected was the chilly Scandanavian weather and a harmless if irritating menu of fanciful writers and flowery language. Who could’ve known that backbiting, malice, and bitter rivalry were the true customs of this convention and that the plot line would soon include murder? Amanda Fairchild, the genre’s amorous doyenne, ends up dead while en route to a fjord-side tryst of her own, and the dauntless Trethowan must discover which of these authors has turned the page from romance to homicide.

Fifteen-year-old Katy Bourne and sixteen-year-old Alan Coughlan are missing. Though they are students at the same school, they hardly know each other, so it's strange that they should disappear together. Katy's mother, self-centered and unloving, doesn't mind if her daughter never comes home. Alan's solid working-class parents are pained and puzzled by their son's departure.There's not much the police can do about runaway teenagers, but Detective Constable Charlie Peace goes through the motions. He interviews the families, he visits the school. Alan had friends and had aspired to a good education. Katy had nothing, least of all self-esteem.The two teens could be anywhere, even living dangerously on the streets of Leeds, so it's with relief that Charlie discovers them in a hostel for homeless young people. But are they safe? And who is Ben Marchant, the man who runs the shelter?Whoever he is, he seems to be doing well. Young people beg or work as street musicians during...

Opera singers are often described as being larger than life, and certainly this is true of Gaylene Ffrench. Her appetites for men, for food, for attention are gargantuan, and her ability to irritate is similarly outsized. So when someone electrocutes the bombastic Australian contralto, few tears are shed at the Northern Opera Company. In fact, most of the company members are dancing a jig, and it falls on Superintendent Nichols to determine which of them might have helped Gaylene along to her just reward. With so many potential suspects, Nichols has his hands full.

Sarah Jane Fearing has grown up in the imposing mansion of one of England's most influential families. At the centre of Sarah's world stands her charming uncle Frank, the only relative who seems to have escaped the straitjacket of ponderous respectability that so effectively stifles the Fearing clan. But Frank's extravagant lifestyle leads him deep into debt and manoeuvres him into a disastrous marriage.Frank's wedding to a coldly ambitious woman produces the family's longed-for male scion, but the parents fall to quarrels, and then to murder. And Sarah is drawn inexorably into a morass that threatens the survival of the entire family.From the Belle Epoque to the 1950's, A Mansion and its Murder holds its secrets to its last suspenseful moment, and proves again the author's mettle as a mastermind of the traditional mystery.

With the Nazis bombing London on a nightly basis, many families sent their children to the comparative safety of the countryside. When the Blitz ended, the families came for their kids, but no one ever came for Simon Thorn. His name appears on no evacuation list, and none of his belongings offer any clues to his origins. Now an adult, Simon is puzzled by an odd sense of familiarity when he walks down certain London streets. He remembers years of screaming nightmares that would terrify his bewildered foster parents. And he resolves to find out where he originally came from, even as everything he uncovers suggests that, really, he doesn’t want to know.

In A City of Strangers, Barnard creates one of his most memorable characters ever; the dreadful Jack Phelan. Dirty, potbellied, vulgar, selfish, Jack is a man everyone loves to hate. And the rest of his family isn’t much better. The wife is slatternly, the teenaged children flirt with petty crime and prostitution, even the baby is unpleasant. Only twelve-year-old Michael Phelan seems to have escaped the family curse, and it may be just a question of time until he, too, sinks to the Phelan level.