British Police Procedural

Set within the mysterious beauty of coastal Norfolk, this fast-paced British detective novel is a dark murder mystery with a little humor and a touch of romance, one that will keep you guessing until the very end when the final shocking twist is revealed. The Dead Call is the sixth novel in the Hidden Norfolk series of thrillers from Amazon number one best-selling crime writer JM Dalgliesh, the author of the Dark Yorkshire books.

When a senior Metropolitan Police officer and High Court judge die in quick succession, criminal profiler Doctor Alex Gregory is convinced their deaths are linked to the most shameful case of his career: the notorious wrongful conviction of Carl Deere, an innocent man found guilty of a series of heinous murders perpetrated by the ‘Soho Killer'. Four years later, released from prison and with his record wiped clean, Deere is an invisible spectre with a new name and a new face.

Book 1 in the thrilling new crime series, by David J. Gatward, author of the DCI Harry Grimm crime series, and set in the hauntingly beautiful Somerset countryside.

When a promising local artist disappears, the victim's brother begs Detective Tara Thorpe to take the case. It seems there's no evidence of foul play...he simply disappeared without a trace. Tara agrees to do some digging...never mind that her unorthodox approach to policing has got a few of her colleagues' backs up. Amongst them is her former supervisor Detective Patrick Wilkins...he's had enough of Tara calling the shots and will do anything to knock her down. She must be careful.

When a young woman’s body is found butchered in Brighton, Roy Grace cannot help but think of his own missing wife and her unsolved fate. Elsewhere in the city, when Tom Bryce finds a disc left on a train, he simply tries to do the right thing – return it to its owner. But this attempted act of kindness makes him the sole witness to that same vicious murder. Learning that Tom has made a statement to Grace’s team, the killers have to act. But when they plan the murder of the Bryce family, it’s not just revenge – it’s entertainment.

A beautiful socialite is dead. Roy Grace’s leading suspect, her husband, was sixty miles away when she died, but all other evidence points to him. Has someone stolen his identity or is he simply a very clever liar? Grace’s investigation, and his budding new relationship, are derailed after a reported sighting of his wife, Sandy, who has been missing for nine years. Grace desperately tries to cast light on the truth in both cases as his emotional turmoil – and the body count – grows . . .

An English bobbie returning from night patrol finds a corpse in evening dress locked in the stocks on the village green. He identifies the body immediately. Andrew Vereker was not a well-loved man, and narrowing down the suspects is not going to be an easy job. The Vereker family are corrupt and eccentric - and hardly cooperative. It's another case for the resourceful Superintendent Hannasyde, who sets off on the trail of a killer so cunning that even his consummate powers of detection are tested to their limits.

A man’s body washes up on a beach on the North Yorkshire coast with a single gunshot wound to the chest. The only clue to the victim’s identity is a ring engraved with two names. DCI Tom Raven is back in his hometown of Scarborough for the first time in over 30 years. When offered the chance to lead the murder investigation, he takes it. Raven quickly discovers that the prime suspect is his once-teenage friend, now a wealthy but shady businessman. He finds an ally in Detective Sergeant Becca Shawcross, but not everyone in the team is on his side.

Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now.

When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he’s willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims. But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than Vera anticipates as her investigation takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate.

When Dr. Nathan Frost, a lecturer in German literature at Oxford University, is invited to a lavish party at the country house of a wealthy businessman, he knows there'll be a price to pay. After all, as an expert on the legend of Faust and Mephistopheles, he can recognize a deal with the devil easily enough. But even he's not expecting such a sinister end to the evening.

Don't imagine for one moment that I'm not watching you.... The Metropole Hotel, Brighton. After a heady New Year's Eve ball, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims' shoes are taken by the offender.... Detective Superintendent Roy Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997.

When eight-year-old Daisy Mason vanishes from her family’s Oxford home during a costume party, Detective Inspector Adam Fawley knows that nine times out of ten, the offender is someone close to home. And Daisy’s family is certainly strange—her mother is obsessed with keeping up appearances, while her father is cold and defensive under questioning. And then there’s Daisy’s little brother, so withdrawn and uncommunicative . . .

It's nearly Christmas in Oxford, and Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is enjoying a rare day off at Oxford's Christmas Market. A ghost tour seems like a fun way to round off the day. Until, that is, a brutal murder brings the evening to a tragic close. Torn between work and family commitments over the festive season, Bridget soon discovers that the ghost of Christmas past is reaching out to the present with fatal consequences.

Her name is Sandy. You might know her as the loving wife of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. But there's more to her than meets the eye. A woman with a dubious past, a complicated present and an uncertain future. Then she was gone. Her disappearance caused a nationwide search. Even the best detective on the force couldn't find her. They thought she was dead. Where did she go? Why did she run? What would cause a woman to leave her whole life behind and simply vanish?

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.

Unconventional Detective Declan Miller has a problem. Still desperate to solve the murder of his wife, a young man has just appeared on his doorstep with a briefcase...containing a pair of severed hands. Miller knows this case is proof of a contract killing commissioned by local ne'er do well Wayne Cutler - a man he suspects might also be responsible for his wife's death. Now Miller has leverage, but unfortunately he also has something that both Cutler and a villainous fast-food kingpin are desperate to get hold of.

In England's shadowy corners, from misty woods to ancient university halls, criminal psychologist and head of the Ritualistic Behavioural Crime unit Dr Harrison Lane, confronts the country’s most challenging crimes. A boy's body with cryptic messages. A man pinned down by horseshoes. A student etched with strange symbols. Each scene is a piece of a terrifying puzzle only Harrison can solve. As he unravels these ritualistic killings, Harrison digs up long-buried secrets that shake quiet towns to their core. But the deeper he delves, the more his own past threatens to engulf him.

St Abra's church is harboring a dark secret. Several elderly parishioners have been found dead in the church's confessions booth, all appearing to have suffered fatal heart attacks. But when another, much younger body is discovered in exactly the same way, Detective Sergeant Blake Harte must investigate how it is possible for the confessions booth to be killing off its occupants. Dark forces are at play, forcing Blake to believe it's more than just tragic coincidence.

After being abducted and assaulted, a teenage girl somehow managed to escape from her captor. She is traumatized and needs to heal, but the police need her help to catch her assailant—information she clearly knows, but is unwilling to give. Without the girl’s assistance, DI Adam Fawley’s investigation is at a dead end. When another girl vanishes under the same circumstances, he recognizes a disturbing pattern—and a link to something long buried in his past.