British Library Crime

Middlebridge Mysteries follows Violet Wilner (Anna Cathcart) kicking off her first year at Middlebridge University, living her dream of attending her mom’s alma mater. Inspired by watching her dad, a cop, solve crimes in her hometown, she studies criminology under a renowned but demanding Professor Bellows (Eric McCormack). She has her hands full, juggling her coursework, her social life and her insecurities as she embarks on this next chapter.

Spirited, beautiful, and thoroughly unconventional, Prudence Pinsent is a remarkable young woman. One fine morning she sets out for Suffolk to join her cousin Lord Wellende for a few days hunting. On the way Prudence encounters Captain Studde of the coastguard who is pursuing a quarry of his own. Studde is on the trail of a drug smuggling ring that connects Wellende Hall with the cloistered world of Cambridge.

The most famous of all locked-room mysteries - a classic in the crime genre. 'The first deadly walking of the hollow man took place when the side streets of London were quiet with snow and the three coffins of the prophecy were filled at last...' The murderer of Dr Grimauld walked through a...

A unique collection of the finest Golden Age mystiers - puzzling whodunnits that have entertained and delighted readers for centuries. With Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler as guide, delve into an irresistible collection of the finest Golden Age American whodunits, including household names and...

When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in north Devon, he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hilltop village lying so close to moor and sky. At first they see only its charm, but soon they begin to uncover its secrets - envy, hatred and malice. Everyone says that Sister Monica, warden of a children's home, is a saint - but is she? A few months after the Ferens' arrival her body is found drowned in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.

When mysterious symbols appear as graffiti around Oxford, lexicographer Martha Thornhill recognises them from an alphabet created by a deceased writer whose papers she once worked on. But this is no publicity stunt, and tensions intensify when further graffiti is found near the body of a...

‘The sleeper book of the year… so much fun to read that you forget to even try and solve the case. And good luck solving it anyway, with twists within twists within twists’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Donna Nightshade’s first rule of composting: shred. Things rot quicker that way – cabbages...

When a wealthy bachelor is murdered in his mansion, all of his relatives are suspects… A grand mansion. Nearing the end of his life, the wealthy Martin Greenough hides away behind the high walls of his grand mansion in Boston, with only his cat and his favourite servant to keep him company. A...

In un pacifico villaggio della costa della Cornovaglia, un magistrato viene ucciso con una pallottola in testa. Nessun indizio, una sola sospettata, la nipote del morto. Ma in aiuto della polizia giunge il più sorprendente degli investigatori... Il reverendo Dodd, vicario di Boscawen, tranquillo villaggio sulla costa della Cornovaglia, trascorre le sue serate leggendo storie poliziesche davanti al focolare – ma non sia mai che anche solo l’ombra di un vero crimine possa venire a turbare la serena routine della sua parrocchia sul mare!

In un antico castello delle Highlands scozzesi, la nobile Mary Gregor viene ritrovata barbaramente uccisa. La porta della stanza è chiusa dall’interno, le finestre sono sbarrate. Sul cadavere l’unico indizio: una lucente scaglia di pesce. Quello di Duchlan è il classico castello tetro e minaccioso delle Highlands scozzesi. Una notte vi viene ritrovata uccisa Mary Gregor, sorella del Laird di Duchlan, un membro della piccola nobiltà locale. La donna è stata pugnalata a morte nella sua camera da letto, ma la stanza è chiusa dall'interno e le finestre sono sbarrate.

For very nearly eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, the discovery of a dead snipe on the doorstep of Buckshaw, the crumbling de Luce country seat, was a marvellous mystery - especially since this particular snipe had a rather rare stamp neatly impaled on its beak. Even more astonishing was the...

Bloomsbury presents Gallows Court by Martin Edwards, read by Helen MacFarlane. ‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN A superb Golden Age mystery packed with twists, from the winner of the Diamond Dagger 2020 LONDON, 1930 The night is sooty, sulphurous, and malign. A spate of...

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the third standalone novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’. Seymour Merriman’s holiday in France comes to an abrupt halt when his motorcycle starts leaking petrol. Following a lorry to find fuel, he discovers that...

Winner of the 2016 EDGAR, AGATHA, MACAVITY and H.R.F.KEATING crime writing awards, this real-life detective story investigates how Agatha Christie and colleagues in a mysterious literary club transformed crime fiction. Detective stories of the Twenties and Thirties have long been stereotyped as...

Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine is back in another classic mystery from the author of Murder for Christmas Mordecai Tremaine and Chief Inspector Jonathan Boyce are never pleased to have a promising game of chess interrupted – though when murder is the disrupting force, they are persuaded to...

Brought to you by Penguin. The short stories of Kingsley Amis - the great master of post-war comic prose - are dark, playful, moving, surprising and extremely funny. This definitive collection gathers all Amis's short fiction in a single volume for the first time and encompasses five decades of...

Seven high profile guests An island cut off by a storm Will there be a murder before the weekend is out? After six long months with no new cases for her Cornish detective agency, Donna ‘Deadly’ Nightshade jumps at the chance to spend a weekend undercover on St Michael’s Mount. With seven...

‘One of the best in the genre’ THE SUN ‘A fabulously satisfying addition to the canon of vintage crime’ DAILY EXPRESS ‘A delicious adventure’ DAILY MAIL on The Riviera Express *** X marks the spot for murder… Temple Regis, 1959: Devon’s prettiest seaside resort is thrown into...

Brought to you by Penguin. It's Christmas at London's Theatre Royale and journalist Daphne King is determined to solve an extraordinary mystery... December 1935. Director Monty Harrison's production of A Christmas Carol has had a troubled run on its tour of regional theatres. With tensions...

Brought to you by Penguin. It's Christmas at Westbury Manor and amateur detective Hugh Gaveston must unravel a fiendish mystery... Christmas Eve, 1938. The Westbury family and assorted friends have gathered for another legendary celebration at their beautiful country house. The champagne flows...