Welsh Crime Fiction

England has a new King. Henry is the young son of King John. Guided by a Council of regents and the Earl Marshal he has a divided England to heal. When William Marshal gives Sir Thomas, Earl of Cleveland, the responsibility of making the young King a warrior, he sets in motion a series of events which, although they might begin to heal the kingdom will bring pain to the Earl and his family.

One morning Gwen Thomas takes a short walk with her Siberian husky in the outskirts of the Welsh town she calls home. She is drawn to a desolate area where, some 20 years ago as a teenager, she was brutally attacked and her friend killed. Disorientated by a sudden rush of memories, she has a fall. Later, recovering in hospital, she begins to recollect the events that led up to her friend’s death.

Brought to you by Penguin. Justice can be a blunt instrument "Men like him usually tell the story. In business. Politics. Media. But not this time: I repeat, he is not writing this story." Ritchie Gulliver MP is dead. Castrated and left to bleed in an empty Leith warehouse. Vicious, racist and...

Detective Inspector Marc Fagan thought he had left the past behind when he departed Abergavenny, South Wales, many years ago. But life has a haunting way of pulling you back in, and when a chilling murder rocks the tranquil town, fate decides to test Fagan's resolve. In this gripping crime thriller, The Dead Will Beckon, Fagan finds himself confronting not just a sinister present, but also the darkest secrets of the town’s past. After decades of solving crimes in the big city, Fagan returns to his childhood hometown only to face an unexpected case.

Plans for a town pantomime are thrown in the air after one of the actors is murdered. The victim is local gossip, nosy parker and aspiring manipulator Ivor Gladwin. Reviled by many and ignored by more, the list of people who could have wanted rid of him seems to grow by the minute. Despite having overstepped the mark in past cases, because of her familiarity with the individuals involved, ex police officer Fabia Havard is actually tasked by her boyfriend, and serving DCI, to look into the matter on the side.

Charming film writer and director Geraint Denbigh is found lifeless in the garden of his Welsh home. It looks like he fell from a window, but eagle-eyed Detective Chief Inspector Matt Lambert soon finds irregularities in the crime scene. Before long he determines it was murder. Recently retired, the victim was writing about his eventful life and many of his former colleagues and associates could have had reason to stop him before he spilled the beans on their transgressions.

When the body of a local crime lord is found buried up to his neck in the tidal sands of North Wirral, all the clues point DCI Blake and his team toward his main rival in organized crime. But, as the investigation progresses, it turns out that there was more than one person happy to see the victim dead. Meanwhile, the man’s family have come to their own conclusions and are looking to settle the score.

Just as DCI Will Blake is about to set off to hunt for his missing partner, a phone call from Scotland drags him in a completely different direction. Blake’s sister has been accused of murder, and she needs his help to clear her name. But the local police aren’t too impressed with the "celebrity scouse copper" dropping in and Blake’s problems escalate.

When a young boy goes missing, DCI Will Blake and his team are led into the little-known subterranean world beneath the Wirral. But the investigation unearths the body of a man who has been missing for almost 60 years. Ernie Hughes, lead singer of the little known Merseybeat band Arthur and the Galahads, disappeared one November in 1964, the night before the band were off to chase their dreams in Hamburg. It appears that Ernie’s death was violent. Blake’s investigations take him back to the heady days of The Cavern Club and Liverpool during the swinging '60s.

Could you obey an order that might cost you everything? When the director of a local veterans’ charity is found murdered on the steps of a war memorial, it seems like a straight-forward case of random street violence. But similarities with a previous death arouse Blake’s suspicions and the apparently well-loved victim turns out to have had hidden flaws and many enemies. Blake is drawn into a web of intrigue and danger as he investigates the murder. Could it be terrorist activity? Is a psychotic serial killer stalking veterans? Or is there another explanation?

Do you really know what the neighbours are up to? Hilbre Grove is a quiet cul-de-sac, like many others on the Wirral. But when a couple returns from their holidays to find a mutilated, decomposing body in their bungalow, The Scissor Man’s reign of terror begins. With another woman missing, DCI Will Blake is determined to stop the psychopath from killing again. To hunt down The Scissor Man, Blake must face up to his painful past, putting his career on the line. But every home has its own dark secrets.

When a three-year-old girl goes missing in the sprawling Birkenhead Park, Blake has a puzzle on his hands. The child seemed to vanish into thin air and nobody saw anything, not even her nanny. A known paedophile is spotted in the area and the clock begins ticking as Blake tries to find the lost girl. The team uncover secret after secret as they investigate but Blake has got problems closer to home as his girlfriend’s past comes back to haunt her in a brutal and devastating way. When a key witness dies, Blake realises that a killer is on the loose.

When DCI Will Blake is called to investigate a blood-drenched gravestone, the evidence leads to Trevor Long, local paranormal investigator, self-styled medium, and conspiracy theorist. Long vanished while he was investigating the mysterious, axe-wielding Sons of Sol, worshippers of the Viking sun goddess. But Long’s life, like his death, is far from straightforward, and Blake’s team is drawn into a deadly game.

The murder of a young girl found barefoot in a country park and the re-emergence of shoes from the victims of a serial killer from over 40 years ago. A coincidence or a connection? Will Blake is determined to find out, but as he unearths the past, questions are raised about the original investigations, and it becomes clear that The Wirral has a killer on the loose, once again.

It's not a good Monday for DI Daniel Owen. A body in a wheelie bin. Missing teenagers. His ex turning up as his new boss. A secretive teenager, a nosy secretary, an idealistic social worker, and a dodgy fruit and veg salesman all have pieces of the jigsaw. If Daniel and Maldwyn can trust each other again, they can put the pieces together. But time is running out, and at least one child's life is in danger. It's been raining for weeks, and the flood waters are rising, threatening to engulf them all.

After years of turmoil, things are finally looking up for Columbus, Ohio, private eye Andy Hayes. As Sick to Death opens, Andy is relishing his new gig: a drama-free, family-friendly stint as a guard at the Columbus Museum of Art. What could be better than regular hours, a steady paycheck, and an attractive coworker who may be just as interested in him as he is in her? Right on schedule, Andy's newfound equilibrium comes crashing down when he interrupts the theft of a valuable painting—and is promptly fired for breaking protocols.

Jim Brennan is flying high. Against all odds he is a big man at the university, tipped for the head job and an office at the top of the ivory tower. He has a beautiful, accomplished wife and two healthy children. Jim drives an Audi, and his dog is a pedigree bichon frise. Not bad for the son of a hardman who grew up in a room and kitchen. But it is not easy to escape the past. Certain people have been keeping an eye on Professor Jim Brennan. When is son is arrested on drugs charges and lands in prison after breaking bail conditions, Jim is approached by men he thought he had left behind.

Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead. Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs - is that the reason the police won't investigate? And if Rilke doesn't find out what happened to Jojo, who will?

It's hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily for Rilke at Bowery Auctions the demand for no-questions-asked cash is at an all-time high, and business is booming. When Rilke hears his old acquaintance Les is fresh out of prison, his inclination is to stay well out of his way. When one of Bowery's customers winds up dead on their tarmac, Rilke needs a bit of help from his friends to tidy things up. If only his friends didn't have such a habit of making things worse.

Jane Logan is six months pregnant and has moved to Berlin to live with her long-term lover, rich banker Petra. The women's chic new apartment is in a trendy part of the city but Jane finds herself increasingly uneasy there. She conceives a dread of the derelict backhouse across the courtyard and begins to suspect something sinister is happening in the flat next door, where gynaecologist Alban Mann lives with his teenage daughter, Anna.