A fast-moving, intricate and compelling contemporary mystery, starting with the brutal murder of a prostitute in London's West End, and uncovering a politician with feet of clay, a bent ex-policeman and a baggage handling scam at Heathrow airport.Brock and Poole might seem mismatched in age and temperament, but their verbal sparring hides a genuine mutual respect.

When MP Hugh Blakemore is shot dead in the Fulham Road, DCI Harry Brock and DS Dave Poole are assigned to the case. Months previously, Blakemore killed an inmate when visiting a prison, and although Blakemore was exonerated, Brock is convinced this is a revenge killing.In an investigation with more ups and downs than fairground ride - and more lies than a villain's alibi - the MP's widow, her ex-husband and their daughter all play starring roles, along with a motley crew of actress...

When police are called to a house in Chelsea following a complaint of a noisy party, all seems to be quiet - but a short while later, flames are seen coming from the house In the main bedroom, the fire brigade find the body of Mrs Diana Barton, who has been stabbed to death.DCI Harry Brock and DS Dave Poole discover that, far from being the reserved housewife she seemed, Diana was a fun-loving woman who made certain that the party developed into something closer to an orgy....

DCI Harry Brock is called to Ham Common early on a Sunday morning. But when he arrives at the murder scene, he learns that this killing is far from straightforward: the victim has been stabbed to death, locked in a wooden box and set alight.This very public demonstration of murder leads Brock and his assistant, DS Dave Poole, to suspect gang links - and they are led on a journey through London's underworld.

On the eve of the Great War in 1914, a body is found in the lake at St James' Park. What initially appears to be a robbery becomes more complex when it is discovered that the victim is a servant oat one of London's prestigious gentleman's clubs.Hardcastle's enquiries reveal that the clubs members - and some of its staff - are not all they purport to be. Discovering thieves, adulterers and a blackmailer along the way, and despite attempts to prevent him uncovering the truth, the per...

When a woman's body is found by the Thames river police, floating opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, it doesn't take DCI Brock long to work out that she has been murdered.Further investigation reveals the woman was one of a stable of prostitutes run by a shadowy figure wanted in his native Australia. But the investigation presses other names upon Brock and Poole, and they must suffer several missed turns and pay the price for their assumptions before they get their man.

**Introducing the pipe-smoking DI Ernest Hardcastle, bluff straight-talker, canny investigator and no respecter of privilege.**1916. In a London shocked by reports of the first days of the Somme, a woman is found murdered in Shoreditch. At first it's thought she was a common streetwalker, but then she's identified as someone MI5 have had under observation and who has an address book containing the names of some of the high and mighty names in the land.Hardcastle is brought in to ta...

When the milkman alerts police to two bodies at the fashionable Hampstead home of Andrew and Kim Light, it seems obvious who the deceased are . . . until Mr Light walks through the door.Just who is the other man? Is Andrew Light as innocent as he'd like to appear, or does his smooth lawyer's manner hide a cruel and callous character? As the investigation develops, it becomes clear that there are far more sinister forces at work, and a frightening character has infiltrated the fashi...

It is June 1916, four weeks before the opening day of the disastrous Battle of the Somme. Hardcastle is sent to Kingston-upon-Thames to investigate the murder of Colonel Sir Adrian Rivers, a retired and distinguished soldier. The colonel's second wife, Muriel, seems neither distressed by the murders, nor able to assist in the investigation.It is up to the dogged Hardcastle, aided by DS Charles Marriott, to question an array of characters and narrowly avoid being killed in a Zeppeli...

It is June 1917. DDI Ernest Hardcastle, head of the CID for the Whitehall division of the Metropolitan Police, is called to investigate the murder of a very senior civil servant, Sir Nigel Strang.Given that Sir Nigel was the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Munitions, Hardcastle wonders whether the German Intelligence Service might be responsible. Then another murder, of a man on a bus near Scotland Yard, leads Hardcastle to a woman working at Woolwich Arsenal who is suspecte...

The strangled body of actress Victoria Hart is found in Windsor Great Park in the early hours of Christmas Day. Hardcastle and Marriott are sent from Scotland Yard to investigate - much to the irritation of their respective wives.The trail leads to the Beaux Belles revue at the Windsor Empire, where a scantily clad Victoria Hart persuaded young men to enlist with the promise of a kiss. It seems the alluring actress had many admirers - some not quite as gentlemanly as others - and w...

Convicted armed robber Jimmy 'Spotter' Gould is shot dead within seconds of emerging from London's Stone Mill Prison at the end of an eight-year sentence, and Brock and DS Poole are faced with yet anther baffling crime.s enquiries continue, an embezzling solicitor's clerk, a dodgy undertaker and a dubious motor trader all enter the frame.