A wedding ring, a missing woman, a bizarre disappearance...Brock and Poole have one of their most unusual cases to unravel'Devilishly engaging characters and authentic details of police operations' BooklistWhen Eunice Bailey takes her wedding ring to a London jeweller to have it enlarged, she is very keen for it to be done quickly. She is a reliable and favoured customer and when the jeweller is unable to get in touch with her to collect th...

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 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...

One Saturday night, a masked gunman walks into a jazz club and murders the drummer with a sawn-off shotgun. Shortly afterwards, Detective Chief Inspector Brock and Detective Sergeant Poole find themselves taking an interest in the guests at a party in Surrey's stockbroker belt - a party where naked girls were thrown into the swimming pool by the villains who were with them.This leads them back to a five-year-old robbery and a series of interviews with a number of armed robbers. The...

In February 1915 the Great War is still raging on the Western Front but back in Westminster a policeman is shot dead. At first, Hardcastle believes the murderer to have been a disturbed burglar. But then, there is another killing - the beautiful wife of a Royal Flying Corps Officer - on whose doorstep the first victim was killed.As enquiries continue, attention focuses on an antiquarian bookseller, a struggling artist, a reporter and even officers of the Royal Flying Corps. Hardcas...

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 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...

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...

On Armistice Day 1918 DI Ernest Hardcastle of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police finds himself in familiar territory when he investigates the murder of a prostitute whose body is found beneath Brighton's Palace Pier. Is it a casual robbery or are there more sinister motives for her death?A beach photographer and an army officer involved in the 1917 mining of the Messines Ridge both feature high on Hardcastle's list of suspects. And, in a parallel enquiry, a Westminst...

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...

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...