Historical Police Fiction

September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has abruptly ended - but crime has not. That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the scene, he recognises the victim: local justice of the peace Charles Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates all evidence.

A party of hunters stumbles upon a desiccated human hand, a feisty grandmother meets an untimely death in her own kitchen, and the broken remains of a World War II-era transport plane emerge from the face of a calving glacier. It's all in a day's work for Sergeant Liam Campbell of the Alaska State Troopers. And 60 years ago is like yesterday.

George Arrow, a good-looking, independently wealthym and single man of 36, has just been diagnosed with a weak heart. A heart so weak, his doctor tells him, he must go to extraordinary lengths to avoid putting the slightest strain upon it. On his doctor's advice, George packs up his life in Dublin and boards a train to the Bay of Galway where he intends to live quietly in a hotel and await the inevitable end. On the train, he meets John Burden, and as they chat, George realizes that his new acquaintance is an odious man.

Politisch hoch brisant und menschlich herausfordernd: Kommissar Oppenheimer muss zwischen Ex-Nazis und Israelis vermitteln. Frühsommer 1952: Auf den westdeutschen Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer wird ein Briefbomben-Attentat verübt, das zum Glück vereitelt werden kann. Weil es Hinweise gibt, dass Adenauers Leben nach wie vor in Gefahr ist, schickt Ben-Gurion israelische Agenten nach Deutschland – das Abkommen soll um jeden Preis geschützt werden.

Berlin, Sommer 1936. Inmitten der Olympiabegeisterung muss Gereon Rath verdeckt einen Todesfall im olympischen Dorf aufklären. Die Machthaber befürchten, dass Kommunisten die Spiele sabotieren. Rath hat seine Zweifel und ermittelt eher lustlos, zumal er private Probleme hat: Er ist Gastgeber amerikanischer Olympiatouristen, und seine Ehefrau Charly hat die gemeinsame Wohnung unter Protest verlassen. Dann findet er im olympischen Dorf einen Mitarbeiter mit kommunistischer Vergangenheit, der auch am Tatort war.

Kommissar Oppenheimers dritter Fall: ein packender Zweiter-Weltkriegs-Krimi über die Atompläne der Nazis von Glauser-Preisträger Harald Gilbers. Berlin, Ende April 1945: Die letzten Tage des Dritten Reichs verbringen Kommissar Oppenheimer und seine Frau Lisa in einem Unterschlupf des Ganoven Ede. Doch in den chaotischen Wirren der Niederlage werden sie getrennt. Als Oppenheimer in Edes Auftrag einen verschwundenen Schuldner aufspüren soll, bekommt er unverhofft einen Hinweis auf Lisas Vergewaltiger, den russischen Deserteur Grigorjew.

As lawman, rancher, and Korean War veteran, Ty Dawson has his share of problems in the southern Oregon county he calls home. Despite how rural it is, Meriwether can't keep modernity at bay. The 1970s have changed the United States—and Meriwether won't be spared. A standoff looms when the US Fish & Wildlife Service seeks to separate longtime cattleman KC Sheridan from his water supply—ensuring the death of his livestock. If that's not enough trouble, a Portland detective is found dead in a fly-fishing resort cabin.

Cuando el general Thaddeus Carlyon, insigne veterano del Imperio de Su Majestad, muere en una elegante fiesta londinense, nadie sospecha que se trate de un asesino. Sin embargo, la bella esposa del general, Alexandra, se confiesa autora del crimen, lo que causará una profunda conmoción en la aristocracia victoriana. El detective William Monk trabajará incansablemente junto a Oliver Rathbone, su colaborador habitual y abogado defensor de Alexandra Carlyon, para conseguir salvar la vida de la acusada.

El aristocrático clan de los Moidore, una de las mejores familias de Londres, a cuya mansión de Queen Anne Street acuden los más encumbrados personajes, nunca se había visto en vuelto en el escándalo. Ahora, sin embargo, la bella hija de sir Basil ha aparecido apuñalada en su propia cama y la noticia corre de boca en boca por la ciudad. El inspector William Monk recibe la orden de encontrar al asesino sin demora, aunque evitando causarle mayores trastornos a una familia ya abrumada por la tragedia.

La enfermera Hester Latterly debe acompañar a una anciana señora durante una visita a Londres. El asunto se complica cuando la mujer muere durante la noche. Al practicarle la autopsia se descubre que ha sido envenenada y ¿quién si no Hester puede haber sido la asesina? El inspector William Monk deberá hallar las pruebas incriminatorias para demostrar la culpabilidad de la enfermera o encontrar un asesino entre los miembros del enigmático y cerrado clan de los Farraline.

En el hospital londinense Royal Free cada día se combate con la muerte; no con el asesinato. Así que el hallazgo del cadáver de Prudence Barrymore, una amable enfermera de buena familia crea confusión y asombro. Pese a que la policía señala que Kristian Beck, un médico extranjero, es el culpable, la dirección del hospital encarga la investigación del caso a William Monk. Este, junto a la enfermera y amiga de la víctima Hester Latterly y el brillante abogado defensor Oliver Rathbone, desvelará los secretos intereses que en ocasiones empañan la imparcialidad de la justicia.

"La mia è una storia antica, scritta nelle ossa. Sono antiche le ceneri di cui sono figlia, ceneri da cui, troppe volte, sono rinata. E a tratti è un sollievo sapere che prima o poi la mia mente mi tradirà, che i ricordi sembreranno illusioni, racconti appartenenti a qualcun altro e non a me. È quasi un sollievo sapere che è giunto il momento di darmi una risposta, e darla soprattutto a chi ne ha più bisogno. Perché i miei giorni da commissario stanno per terminare. Eppure, nessun sollievo mi è concesso."

It is 1945 in the American sector of occupied Berlin, and a German boy has discovered the body of a beautiful young woman in a subway station. Blonde and blue eyed, she has been sexually assaulted and strangled with a chain. When the bodies of other young women begin to pile up, it becomes clear that this is no isolated act of violence, and German and American investigators will have to cooperate if they are to stop the slaughter.

Kommissar Oppenheimers vierter Fall: ein packender Krimi über eine Mordserie im zerbombten Berlin von Glauser-Preisträger Harald Gilbers. Berlin 1946. Nach Kriegsende nutzt Kommissar Oppenheimer seinen kriminalistischen Spürsinn, um Vermisste ausfindig zu machen. Routinemäßig besucht er dazu die Berliner Flüchtlingslager. Als der verunstaltete Leichnam eines vertriebenen "Volksdeutschen" aufgefunden wird, bekommt Oppenheimer von dem sowjetischen Oberst Aksakow den Befehl, sich mit der Sache zu beschäftigen. Weitere brutale Morde lassen nicht lange auf sich warten.

New York, August 1896. A "hot wave" has settled on the city with no end in sight, leaving tempers short and the streets littered with dead horses felled by the heat. In this presidential election year, the gulf between rich and poor has political passions flaring, while anti-immigrant sentiment has turned virulent. At police headquarters, the gruff, politically ambitious commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has been struggling to reform his notoriously corrupt department.

July 1940. As the Battle of Britain begins, the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary carry out the dangerous task of ferrying warplanes to RAF airbases. But for the ATA detachment sent to the base at Scotney, it’s not only in the skies that they’re a target—it seems a killer is stalking them on the ground. On the day pilot Lizzie Hayes arrives in the quiet village, one of her new comrades is found murdered. One of the few women in Britain with a psychology PhD, Lizzie thinks she can use her skills to help identify the killer, but DI Jonathan Kember isn’t convinced.

A standalone novel from the author of the classic Australian Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte mystery series. Harry Tremayne, a policeman, goes to an isolated valley in the remote Murchison region of Western Australia to find his brother - who vanished a month earlier while investigating the murder of a police detective. Do the gold smugglers at Breakaway House hold the answers to the mystery? First published as a serial in the Perth Daily News in 1932, the real setting for Breakaway House is Mt Magnet, about 580km north of Perth, deep in gold country.

When a rainmaker is bludgeoned to death in the pitch-blackness of a colossal dust storm, small-town sheriff Temple Jennings shoulders yet another burden in the hard times of the 1930s Dust Bowl. The killing only magnifies Temple's ongoing troubles: a formidable opponent in the upcoming election, the repugnant burden of enforcing farm foreclosures, and his wife's lingering grief over the loss of their eight-year-old son. As the sheriff and his young deputy investigate the murder, their suspicions focus on a teenager, Carmine, serving with the Civilian Conservation Corps.

While transporting a woman to an insane asylum, Deputy Kopp discovers something deeply troubling about her story. Before she can investigate, another inmate bound for the asylum breaks free and tries to escape. In both cases, Constance runs instinctively toward justice. But the fall of 1916 is a high-stakes election year, and any move she makes could jeopardize Sheriff Heath's future - and her own. Although Constance is not on the ballot, her controversial career makes her the target of political attacks.

It's 1976. Dr. Colin Sanford, a brilliant, ambitious obstetrician in the Pacific Northwest city of Emerald, has a plan to create the first in vitro baby. He recruits Dr. Giselle Hearn, an experienced laboratory geneticist/embryologist at the university who’s frustrated by the ultraconservative policies of her department chairman. Drs. Sanford and Hearn, working secretly, set out to put their names in the history books. Unfortunately, a secret that big is hard to keep....