Historical Police Procedural

Kiedy Jane Wetherby zaprasza posterunkowego Hamisha Macbetha do swojego SPA "Szczęśliwy Wędrowiec" na wyspie Eileencraig, ten z radością przyjmuje zaproszenie. Niestety, wizyta nie ma nic wspólnego z relaksem. Mieszkańcy wietrznej wyspy nie chcą u siebie ani SPA, ani jego właścicielki. Goście Jane też nie należą do sympatycznych. Wszystkim na nerwy działa zwłaszcza Heather Todd. Kiedy więc zostaje znaleziona martwa u stóp klifu, nikt nie wydaje się przejęty jej śmiercią. Ale nie Hamish.

M.C. Beaton jest autorką powieści detektywistycznych. Polscy czytelnicy poznali ją dzięki serii "Agatha Raisin". Śmierć plotkary to pierwsza część bestsellerowej serii kryminałów, których akcję pisarka umieszcza w rodzinnej Szkocji. Bohaterem jest Hamish Macbeth, posterunkowy z Lochdubh i ulubieniec kobiet, któremu aparycji mógłby pozazdrościć Rob Roy, a stylu tropienie zbrodni sam Columbo. Kiedy lady Jane Winters, wdowa z wyższych sfer i felietonistka plotkarskiej kolumny, dołącza do grona miłośników wędkarstwa w Lochdubh, atmosfera robi się ciężka.

Ukochana Hamisha, Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, wraca do Lochdubh z nowym narzeczonym, więc nic dziwnego, że posterunkowy jest załamany i wszystko go drażni. Najbardziej jednak działa mu na nerwy niejaka Trixie Thomas, idealna pani domu, mieszkanki Lochdubh do zdrowego egoizmu. Gdy ktoś ucisza ją na zawsze, męska część mieszkańców miasteczka może wreszcie odetchnąć z ulgą. Hamish odetchnie dopiero wtedy, gdy znajdzie mordercę.

Kiedy posterunkowy Hamish Macbeth otrzymuje wiadomość o morderstwie w domu bezlitosnego żartownisia Arthura Trenta, traktuje to jako jego kolejny kawał. Jednak na miejscu okazuje się, że Trent bez wątpienia został zamordowany. Na dodatek jego dom pełen jest chciwych krewnych, których bardziej interesuje treść testamentu Arthura niż znalezienie jego mordercy. Jakby tego było mało, okazuje się, że w sprawę zamieszana jest dawna miłość Hamisha, Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. Sytuacja się komplikuje.

W szkockich górach jest środek lata, ale nad głową Hamisha Macbetha zbierają się chmury. Co prawda dostaje awans, ale jego nowy szef to matoł. Na dodatek pewien złowieszczy cygan i jego dziewczyna zaparkowali swój rdzewiejący wóz na środku wioski. Kłopoty zaczynają się, gdy znikają lekarstwa doktora, a wraz z nimi pieniądze. Sądziedzi nagle przestają służyć sąsiedzką pomocą – nikt nie chce pisnąć ani słówka. Sprytny Hamish musi delikatnie wyciągać z mieszkańców wsi całą prawdę.

Cztery pary, dokładnie wybrane przez profesjonalną swatkę Marię Worth, gromadzą się w hotelu na zamku Tommel. Jednak zamiast miłosnej aury zamczysko wypełnia atmosfera aż gęsta od nienawiści. Czarę goryczy przelewa przyjazd ordynarnej i chciwej Pety. A kiedy miłość wychodzi oknem, morderca wchodzi drzwiami. Peta zostawia Hamishowi kłopotliwą zagadkę do rozwiązania: kto towarzyszył Pecie podczas jej ostatniego posiłku, który kobieta zakończyła martwa, z dużym czerwonym jabłkiem wetkniętym w usta.

When an officer is called to a house, he discovers a chilling and bizarre crime scene. Sitting at a dining room table, as if enjoying their evening meal, he finds the decomposing bodies of an entire family. Each one murdered and posed like mannequins. The only person missing from the disturbing scene is the family maid, Elizabeth. Detective Richard Crombie is assigned the case but after weeks of pressure and no results, he reluctantly requests the help of criminal psychiatrist, Doctor Killam, who once worked with Scotland Yard.

Reconstrucció dels assassinats comesos en 1949 per John George Haig, un assassí en sèrie que, en ser detingut, va confessar que era un vampir que necessitava alimentar-se de sang humana. Els jutges van sospitar que s'estava fent passar per boig per eludir la condemna de mort i, després de moltes deliberacions, el van enviar a la forca. Narrada en primera persona, la novel·la és una minuciosa aproximació als fets reals i exactes que van succeïr al mateix temps que reflexiona sobre la demència i sobre el crim i va amanit amb l'homenatge a tres mestres....

December, 1939. Having solved the case of the Suffolk Vampire, Inspector Betty Church and her colleagues at Sackwater Police Station have settled back down to business. There's the elderly Mr Fern, who keeps losing his slippers, Sylvia Satin's 13th birthday party to attend and the scintillating case of the missing bookmark to solve. Though peace and quiet are all well and good, Betty soon finds herself longing for some cold-blooded murder.

When a signalman discovers a mutilated body inside a railway tunnel near Groote Park, it seems to be a straightforward case of a man struck by a passing train. But Inspector Vandam of the Middeldorp police isn’t satisfied that Albert Smith’s death was accidental, and he sets out to prove foul play in a baffling mystery which crosses continents from deepest South Africa to the wilds of northern Scotland, where an almost identical crime appears to have been perpetrated.

When the murder of a woman is reported to the Shanghai police while Inspector Chen is on vacation, Sergeant Yu is forced to take charge of the investigation. The victim, Yin Lige, a novelist known for her banned book, has been found dead in her tiny, humble room off the stairwell of a converted multi-family house. It seems that only a neighbor could have committed the crime, for the building is kept locked at night. But there is no apparent motive. Sergeant Yu tries to unravel the reclusive woman's past and begins to realize it may have larger political implications.

A woman's body is discovered in Angel Meadow, site of one of the most the notorious slums in Victorian England. She has been shot. Caton's investigation uncovers a link to the Troubles in Northern Ireland thirty years ago. The Establishment wants to let sleeping dogs lie. Caton, accompanied by DS Joanne Stuart, finds strange allies from both sides of the divide. And when a second murder occurs nothing is going to stop them from uncovering the truth.

Called to the peaceful wooded churchyard of St John-at-Hampstead, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces one of the most audacious and unusual murders of his career. The body of the church's organist is found in an opened grave, together with a photograph of a manor house and a cryptic note. The image leads Archie to Cambridge, where the crisp autumn air has brought with it bustling life to the ancient university and town.

The year is 1976. Veteran New Haven homicide detective Frank Suchy has finally learned to cope with the demons in his life and the daily pressure of "the job" - being exposed to every manner of death that could possibly befall someone - all the while celebrating his third year of sobriety. But when his best friend's child is brutally murdered in broad daylight outside a downtown shopping mall, his world begins to deteriorate, bringing back the nightmares that he thought were locked away long ago.

London, 1882. Alec Lonsdale, a young reporter on the Pall Mall Gazette, is working on a story about a fatal house fire. But the postmortem on the victim produces shocking results: Patrick Donovan's death was no accident. But why would someone murder a humble shop assistant and steal part of his brain? When a second body is discovered, its throat cut, and then a third, Lonsdale and his spirited female colleague, Hulda Friederichs, begin to uncover evidence of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest echelons of Victorian society.

Summer 1989: Gunther Fahnstiel, once a tough cop who wasn't averse to taking a little side money from a certain madam, has just escaped the dementia ward of his Wichita nursing home. He's not exactly sure where he wants to go, but wherever it is, it has to do with the bag full of cash belonging to the man he accidentally backed over with his RV in 1979. During his search, Gunther begins to relive the violent fallout of that madam's sex lottery 40 years ago. As Gunther's memories unravel, his past and present will collide in a devastating reckoning.

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.

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.

Seconda indagine per il commissario capo Damiano Flexi Gerardi, soprannominato il Becchino, già protagonista dell’acclamato "Il mandante" (2019). Nella Genova degli anni Cinquanta, Damiano è stato convinto dal questore a ritirare le proprie dimissioni. Afflitto da rupofobia e afefobia, il commissario è un’anima tormentata, ma il nuovo caso affidatogli lo costringerà a un duro bagno di realtà. Le vittime innocenti dell’omicidio, questa volta, sono due piccole ospiti di un orfanotrofio. Chi mai potrebbe aver ucciso quelle due bambine innocenti?

West Berkshire, the 1970s. PC Don Barton is convinced that life has taken a turn for the better when he passes his promotion exam and becomes an acting sergeant. Things take a turn for the worse after a violent altercation with a local thug. Soon after, Don finds himself investigating a hit-and-run case. Somehow, international drug smugglers and the London gangland all seem to be involved. Don is determined to find out the truth, but the more he uncovers, the greater the danger becomes. Can he crack the case before more lives are lost?