Historical Private Investigators

William Arrowood, Victorian London’s less salubrious private detective, is paid a visit by Captain Moon, the owner of a pleasure steamer moored on the Thames. He complains that someone has been damaging his boat, putting his business in jeopardy. Arrowood and his trusty sidekick Barnett suspect professional jealousy, but when a string of skulls is retrieved from the river, it seems like even fouler play is afoot. It’s up to Arrowood and Barnett to solve the case before any more corpses end up in the watery depths.

Evie, Countess of Woodridge, is on a mission to rescue her favorite modiste from the consequences of an unfavorable review. Her quest is a timely diversion as her granny, Toodles, appears to be suffering from a case of restlessness. All goes well until Evie's public clash with the journalist responsible for the article is followed by the journalist's death. The circumstances are suspicious and the police is warning Evie to stay away from the case. While she is happy to comply with the detective's request, the killer has other ideas and goes one step too far . . .

The Sign of the Broken Sword is a short story by G. K. Chesterton featuring his famous characters Father Brown and former criminal Flambeau. At the centre of the story is the mysterious death of General Sir Arthur St. Clare, who was hanged on a tree with his broken sword hung round his neck. It is a detective story and throughout it Father Brown reveals the mystery of General St. Clare.

St Pauls, Bristol, 1980. Joseph Tremaine Ellington, now 57 years old, has long abandoned his former career as an enquiry agent for the safety of teaching. But his old life draws him back. One of the very few lights from Ellington’s dark and violent past has flickered out. His fiancée, Ruth Castle, is dead - leaving him again heartbroken and alone to bring up his 15-year-old niece, Chloe. Ellington’s days are long and lonely, his nights tormented by old ghosts.

December, 1925. A dark, smog-filled London doesn’t seem very Christmassy or exciting, but then Posie Parker, London’s premier female private detective, receives an urgent call from one of her oldest friends: Rufus, Earl of Cardigeon. Summoned to The Mermaid, an ancient hotel in Rye on the Sussex Coast, in the heart of smuggling country, Posie, together with her husband Richard, finds her friend in a real state. As the snow falls and Christmas lights go up, secrets are revealed, and Posie becomes involved in perhaps her most personal case so far.

Berlin, 1878: Der Gauner Felix Blom wird nach drei Jahren Haft aus dem Kittchen entlassen. Doch in Freiheit ist nichts mehr so, wie es war: Seine Wohnung wurde weitervermietet, sein Geld gepfändet und seine Verlobte ist mit jemand Neuem liiert. Alle Versuche, an Geld oder Arbeit zu kommen, scheitern. Doch dann kommt Blom eine Idee: Warum sich nicht mit der neuen Nachbarin zusammentun? Die ehemalige Edelprostituierte Mathilde führt eine Privatdetektei, doch die Aufträge sind rar, da man ihr als Frau diese Arbeit nicht zutraut.

When Cockney private detective George Harley saves a young girl's life on a dark London night in 1929, he doesn't realize it marks the beginning of an investigation which will change his life forever. The incendiary novel which inspired the girl's abduction also seems to be linked to a series of grisly murders that are taking place on Harley's patch, and though he's delighted to be asked by Scotland Yard to help find the killer before they strike again, he could do without the local razor- and cosh-wielding mobsters thinking he's a police informant.

As John continues his investigation into the Atlanta child murders, he interviews Wayne Williams, investigates the disappearance of Cedric Porter, and uncovers a series of murders with devastating consequences. Can John Jordan unmask the cunning killer before he strikes again?

Victor Silvius has spent nine years as an inmate at The Grange, a private sanatorium, for the crime of attacking judge Sir Giles Drury. Now, the judge's wife, Lady Elspeth Drury, believes that Silvius is the one responsible for a series of threatening letters her husband has recently received. Eager to avoid the scandal that involving the local police would entail, Lady Elspeth seeks out retired stage magician Joseph Spector, whose discreet involvement in a case Sir Giles recently presided over greatly impressed her.

BERLIN 1934. DIE WELT IST BLIND. BERNIE GUNTHER NICHT. Gerade sind die Nazis an die Macht gekommen, und Bernie Gunther will als Privatdetektiv im Hotel Adlon so wenig Aufsehen wie möglich erregen. Doch dann stirbt ein Hotelgast. Als auch noch die Leiche eines jüdischen Boxers im Landwehrkanal auftaucht, gerät Gunther in den Strudel krimineller Machenschaften um den Bau des Olympiastadions. Gleichzeitig drohen die Amerikaner, die Spiele zu boykottieren. Entschiedene Befürworterin eines Boykotts ist die wunderschöne jüdisch-amerikanische Journalistin Noreen Charalambides.

Buenos Aires, 1985. Inspector Emiliano Vazquez knows the cost of silence. Haunted by the atrocities of Argentina’s Dirty War, he has buried his own complicity deep. But when a grotesque and inexplicable suicide uncovers a mass grave linked to the junta’s war crimes, Vazquez is drawn into a deadly web of secrets, ritual, and manipulation. The victim’s bizarre death appears tied to a missing page from the Devil’s Bible—a medieval text rumoured to hold the key to immortality through unholy devotion.

Former knight Crispin Guest is now known in the streets of medieval London as the Tracker—an investigator who can find anything and anyone. What begins as a straightforward case of murder turns complicated when Crispin realizes that the victim was an important courier in possession of a holy artifact—an object so valuable that its absence could start a war between France and England. Surrounded by possible suspects, Guest will have to use his wiles to navigate both the exclusive halls of King Richard's court and the hardscrabble streets of fourteenth-century London.

After millionaire Malcolm Capshaw hires Joe Cutler and his team to search for a fabled artifact, they enter a maze of lies, murder, and betrayal. The real purpose of their search is soon exposed, as an old London crime family displays an unusual interest in an ancient town where Christianity laid its roots in England.

The Maze Genealogy Investigators are on the trail of a cold case, following another message from the medium Claire Lewis. A disturbing discovery at a ruined country house and the unearthing of family papers provide the missing clues to the fate of police detective William McRoberts who disappeared without trace in the 1870s. Maggie and Nick travel to Liverpool and North Wales to see if they can crack open the case and finally be able to tell the McRoberts family what happened to their ancestor.

Der zweite Fall für Sebastian St. Cyr im nebelverhüllten London. Der fesselnde historische Krimi! Brighton, England, 1811. Die schöne Frau eines alternden Marquis wird tot aufgefunden – ausgerechnet in den Armen des Prinzregenten. Ein Skandal für die englische Krone! Doch der Fall wird noch verstrickter. Um den Hals der toten Frau befindet sich eine mythische Halskette, die ausgerechnet auf Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin deutet. Schon wieder sieht Sebastian sich damit in einen Mordfall verwickelt.

My name is Henry Hollis, if you didn’t already know that. Maybe this little message in a bottle won’t get read by anyone for 50 or 100 years, or ever, but I’ve got a few things to get off my chest, starting with a growing dislike for certain citizens of the new German Reich. They call themselves Nazis and grin when they say it like the word is the new and improved term for sunshine or roses. There’s also a certain ruby-red alien from a distant planet who’s made a real hash of my life for the last few weeks. Then there’s the small matter of a man by the name of Frank Moffer.

In seiner Berlin-Trilogie um den Privatdetektiv Bernhard Gunther schafft es Philipp Kerr, in der Form des spannenden Kriminalromans die schmutzig-düstere Atmosphäre der Nazi- und Post-Nazi-Zeit in Berlin zu beschwören. Geschickt verwebt er die historischen Ereignisse und ihre Protagonisten mit seinen Kriminalgeschichten - eine atemberaubende Mischung.

Im bitterkalten Winter 1947 blühen die Schwarzmarktgeschäfte. Gern verlässt Gunther die Stadt, um in Wien im Fall eines ermordeten Nazijägers zu recherchieren.

Berlin, heißer Sommer 1938. Ein Wahnsinniger hat fünf junge Mädchen auf die gleiche bestialische Weise umgebracht. Von SS-Standartenführer Heydrich ins Prinz-Albrecht-Palais zitiert, hat Gunther keine andere Wahl: er geht auf Mördersuche.

Windsor, 1943. Britain is in the grip of war and treachery is afoot. The body of controversial former courtier Lord Blackwater is found in the abandoned Fort Belvedere, once the country bolthole of the King’s wayward brother. And all signs point to murder. Royal confidant Guy Harford is called in to solve the mystery quickly and quietly, before any hint of scandal reaches the public. Investigating with the help of Rodie, his roguish burglar girlfriend, his enquiries lead him into the world of the Royal Ballet, where on-stage glamour hides an undercurrent of off-stage deceit.