Showing results by author "Graham Ison" in All Categories

The new Detective Inspector Hardcastle mystery - When the body of actress Victoria Hart is found in the early hours of Christmas Day, Hardcastle and Marriotts investigations lead them to the Beaux Belles revue, where a scantily clad Victoria persuaded young men to enlist with the promise of a kiss. It seems the alluring actress had many admirers, and when the recruiting sergeant is found dead, a link to the army can no longer be ignored...

A Brock and Poole Mystery - On Christmas Day, Detective Chief Inspector Brock’s celebrations are interrupted when he is called to a murder at Heathrow Airport. Kerry Hammond was due to fly out to New York with her husband - but never made it further than the car park. Brock and his sidekick, DS Dave Poole, put Kerry’s husband at the top of their suspect list, but the case becomes increasingly complex, and they find themselves embroiled in a complex case of smuggling that stretches from the South of France to Central London...

A Brock and Poole Mystery - When police are called to a house in Chelsea, to investigate complaints of a noisy party, all is quiet - but flames are seen coming from the house a short while later. The fire brigade discover the body of Mrs Diana Barton, who has been stabbed to death in a frenzied attack. DCI Brock and DS Poole investigate, and they soon discover that the party was less than respectable, and that Diana Barton’s death is just the first....

DI Hardcastle tracks a killer who’s left his hat behind... July, 1917. DI Ernest Hardcastle and his assistant, DS Charles Marriott, investigate the murder of a cashier operating in London’s Victoria Station. An army officer claims to have seen the murderer running away, and an army cap left behind appears to identify the criminal. Hardcastle believes that it will be a simple matter to go to Aldershot and arrest him, but things are never as easy as they seem.

When Eunice Bailey takes her wedding ring into a London jewellers to have it enlarged, she is very keen for it to be done quickly. So when she doesn't return or answer her telephone, the jeweller contacts the police. DCI Brock and DS Poole are on the case, and what begins as a fairly simple missing person enquiry develops into a mystery that has ramifications stretching as far as Bermuda...

A Brock and Poole Mystery - DCI Harry Brock is called to a murder scene on Ham Common early on a Sunday morning. But it is far from being an ordinary sort of murder. The victim has been stabbed to death, locked in a wooden box and set alight. Brock and his assistant, DS Dave Poole, believe that there might be a connection to a gang, which leads them on a journey through Londons underworld...

Hardcastle is sent to investigate the murder of Colonel Sir Adrian Rivers, Bt. It seems the baronet's second wife, much younger than Rivers, is neither distressed by the murder, 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 Zeppelin raid, before the killer is eventually unmasked.

The new and unusual case for Detectives Brock and Poole - One Saturday night, a masked gunman walks into a jazz club and murders the drummer. Very soon, Detective Chief Inspector Brock and Detective Sergeant Poole find themselves taking an interest in the guests at a party in Surrey's stockbroker belt, which leads them to look again at a five-year-old robbery and to interview a dozen or so armed robbers. The killer is eventually arrested, but not before numerous extra-marital affairs come to light and a bullion van is attacked...

The new mystery featuring Detective Inspector Hardcastle in this popular First World War series - September 1916. A Zeppelin with a deadly payload is aimed at Victoria station, but when the bombs miss their mark and instead destroy a nearby house in Washbourne Street, mystery ensues for DI Hardcastle. The body of a woman is discovered, who was not only unknown to the tenants of the building but also appears to have died before the bombs were even dropped…

As the Great War grinds to its bloody finale, DI Hardcastle is encumbered with a frustrating and complicated investigation... March, 1918. The Great War is grinding slowly to its bloody finale. Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle, head of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police, is called to a body is recovered from the Thames. Mavis Parker, the victim’s attractive widow, proves to be a good-time girl, and to complicate matters, all the suspects seem to be known to each other, including a South African who purports to be an actor.

Brock and Poole investigate a double murder and find themselves caught up in a crime with international implications.... Detective Chief Inspector Brock is called out to a burnt-out camper van in Richmond, Surrey. The van contained two badly burned and very dead bodies. At first thought to be an unfortunate fire, Brock and his assistant, Detective Sergeant Dave Poole, discover the truth: a double murder has been committed.

A DI Hardcastle Investigation - June 1917. Ernest Hardcastle, head of the Whitehall CID, is called to investigate the murder of Sir Nigel Strang, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Munitions, in his office. Given his work, Hardcastle wonders whether the Germans might be responsible. Then another murder leads Hardcastle to a worker at Woolwich Arsenal, who is suspected of passing information to the enemy. But is there a connection? Hardcastle must find out...

A Brock and Poole mystery - When MP Hugh Blakemore is shot dead near a bus stop in the Fulham Road, DCI Harry Brock and DS Dave Poole are assigned to the case. But there is a complication that, at first, misleads the detectives: Months previously, Blakemore killed an inmate when visiting a prison. Although Blakemore was exonerated, Brock is convinced that underworld characters have exacted revenge.…

In February 1915, the Great War is still raging on the Western Front, but in Westminster, at the centre of Hardcastle's bailiwick, a policeman is shot dead. At first, Hardcastle believes the murderer to have been a disturbed burglar. But as enquiries continue, attention focuses on an antiquarian bookseller, a struggling artist, a reporter, officers of the Royal Flying Corps, both in England and in France, and the activities of Isabel Plowman, the wife of one of them and the lover of others.