When a young police constable is stabbed to death at an anti-nuclear demonstration, Chief Inspector Alan Banks confronts a hundred suspects, anyone of whom could have wielded the murder weapon. And the arrival of Superintendent "Dirty Dog" Burgess to oversee the case just makes things worse

Number 35 The Hill is an ordinary house in an ordinary street. But it is about to become infamous. When two police constables are sent to the house following a report of a domestic disturbance, they stumble upon a truly horrific scene. A scene which leaves one of them dead and the other fighting for her life and career. The identity of a serial killer, the Chameleon, has finally been revealed. But his capture is only the beginning of a shocking investigation that will test Inspector Alan Banks to the absolute limit

A beautiful June day in the Yorkshire Dales, and a group of children are spending the last of their half-term freedom swimming in the river near Hindswell Woods. But the idyll is shattered by their discovery of a man's body, hanging from a tree

Banks is on holiday, headed for Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. His daughter, Tracy, home in Leeds and angry with her father, is headed for some very deep trouble. Robinson's nineteenth Inspector Banks novel is a stunner. Handguns are illegal in the U.K., and whenever one is reported, the police swing into high gear. But things go very wrong when the police swoop down on a home in Eastvale to seize a reported handgun. In the confusion, Patrick Doyle, a former neighbour of Banks, is shot. Doyle's daughter, Erin, is to blame for the gun being in the house, and while she's in police custody, her housemate in Leeds, Tracy Banks, decides to let Erin 's boyfriend know that the police have been around their place. Bad decision. When Banks returns home from holiday, Tracy is missing. And that's not the worst of it. Robinson's latest Inspector Banks novel is a powerful story of how the volatile emotions of love and resentment can turn deadly when fear comes creeping in

Inspector Alan Banks' ninth case sees him investigating the murder of a young racist. A man who, it seems, has lived by the sword and now died by the sword. But it is never that simple… A night at the opera had offered Chief Inspector Alan Banks a temporary respite from his troubles – both at work and at home. But the telephone call summoning him to Easlvale brings him back to reality with a bump. For the body of teenager Jason Fox has been found in a dirty alleyway. He has been kicked to death. At first it looks like an after-hours pub fight gone wrong – until Banks learns that Jason was a member of a white power organisation known as the Albion League. So who wanted him dead? The Pakistani youths he had insulted in the pub earlier that evening? The shady friends of his business partner Mark Wood? Or someone within the Albion League itself? Someone who resented the teenager's growing power in a brutal and unforgiving organisation…?

A young local student has apparently committed suicide. Her body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. She didn’t own a car. Didn’t even drive. How did she get there? Where did she die? Who moved her, and why? Meanwhile a man in his sixties is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. He is wearing an expensive suit and carrying no identification. Post-mortem findings indicate he died from injuries sustained during the fall. But what was he doing up there? And why are there no signs of a car in the vicinity? As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries proliferate, Annie’s father’s new partner, Zelda, comes up with a shocking piece of information that alerts Banks and Annie to the return of an old enemy in a new guise. This is someone who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants — and suddenly the stakes are raised and the hunt is on

A disgraced college lecturer is found murdered with £5,000 in his pocket on a disused railway line near his home. Since being dismissed from his job for sexual misconduct four years previously, he has been living a poverty-stricken and hermit-like existence in this isolated spot. The suspects range from several individuals at the college where he used to teach to a woman who knew the victim back in the early '70s at Essex University, then a hotbed of political activism. When Banks receives a warning to step away from the case, he realises there is much more to the mystery than meets the eye — for there are plenty more skeletons to come out of the closet

There are human bones buried in an open field, the remains of a lost teenaged boy whose disappearance devastated a community more than thirty-five years ago… and scarred a guilt-ridden friend forever. A long-hidden horror has been unearthed, dragging a tormented policeman back into a past he could never truly forget no matter how desperately he tried. A heinous crime that occurred too close to home still has its grip on Chief Inspector Alan Banks – and it’s leading him into a dark place where evil still dwells. Because the secrets that doomed young Graham Marshall back in 1965 remain alive and lethal – and disturbing them could cost Banks much more than he ever imagined

The nude photo of a teenage runaway shows up on a pornographic website, and the girl’s father turns to Detective Chief Inspector Alan banks for help. But these are typical circumstances, for the runaway is the daughter of a man who’s determined to destroy the dedicated Yorkshire policeman’s career and good name. Still it is a case that strikes painfully home, one that Banks – a father himself – dares not ignore as he follows its squalid trail into teeming London, and into a world of drugs, sex, and crime. But murder follows soon after – gruesome, sensational, and, more than once – pulling Banks in a direction that he dearly does not wish to go: into the past and private world of his most powerful enemy, Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle

There’s more than blood and bone beneath the skin… The victim, a nondescript “numbers cruncher,” died horribly just yards away from his terrified wife and daughter, murdered by men who clearly enjoyed their work. The crime scene is one that could chill the blood of even the most seasoned police officer. But the strange revelations about an ordinary accountant’s extraordinary secret life are what truly set Chief Inspector Alan Banks off – as lies breed further deceptions and blood begets blood, unleashing a policeman’s dark passions… and a violent rage that, when freed, might be impossible to control

When Karen Drew is found sitting in her wheelchair staring out to sea with her throat cut one chilly morning, DI Annie Cabbot, on loan to Eastern Area, gets lumbered with the case. Back in Eastvale, that same Sunday morning, 19-year-old Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled in the Maze, a tangle of narrow alleys behind Eastvale's market square, after a drunken night on the town with a group of friends, and DCI Alan Banks is called in. Banks finds suspects galore, while Annie seems to hit a brick wall — until she reaches a breakthrough that spins her case in a shocking and surprising new direction, one that also involves Banks. Then another incident occurs in the Maze which seems to link the two cases in a bizarre and mysterious way. As Banks and Annie dig into the past to uncover the deeper connections, they find themselves also dealing with the emotional baggage and personal demons of their own relationship. And it soon becomes clear that there are two killers in their midst, and that at any moment either one might strike again

In this first Inspector Banks novel, a peeping tom is frightening the women of Eastvale; two young thugs are breaking into homes; and an old woman may or may not have been murdered. Inspector Banks investigates these cases, which weave together as the story reaches a tense climax

In the blistering, dry summer, the waters of Thornfield Reservior have been depleted, revealing the ruins of the small Yorkshire village that lay at its bottom, bringing with it the unidentified bones of a brutally murdered young woman. Detective Chief Inspector Banks faces a daunting challenge: he must unmask a killer who has escaped detection for half a century. Because the dark secret of Hobb’s End continue to haunt the dedicated policeman even though the town that bred then has died – and long after its former residents have been scattered to far places… or themselves to the grave. From an acknowledged master writing at the peak of his storytelling powers comes a powerful, insightful, evocative, and searingly suspenseful novel of past crimes and present evil

This anthology was edited by Michael Connelly. His essay is called "Once Upon a Midnight Dreary." A collection of stories by thriller master Edgar Allan Poe with essays by beloved and bestselling writers, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth. Authors involved include Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Nelson DeMille, Tess Gerritsen, Sue Grafton, Stephen King, Lisa Scottoline, Laura Lippman, and twelve others. *** Few have crafted stories as haunting as those by Edgar Allan Poe. Collected here to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth are sixteen of his best tales accompanied by twenty essays from beloved authors, including T. Jefferson Parker, Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, and Joseph Wambaugh, among others, on how Poe has changed their life and work. Michael Connelly recounts the inspiration he drew from Poe's poetry while researching one of his books. Stephen King reflects on Poe's insight into humanity's dark side in "The Genius of 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" Jan Burke recalls her childhood terror during late-night reading sessions. Tess Gerritsen, Nelson DeMille, and others remember the classic B-movie adaptations of Poe's tales. And in "The Thief," Laurie R. King complains about how Poe stole all the good ideas… or maybe he just thought of them first. Powerful and timeless, In the Shadow of the Master is a celebration of one of the greatest literary minds of all time. The Mystery Writers of America, founded in 1945, is the foremost organization for mystery writers and other professionals dedicated to the field of crime writing

The eighth novel in the critically acclaimed Inspector Alan Banks series. Detective Inspector Banks had seen crimes just as savage in London, but somehow the murder of a teenage girl seemed all the more shocking in the quiet Yorkshire village of Eastvale. Deborah Harrison had been found one foggy night in the churchyard behind St Mary's, strangled with the strap of her school satchel. But Deborah was no typical sixteen-year-old. Her father was a powerful financier who ran in the highest echelons of industry, defence and classified information. And Deborah, it seemed, enjoyed keeping secrets of her own…

It's fascinating to see some of my favourite crime novelists coming together to create a taut, tense thriller; each chapter stands alone as a powerful story, yet they also combine seamlessly into a great read. Genuinely gripping.' – Harlan Coben *** With each crime writer picking up the story in their usual locale, each of the authors tell a gripping story of murder, betrayal and intrigue. Running through each story is a charm bracelet which brings bad luck wherever it's found. Set in locations ranging from nineteenth-century Georgia to wartime Leeds, the book features stories from contributors such as Peter Robinson (writing about 1940s Leeds), Fidelis Morgan, Lynda La Plante (1970s Britain), Val McDermid (1980s Scotland) and Mark Billingham tackling contemporary London

A skinny young boy is found dead — his body carelessly stuffed into wheelie bin. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called to investigate. Who is the boy, and where did he come from? Was he discarded as rubbish, or left as a warning to someone? He looks Middle Eastern, but no one on the East Side Estate has seen him before. As the local press seize upon an illegal immigrant angle, and the national media the story of another stabbing, the police are called to investigate a less newsworthy death: a middle-aged heroin addict found dead of an overdose in another estate, scheduled for redevelopment. Banks finds the threads of each case seem to be connected to the other, and to the dark side of organised crime in Eastvale. Does another thread link to his friend Zelda, who is facing her own dark side? The truth may be more complex — or much simpler — than it seems

What does it mean to be a father? What does it mean to be a son? What does it mean to be a man? In Men From Boys seventeen masters of crime fiction answer these questions in a multitude of ways. Here are worlds that are instantly recognisable and believable, yet set widely apart. From a deprived London housing estate to the trenches of the First World War, from the claustrophobic confines of a late-night back room poker game to a rundown jazz joint in Manhattan, the writers address just what it means to be a man. The characters who inhabit these stories strive to determine what is right, what will give them dignity, what will earn them self-respect. Some succeed, some fail: little is perfect. Gathered together in this anthology are some of the very best names in contemporary crime writing, introduced and edited by John Harvey

In an exciting departure from his award-winning Inspector Banks series, Peter Robinson introduces us to detectives Arvo Hughes and Maria Hernandez of the Los Angeles Police Department Threat Management Unit. The case they investigate is dramatic, suspenseful and action-packed: they are trying to protect TV star Sarah Broughton from a dangerous stalker. Sarah plays cool, efficient homicide detective Anita O’Rourke in the hit network series “Good Cop, Bad Cop.” She has a beautiful beach house in Pacific Palisades and all the peace and privacy she needs to help her forget her troubled past. Then she starts receiving disturbing letters from someone who signs himself only as “M” — letters that address her as “Little Star” and as “Sally,” showing every sign of twisted, obsessive love. Soon she is plunged into a nightmare and neither she nor her friends are safe from the mysterious “M.” When it becomes clear that “M” and Sarah have met at some point, detectives Hughes and Hernandez must explore the lost years of Sarah’s life. Unfortunately, Sarah’s memories of this roller-coaster ride of drugs, sex and rock and roll are vague and blurred. When “M’s” obsession escalates from quaint love letters to more frightening messages of maniacal passion and, finally, to murder, the two detectives find themselves in a race against time to save Sarah’s life. No Cure For Love is a suspenseful psychological thriller you won’t be able to put down

Murder is only the beginning for Banks and his team... The gruesome double murder at an Eastvale property developer’s luxury home should be an open and shut case for Superintendent Banks and his team of detectives. There’s a clear link to the notoriously vicious Albanian mafia, men who left the country suspiciously soon after the death. Then they find a cache of spy-cam videos hidden in the house — and Annie and Gerry’s investigation pivots to the rape of a young girl that could cast the murders in an entirely different light. Banks’s friend Zelda, increasingly uncertain of her future in Britain’s hostile environment, thinks she will be safer in Moldova hunting the men who abducted, raped and enslaved her than she is Yorkshire or London. Her search takes her back to the orphanage where it all began — but by stirring up the murky waters of the past, Zelda is putting herself in greater danger than any she’s seen before. And as the threat escalates, so does the danger for Banks and those who love Zelda

A collection of stories The hero of Robinson's novels (Wednesday's Child, etc.), Yorkshire Chief Inspector Alan Banks, appears in three of this collection's 13 stories, and one of the 13, "Innocence," won the Canadian Crime Writers Award for best short story. That tale displays well Robinson's gift for turning a familiar plot inside-out as strange circumstances overwhelm his characters. A man waits outside a school to meet a teacher friend, draws the suspicion of parents and finds himself charged with the murder of a schoolgirl. What happens after his trial is shocking but, in Robinson's hands, perfectly believable. There's a similar twist in the title story, wherein an out-of-town visitor ventures nervously into an urban park often described as unsafe at night. There's danger, all right, but not what the reader expects. In "Fan Mail," a mystery novelist agrees to advise a Walter Mitty-like husband on innovative ways to murder his wife; an old secret leads to a perverse result. The plots of the stories are mostly solid and the characters are always vivid. U.S. readers may particularly enjoy Robinson's take on his fellow Canadians coping with Florida and southern California

It should have been a cosy scene – log fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights and tree. But appearances can be deceptive. For Caroline Hartley, lying quietly on the couch, has been brutally murdered. Inspector Alan Banks is called to the grim scene. And he soon has more suspects than he ever imagined. As he delves into her past, he realises that for Caroline, secrecy was a way of life, and her death is no different. His ensuing investigation is full of hidden passions and desperate violence…

As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag. She has been brutally murdered. The detective assigned to the case, Stanley Chadwick, is a hard-headed, strait-laced veteran of the Second World War. He could not have less in common with – or less regard for – young, disrespectful, long-haired hippies, smoking marijuana and listening to the pulsing sounds of rock and roll. But he has a murder to solve, and it looks as if the victim was somehow associated with the up-and-coming psychedelic pastoral band the Mad Hatters. In the present, Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the murder of a freelance music journalist, who was working on a feature about the Mad Hatters for “MOJO” magazine. This is not the first time that the Mad Hatters, now aging rock superstars, have been brushed by tragedy. Banks finds he has to delve into the past to find out exactly what hornet’s nest the journalist inadvertently stirred up

Fire – It consumes futures and pasts in a terrified heartbeat, devouring damning secrets while leaving even greater mysteries in the ashes. The night sky is ablaze as flames engulf two barges moored side by side on an otherwise empty canal. On board are the blackened remains of two human beings. To the seasoned eye, this horror was no accident, the method so cruel and calculated that only the worst sort of fiend could have committed it. There are shocking secrets to be uncovered in the charred wreckage, grim evidence of lethal greed and twisted hunger, and of nightmare occurrences within the private confines of family. A terrible feeling is driving police inspector Alan Banks in his desperate hunt for answers – an unshakable fear that this killer’s work will not be done until Banks’s own world is burned to the ground

Retired Cambridge professor Donald Aitcheson loves scouring antiquarian bookshops for secondhand treasures — as much as he loathes the scribbled marginalia from their previous owners. But when he comes upon an inscription in a volume of Robert Browning’s poetry, he’s less irritated than disturbed. This wasn’t once a gift to an unwitting woman. It was a threat — insidious, suggestively sick, and terribly intriguing. Now Aitcheson’s imagination is running wild. Was it a sordid teacher-pupil affair that ended in betrayal? A scorned lover’s first salvo in a campaign of terror? The taunt of an obsessive psychopath? Then again, it could be nothing more than a tasteless joke between friends. As his curiosity gets the better of him, Aitcheson can’t resist playing detective. But when his investigation leads to a remote girls’ boarding school in the Lincolnshire flatlands, and into the confidence of its headmistress, he soon discovers the consequences of reading between the lines

A shocking mass murder occurs at a wedding in a small Dales church and a huge manhunt follows. Eventually, the shooter is run to ground and things take their inevitable course. But Banks is plagued with doubts as to exactly what happened outside the church that day, and why. Struggling with the death of his first serious girlfriend and the return of profiler Jenny Fuller into his life, Banks feels the need to dig deeper into the murders, and as he does so, he uncovers forensic and psychological puzzles that lead him to the past secrets that might just provide the answers he is looking for. When the surprising truth becomes clear, it is almost too late

Late November, 1980. English student find his house full of police officers. He soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend has been murdered in a nearby park and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick quickly realises he Is a suspect since he has no convincing alibi, but Nick has his own suspicions. Meanwhile, in late November 2019, an archaeological dig near Scotch Corner unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more recent than the Roman remains they were looking for. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the bones themselves. Left with few clues, Banks and his team must rely on their wits hunt down a killer. As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion

The chilling new Inspector Banks novel from the bestselling author of Playing With Fire. When he receives a mysterious and disturbing telephone call from his brother Roy, Banks heads off to London to search him out. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot is called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road just outside Eastvale. A young woman has been found dead in her car… With Banks’s name and address written on a slip of paper in the back pocket of her jeans. While Banks stays in his brother’s luxurious, empty house, digging into his life and uncovering more and more surprises about the brother he didn’t really know and didn’t particularly like, Annie tracks down the female victim’s friends and colleagues. It seems that both trails are leading towards horrific conclusions and when the cases look likely to intersect, the consequences for Banks and Annie become terrifying…

In this volume, guest editor Sue Grafton and series editor Otto Penzler offer up their choices for the best suspense, crime, and mystery stories of the year. Included in these thrilling tales is Scott Bartels’s dark and violent “Swear Not by the Moon,” in which a drug-addicted Creole is caught between good intentions and bad decisions. In Janice Law’s haunting “Secrets,” an Irish immigrant mother and daughter are faced with unexpected cruelties as they try to make a new life for themselves. And in Lawrence Block’s clever Edgar Award-winning story “Keller on the Spot,” a contract killer uncharacteristically saves a life and finds his assignment becoming increasingly complicated. The diverse styles and themes employed in this collection showcase an impressive array of talent certain to further the popularity of the genre. Already a bestseller in its first year, The Best American Mystery Stories, as evidenced by this year’s edition, promises to keep readers intrigued and coming back for more

In its brief existence, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES has established itself as a peerless suspense anthology. Compiled by the best-selling mystery novelist Ed McBain, this year’s edition boasts nineteen outstanding tales by such masters as John Updike, Lawrence Block, Jeffery Deaver, and Joyce Carol Oates as well as stories by rising stars such as Edgar Award winners Tom Franklin and Thomas H. Cook. The 1999 volume is a spectacular showcase for the high quality and broad diversity of the year’s finest suspense, crime, and mystery writing

The best-selling mystery writer Lawrence Block proves his point with the twenty outstanding stories he has chosen for this volume. For fans of the traditional mystery, there’s T. Jefferson Parker’s “Easy Street,” in which a brother’s visit uncovers family secrets. In Jeremiah Healy’s “A Book of Kells,” a detective draws on his Irish heritage to solve a crime. And in Clark Howard’s “Under Suspicion,” a detective’s investigation of the murder of his best friend’s daughter hits too close to home. However, many of the stories are concerned more with the personalities and motives surrounding the crime than with the crime itself. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “The Girl with the Blackened Eye,” we see a crime from the young victim’s point of view. Jennifer Anderson’s “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster” examines the hardships one rookie cop endures while solving her first crime. And in Thomas Lynch’s “Blood Sport,” a young mortician faces the gruesome job of preparing a murdered friend for her funeral. As Block says: “Three things struck me about the stories in this year’s collection — their range, their variety, and their exceptionally high quality. Crime fiction has always been a broad and inclusive field, but these stories epitomize its breadth, running from the literary to the retro-pulp. The field has always showcased new talent, and a full two thirds of this year’s winners are by writers previously unknown to me. I’ve been reading short crime for half a century, and writing it for almost that long, and I’m still blown away by how very fine these stories are.”

An anthology of stories Following the huge success of the previous BBM collections comes the latest batch of stories from the UK's top-flight crime writers. Alongside an "Inspector Morse" story from Colin Dexter and a "Rumpole" tale from John Mortimer, is Jake Arnott's first short story and a wealth of exclusive stories from some of Britain's most exciting up-and-coming young crime writers. An ideal present for anyone who has ever enjoyed a good murder-mystery, "The Best British Mysteries 2006" will cause many sleepless nights of avid page turning!

Have yourself a crooked little Christmas with The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler collects sixty of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories — many of which are difficult or nearly impossible to find anywhere else. From classic Victorian tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy, to contemporary stories by Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain, this collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant. Included are puzzles by Mary Higgins Clark, Isaac Asimov, and Ngaio Marsh; uncanny tales in the tradition of A Christmas Carol by Peter Lovesey and Max Allan Collins; O. Henry-like stories by Stanley Ellin and Joseph Shearing, stories by pulp icons John D. MacDonald and Damon Runyon; comic gems from Donald E. Westlake and John Mortimer; and many, many more. Almost any kind of mystery you’re in the mood for — suspense, pure detection, humor, cozy, private eye, or police procedural — can be found in these pages. FEATURING: — Unscrupulous Santas — Crimes of Christmases Past and Present — Festive felonies — Deadly puddings — Misdemeanors under the mistletoe — Christmas cases for classic characters including Sherlock Holmes, Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Inspector Ghote, A.J. Raffles, and Nero Wolfe

On a balmy June night, Kirsten, a young university student, is strolling home through a silent moonlit park when she is viciously attacked. When she awakes in the hospital, she has no recollection of that brutal night. But then slowly, painfully, details reveal themselves – dreams of two figures, one white and one black, hovering over her; snatches of a strange and haunting song; the unfamiliar texture of a rough and deadly hand… In another part of the country, Martha Browne arrives in a Yorkshire seaside town, posing as an author doing research for a book. But her research is of a particularly macabre variety. Who is she hunting with such deadly determination? And why? The First Cut is a vivid and compelling psychological thriller, from the author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Banks series

In the peaceful wooded valley outside Swainshead, a body lies rotting. It is the second mysterious death here in recent years — and it won't be the last… Inspector Banks knows that once a body is uncovered, other things surface as well. Family rivalries. Secret passions. Private shames. And now he must walk into the valley of death and bring a killer out of hiding…

A dozen of the very best mystery stories from crime-fiction’s maestro, including one brand new Inspector Banks story. Best known — and much admired — for his long-running and bestselling Inspector Banks series, Peter Robinson is also widely and highly praised by mystery mavens for his riveting short stories. Robinson’s versatile talent is on full display in the twelve stories that comprise his latest short story collection, The Price of Love and Other Stories. Spellbinding plots, suspense that grips and won’t let go, utterly unpredictable twists, psychological truths both sweet and scary, characters you’d like to meet (and some you’d hope never to encounter), all set in places that are characters themselves — these are the fundamentals of story and mystery that Robinson plays like the virtuoso he is

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. With Toronto Noir, the series moves fearlessly north of the U.S. border for the first time. Brand-new stories by: RM Vaughan, Nathan Sellyn, Ibi Kaslik, Peter Robinson, Heather Birrell, Sean Dixon, Raywat Deonandan, Christine Murray, Gail Bowen, Emily Schultz, Andrew Pyper, Kim Moritsugu, Mark Sinnett, George Elliott Clarke, Pasha Malla, and Michael Redhill

When Detective Inspector Bill Reid is found murdered in the tranquil grounds of the St Peter’s Police Treatment Centre, and compromising photographs are discovered in his room, DCI Banks is called in to investigate. Because of the possibility of police corruption, he is assigned an officer from Professional Standards, Inspector Joanna Passero, to work closely with him, and he soon finds himself and his methods under scrutiny. It emerges that Reid’s murder may be linked to the disappearance of an English girl called Rachel Hewitt, in Tallinn, Estonia, six years earlier. The deeper Banks looks into the old case, the more he begins to feel that he has to solve the mystery of Rachel’s disappearance before he can solve Reid’s murder, though Inspector Passero has a different agenda. When Banks and Passero travel to Tallinn to track down leads in the dark, cobbled alleys of the city’s Old Town, it soon become clear that that someone doesn’t want the past stirred up. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot, just back at work after a serious injury, is following up leads in Eastvale. Her investigations take her to the heart of a migrant labour scam involving a corrupt staffing agency and a loan shark who preys on the poorest members of society. As the action shifts back and forth between Tallinn and Eastvale, it soon becomes clear that crimes are linked in more ways than Banks imagined, and that solving them may put even more lives in jeopardy

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks investigates the chilling case of Brenda Scupham, a welfare mother who unwittingly hands her seven-year-old daughter, Gemma, over to child abductors claiming to be social workers

In a remote countryside lane in North Yorkshire, the body of a young girl is found, bruised and beaten, having apparently been thrown from a moving vehicle. While DI Annie Cabbot investigates the circumstances in which a 14-year-old could possibly fall victim to such a crime, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is faced with a similar task — but the case Banks must investigate is as cold as they come. Fifty years ago Linda Palmer was attacked by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, yet no investigation ever took place. Now Caxton stands accused at the centre of a historical abuse investigation and it’s Banks’s first task as superintendent to find out the truth. While Annie struggles with a controversial case threatening to cause uproar in the local community, Banks must piece together decades-old evidence, and as each steps closer to uncovering the truth, they’ll unearth secrets much darker than they ever could have guessed

От классической новеллы с головоломкой, которую читатель решает вместе с ее героями, до криминального триллера, полного неожиданных поворотов сюжета, — в сборник вошли только лучшие английские детективы. Кто-то из 32 выдающихся авторов Туманного Альбиона, как Агата Кристи или Артур Конан Дойл, в представлении не нуждается, кто-то станет настоящим открытием

В лесу обнаружен повешенный. Имеются серьезные основания сомневаться, что это самоубийство. Когда в деле появляется еще один труп, к следствию подключается старший инспектор Алан Бэнкс. В ходе расследования ему придется погрузиться в грязный мир интриг и преступлений, где ложь в порядке вещей, а убийство — обычный способ решения проблем. В серьезной опасности оказываются его близкие и друзья…

В городе и его окрестностях исчезли пять девочек-подростков. Для поимки серийного убийцы была создана специальная группа, одно из подразделений которой возглавил старший инспектор Алан Бэнкс. Взяли маньяка случайно, и при задержании он был убит. Казалось бы, зло наказано, полиция освободила улицы от кошмара, но Бэнкса продолжают мучить сомнения: как могла жена Теренса Пэйна за год брака даже не заподозрить, чем занимается ее муж в подвале их дома?

Стоило старшему инспектору Бэнксу уехать в отпуск, как в его отделении полиции начинаются проблемы. В спальне у подруги его дочери обнаруживается незарегистрированный пистолет, при попытке изъять оружие погибает невиновный человек. Тем временем замещающая Бэнкса (и не совсем безразличная ему) инспектор Энни Кэббот неожиданно застает у него дома дочь Бэнкса Трейси вместе с неизвестным молодым человеком, а тот открывает огонь и ранит инспектора Кэббот. Похоже, Трейси связалась с плохим парнем. Теперь отцу и его подчиненным предстоит, рискуя жизнью, вызволять ее из лап обезумевшего преступника

В Уитби, на краю утеса, находят сидящую в инвалидной коляске женщину с перерезанным горлом. Преступление расследует инспектор Энни Кэббот. В то же время в Иствейле, в так называемом Лабиринте, насилуют и убивают девушку. Дело об убийстве ведет старший инспектор Алан Бэнкс. На первый взгляд происшествия в двух разных городах Северного Йоркшира никак не связаны между собой, однако помощнику Бэнкса, пытавшемуся выследить в Лабиринте маньяка, перерезают горло таким же манером, как женщине в Уитби, — лезвием бритвы или скальпелем. Алан Бэнкс и Энни Кэббот, которые давно неравнодушны друг к другу, объединяют усилия, чтобы быстрее разоблачить преступника

В сентябре 1969 года в Северном Йоркшире, на Бримлейском фестивале, заколота ударом ножа в сердце девушка-хиппи, Линда Лофтхаус; а в октябре 2005-го убит кочергой музыкальный критик, обозреватель Николас Барбер. Следствие приходит к выводу: оба преступления — дело рук одного злодея, и двумя жертвами он не ограничился