Mrs Packington felt alone, helpless, and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in The Times which read: "ARE YOU HAPPY? IF NOT, CONSULT MR PARKER PYNE". Equally adept at putting together the pieces of a marriage or the fragments of a murder mystery, Mr Parker Pyne was possibly the world's most unconventional private eye, and certainly its most charming.

Still in the formative years of his career, Hercule Poirot faces a most taxing case: who killed Lord Cronshaw? Was Coco Courtenay's death on the same night a mere coincidence? And did she deliberately take an overdose of cocaine?

Cambridge. Christmas 1922. Posie Parker has cleared a space in her hectic schedule to try to unravel a tragedy in her own family. But Posie’s past is hiding around every turn in the old university town. She finds herself taking on a new case which is positively teeming with ghosts, shadows, and secrets, where nothing is quite what it seems.

Lord Comstock is a barbarous newspaper tycoon with enemies in high places. His murder in the study of his country house poses a dilemma for the Home Secretary. In the hours before his death, Lord Comstock’s visitors included the government Chief Whip, an Archbishop, and the Assistant Commissioner for Scotland Yard. Suspicion falls upon them all and threatens the impartiality of any police investigation. Abandoning protocol, the Home Secretary invites four famous detectives to solve the case: Mrs Adela Bradley, Sir John Saumarez, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Mr Roger Sheringham. 

Father Brown, an unassuming and shabbily dressed priest, possesses an incredible ability to solve crimes and murders. Here he reveals the secret of his success. He discovers the culprit by imagining himself to be inside the mind of the criminal. This fourth collection of Father Brown stories contains the magnificent "The Chief Mourner of Marne"- a fascinating story with unexpected twists - about a duel and a case of mistaken identity.

Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success: refusing the scientific method of detection, he adopts instead an approach of simple sympathy, interpreting each crime as a work of art, and each criminal as a man no worse than himself… Here you will find the complete Father Brown stories in the chronological order of their original publication. The Innocence of Father Brown Starts at Chapter 1, The Wisdom of Father Brown Starts at Chapter 13.

Little did Anthony Cade suspect that a simple errand on behalf of a friend would make him the centrepiece of a murderous international conspiracy. Someone would stop at nothing to prevent the monarchy being restored in faraway Herzoslovakia. The combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Surete can do no better than go in circles - until the final murder at Chimneys, the great country estate that yields up an amazing secret.

The year is 1895. The police don't have the resources to deal with everything that goes on in the capital. The rich turn to a celebrated private detective when they need help: Sherlock Holmes. But in densely populated South London, where crimes are sleazier and Holmes rarely visits, people turn to Arrowood, a private investigator who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele and his showy forensic approach to crime. Arrowood understands people, not clues.

Andrew Sachs stars as the famous clerical sleuth in Series 1 of The Father Brown Stories, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4. With his black hat, huge umbrella, unwordly simplicity and ‘beaming but breathless geniality’, Father Brown is one of fiction’s best-loved amateur detectives.

Sussex, England, 1929. Mydworth is a sleepy English market town just 50 miles from London. But things are about to liven up there, when young and handsome Sir Harry Mortimer returns home from his diplomatic posting in Cairo, with his beautiful and unconventional American wife, Kat. No sooner have the two arrived, when a jewel robbery occurs at Harry's aunt's home - Mydworth Manor. The police are baffled and overwhelmed with the case. But Harry and Kat have an edge in the hunt for the dangerous culprit.

When famous explorer Alaric Boynton-Dale disappears, Posie uncovers many dark secrets: an aristocratic family torn apart by hatred, a bizarre murder at an English country house, and a cryptic clue left behind by Alaric which is sweet as honey, but deadlier than poison. In an action-packed case where simply everyone has a motive for wanting Alaric dead, Posie's investigation starts off in the English Cotswolds, takes her through the glamorous South of France, on to the mysterious island of Ortigia in Italy, and then into the Tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt.

Lies, spies, film stars, and murder. New Year’s Eve, 1921 Posie has been asked to accompany Inspector Richard Lovelace of Scotland Yard on an undercover mission. Their destination is a glittering New Year’s Eve party at Maypole Manor, the clifftop home of Lord Robin Glaysayer. With a blizzard raging outside, when a killer strikes, the Inspector and Posie’s skills are tested to breaking point as they try to find the murderer before he attacks again.

Brian Cox stars as the Edinburgh detective in nine episodes of the BBC Radio 4 series. Inspired by the real-life memoirs of a Victorian inspector in Scotland, James McLevy prowls the dark streets of 1860s Edinburgh bringing criminals to justice, with the assistance of Constable Mulholland.

It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.

So far, it had been a typical New Year's Eve house party. But Mr. Satterthwaite, a keen observer of human nature, sensed that the real drama of the evening was yet to unfold. So it proved when a mysterious stranger arrived after midnight. Who was this Mr. Quin? And why did his presence have such a pronounced effect on Eleanor Portal, the woman with the dyed-black hair?