Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Crime Fiction

The master turns sleuth and spy in this quintet of radio dramas. Actor, playwright, songwriter, director, author and star - as far as we know, Noël Coward never added ‘detective’ or ‘undercover agent’ to his astonishing achievements. But could the intriguing gaps in his memoirs be hiding a thrilling secret life? 

The Curzon Case is a gripping story of kidnapping, intrigue and sudden death. Boys disappear from a public school, an aeroplane crashes nearby, and a murder occurs. Paul Temple has his work cut out trying to find out if all the events are connected and tracking down the mysterious Curzon.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young Horace Rumpole in this second stellar collection of court cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole. 'Rumpole and the Man of God': It is 1959, and Rumpole must defend a clergyman accused of shoplifting who, although he clearly did not commit the crime, is curiously reluctant to be cross-examined under oath. Meanwhile, Hilda (she who must be obeyed) has big news....

When a body is found in the village pond, Convent Mother Helen and DI Cromwell are brought together to solve the crime and figure out what actually happened to Father Jack. The duo embark on an unlikely friendship as they bring their heads together to solve the murder. It’s not long before the two super sleuths are at it again when a precious icon goes missing from the church. 

It is the 1980s, and Stamford Holmes is still living in the shadow of his famous grandfather. Languidly living on Sherlock's fortune, he reluctantly agrees to do some work as a consulting detective - if only to provide 'Doctor' Watson with material for the Sunday papers. Watson, on the other hand, brings all the bumbling enthusiasm he can muster to their new cases, forever aping and quoting both their grandfathers - and wielding a magnifying glass.

DI Trueman and DS Riley are reluctant partners in crime-fighting, paired up after high-flyer Trueman suffered a nervous breakdown that left him struggling to get back on his feet. Working with Riley isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered - but the Sergeant turns out to be much more of a help than a hindrance when it comes to cracking cases.

Leslie Charteris’ square-jawed, blue-eyed hero loved, fought and stole his way through Europe from the 1930s to the 1970s, endlessly pursuing blondes, baddies and boodle. Adored by women and feared by his foes, he was renowned for both his heroic exploits and his nefarious reputation - and he always left his trademark calling card at the scenes of his crimes: a sketch of a stick figure with a halo.

1991. Britain and the US are waging war in Iraq, the Soviet Union is breaking up - and Brian Oldman is banged up in Parkhurst, his 30-year sentence restarted. Set on proving his innocence, he studies law from his cell in a bid to win justice at last. But will he ever be released from prison? Joseph Olinska, meanwhile, seems unstoppable. Now ennobled and on the board of Lehman Brothers, he plans to extend his business interests into Russia - with a little help from Boris Yeltsin and his cronies. 

Meet The Honourable Richard Rollison—a.k.a the Toff. A debonair aristocrat and ace amateur sleuth, he's the scourge of London's criminal underworld: sometimes working alone, sometimes hand-in-glove with the police. But wherever he goes, he leaves his distinctive calling card: a jaunty caricature featuring a top hat, a monocle, a bow tie and a cigar. In these two gripping thrillers, he finds himself involved in rural intrigue and a wedding-day mystery.

When the body of 17-year-old Jackie Shaw is found in a shallow grave, it sends shockwaves through her small West Yorkshire community. Rumours of murder and systematic sexual abuse are rife, and the town's MP, Samuel Stokes, is adding fuel to the fire with his campaign against a so-called 'Asian grooming gang'. Probation officer Rachel Collier deals with paedophiles on a daily basis: so when she hears that her teenage daughter, Chloe, has become friendly with 24-year-old Tariq, she's concerned where it might lead. But that's not her only worry.

Cath Staincliffe is best known as the creator of the hit TV series Blue Murder, as well as for her ‘Scott and Bailey’ books and ‘Sal Kilkenny’ crime novels. This full cast drama collection features the five gripping dramas in her ‘Legacy’ series, together with a standalone mystery and a three-part thriller, all specially written for BBC Radio.

In these eight intriguing tales, Holmes and Watson solve cases that range from the suspicious to the downright strange. They encounter mysteries as diverse as vanishing staff, secret plans and eccentric lodgers as Holmes is struck down by a rare tropical disease and, later, lured away from retirement to help his country on the eve of war.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this collection of cracking cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole. Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders: It is the '50s, and two war heroes have been shot dead. Defending the suspect is deemed hopeless, so the case is handed to a novice. But the novice's superiors didn't count on the tenacity and wit of the young and hungry Horace Rumpole.

Norman Birkett KC (1883-1962) was a real-life Rumpole - a distinguished and highly skilled lawyer who had numerous successes in the courtroom during his long career. This collection covers some of his most famous cases of the inter-war years, including the dramatic trial of Buck Ruxton; the notorious Dennistoun affair; and the peculiar events surrounding the mysterious cyclist Ronald Light.

Returning to his home town of Middlesborough on a six-month attachment to the Teesside police, criminal psychologist Joe Aston is called in for seven unusual and baffling cases. As a specialist in the controversial field of 'recovered memory', his skills are crucial: only he can uncover the truth by persuading victims, witnesses and suspects to remember what they'd rather forget.

After shooting a teenage boy in an undercover operation, DS Sue Manson is taken off the front line and transferred to a desk job in Missing Persons. But no sooner has she arrived than she's in the thick of the action once more, tasked with tracking down a trio of twisted criminals.

Each Roman Catholic parish compiles a Book of the Dead from the lists of departed loved ones submitted by parishioners. Printed on the front of the envelopes are three words: November Dead List. In this series, a young priest opens one such envelope and discovers not a list of the dead but a list of people he knows to be alive and members of his congregation. At first he thinks it's someone's idea of a joke. Then the people named start turning up dead.

Storm-bound over the New Year at a Fenland rectory, Lord Peter Wimsey willingly lends a hand in the ringing of a New Year's Eve peal of the church bells. Some months later, a handless, disfigured corpse is discovered in a fresh grave in the churchyard. Lord Peter receives a plea for help from...

It's very easy to kill - so long as no one suspects you.' So says Miss Pinkerton when ex-policeman Luke Fitzwilliam meets her on a train. Luke doesn't take much notice of this little old lady's story about a serial killer on the loose in her village - until her predictions start to come true, when he feels compelled to check it out. Very soon the race is on to prevent any more murders...

Kenneth Cranham and Alex Lanipekun star in these 15 hard-hitting crime dramas. Chalk and cheese coppers Max Matthews and Sean Armitage are from different generations and different worlds, but together they make a remarkable team. In this powerful, unconventional police procedural, we join the detective duo in the interview room as they practise their unique style of interrogation in a bid to extract a confession....