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 . . .

Detective Inspector Hardcastle ruffles feathers in a sleepy Hampshire village, when he investigates the murder of a local girl August 1917. The head of the CID at Scotland Yard sends Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle and Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police to a small Hampshire village, to investigate the murder of a local girl. For once, Hardcastle has plenty of suspects. Was the murderer one of Daisy Salter's many suitors? Was it the shifty individual who left the local pub and disappeared the moment he saw Hardcastle? Or could it have been Daisy's own father? In an entirely different world from London, Hardcastle is forced to adapt to the slower pace of country life, and he soon finds he is ruffling feathers as he carries out his investigations in his own inimitable fashion.

At near midnight on a sweltering hot July Saturday, Detective Chief Inspector Brock is called to a murder in a house at West Drayton, close to Heathrow Airport. The murder victim is Clifford Gregory, the accountant husband of attractive air stewardess Sharon Gregory.Sharon's account of the break-in that resulted in her husband's murder does not ring true, however, and when Brock and his assistant Detective Sergeant Dave Poole seek to interview Sharon a second time, they find that she has disappeared.Brock and Poole soon find themselves caught up in a complex investigation where nothing is as it seems and the more they discover about the case, the less they really know.

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. As enquiries progress, it becomes clear that the dead couple were on the wrong side of the law, and Brock finds himself investigating not just a double murder, but a financial crime with international implications.Review" Ison peppers the book with humor and witty banter. Another solid entry in this increasingly popular series"Booklist on Make Them PayAbout the AuthorDuring Graham Ison's thirty year career in Scotland Yard's Special Branch he was involved in several espionage cases and the investigation into the escape of the spy George Blake. He spent four years at 10 Downing Street as Protection Officer to two Prime Ministers and also served as second-in-command of the Diplomatic Protection Group.

It is New Year’s Eve 1915 and the Hardcastle family are welcoming 1916 at their home in Kennington, London. But an hour into the New Year, Hardcastle is called to a murder in a jeweller’s shop in Vauxhall. In a first for the A Division senior detective, the killers apparently made their escape in a motor car. As Hardcastle’s enquiry progresses, what he believed to be a fairly straightforward investigation turns into one with ramifications extending from Chelsea via Sussex and Surrey to France, close to the fighting on the Western Front. And as is so often the case in wartime, the army becomes involved and so, to Hardcastle’s dismay, does Scotland Yard’s Special Branch . . .From Publishers WeeklyIson throws his readers more than a few curveballs in the 11th mystery featuring irascible Divisional Det. Insp. Ernest Hardcastle, of the Metropolitan Police (after 2012's Hardcastle's Frustration). On New Year's Eve 1915, the DDI's plans for celebrating are disrupted by the murder of jeweler and pawnbroker Reuben Gosling. A witness reports seeing two men speed off in a motorcar, but when the police locate the vehicle's owner, wealthy Sinclair Villiers, he plausibly denies any involvement. Routine police work leads to the discovery that Sinclair's army captain son, Haydn, who often borrows the car, spent the night of the crime with his colonel's wife. Hardcastle, theorizing that an enemy of Haydn's was trying to frame him, looks into an espionage angle, only to find British intelligence intervening in the case. Ison does little to distinguish Hardcastle from countless other gruff series leads, but he does offer readers a genuinely unusual secret at the heart of the mystery. (Nov.) From BooklistAnother top-notch entry in this well-regarded British police-procedural series set during WWI, this latest adventure has the irascible DDI Hardcastle faced with two murders. Jeweler Reuben Gosling has been beaten to death, with robbery appearing to be the motive, but something doesn’t smell right to Hardcastle. He’s hardly begun the investigation when another murder takes place: this time, a man named Peter Stein is shot to death in his flat. Are the cases related? The most promising clue is the car Gosling’s killer used to flee the scene. The car’s owner is the extremely wealthy Sinclair Villiers, whose son, Haydn, is an officer serving in France. As Hardcastle investigates, he soon has a wealth of clues—a Morse code machine, an illicit love affair, a group of Jewish activists, a deserting officer, and a bizarre rendezvous with a Swedish ship. But when Special Branch and MI5 get involved, Hardcastle knows this is no ordinary case. As usual, Ison offers full-bodied characters, entertaining badinage between Hardcastle and his long-suffering sergeant, a byzantine plot to keep readers off balance, and plenty of authentic period ambience. --Emily Melton

A serial killer is at large. One item ties the victims together: in each case, their bra has been removed. Can DCI Harry Brock and DS Dave Pool crack a disturbing case?

Accident . . . or murder? Detective Inspector Hardcastle's seemingly simple investigation turns more complicated, in his latest caseJune 1918. A patrolling constable discovers the body of Georgina Cheney, wife of a naval commander, in the basement area of a house in Westminster. At first it is thought to be suicide or even a tragic accident. But as Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle of the A or Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police begins to investigate – ably assisted by Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott – they soon discover a different story. It is clear that the woman was murdered, and revelations about the victim's previous life in Malta arouse Hardcastle's interest.But things are destined to get even more complicated for Hardcastle, when he is assigned two further murder cases by Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Wensley, head of the CID at New Scotland Yard. Could they be connected? This may be a puzzle too tricky...

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 . . .**