Hide and seek may be child’s play, but murder most certainly is not.Summer 1959. When murder comes to the garden party of the Reverend George Sixpence, the curmudgeonly Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes are despatched from Banbury police station to apprehend the killer.Arriving at the splendid Victorian vicarage, Dykeman and Shapes find a group of suspects riddled with envy, bitterness and contempt for one another. As the two policemen strug...

Money can buy you many things but immortality isn’t one of them.Business titan, Henry Graball, has it all. Money, power, status. None dare challenge him, whatever the justification. At least, that is how he sees the world and why not?When his dead body is found at the venue of the extravagant party he has thrown to celebrate his success, it is clear there is someone out there who sees things very differently indeed.When so many people have good reason to wish ill of...

Where gentle humour and a little romance meet classic murder-mysteries.Join the curmudgeonly Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes as they set about solving three murder cases, each set in and around the small Oxfordshire market town of Banbury in the early 1960s.Each story brings you an array of colourful characters. From the elusive and calculating killers, to the unsuspecting and promptly dispatched victims. From the untrustw...

For one young woman, a sizeable and unexpected legacy comes with the ultimate price-tag; her life.A rural idyll in the depths of the Oxfordshire countryside is shaken to its foundations when the body of a beautiful woman is found at the bottom of a field-side ditch. Still smarting from the loss of his one-true love, Inspector Leslie Dykeman, accompanied by his irascible side-kick, Sergeant Stanley Shapes, is sent to investigate. What they uncover is a web of secrets, lies, jealousy...

Thirteen fabulous crime stories from Ben Westerham’s highly popular ‘Shorts in the Dark’ series. It’s time to take a wander into the darker recesses of the mind.The Old Man’s Shed – School-boy Jacob Whistler finds his neighbour’s shed an irresistible temptation. But what is it he finds lurking inside?Alone in the Dark - “There’s something about watching others in the night that appeals to me. It always has.”The Pond - Revenge can come in many guises and sometimes fr...

Who would have thought golf could be such a deadly game?When two players stumble upon a dead body in a bunker on the thirteenth hole of their favourite golf club, their discovery is about to set in motion a series of events that will lay bare some of the less savoury aspects of the human condition.Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes find themselves engaged on a case that will drive them to distraction as they begin to investig...

The first four books in this highly popular series.Meet private investigator David Good, a man with unreliable clients, a taste for blondes and a knack for digging up the dirt and 1980s London is his playground. Crime fiction with attitude and humour.“I really loved everything about this story. From the fantastic use of language and slang, to the plot(s), to the main character himself - everything lined up just right for my tastes. David Good PI is a rough but absolutely lo...

When murder strikes at a village fete, even the crows are asking, who wanted the scarecrow dead?The sun is shining, the bunting is fluttering, and the village of Staunton is alive with the excitement of its annual fete and scarecrow festival. But amid the laughter and merriment, darkness lurks. Before the first morning is done, a woman, dressed as a scarecrow, is found dead in an isolated spot on the edge of the village.Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the iras...

She's blonde. She’s clever. She’s in his office. London based PI David Good doesn’t stand a chance.South London. The 1980s. David Good, a morally confused and womanising private investigator, is hired by a ridiculously beautiful blonde to help her fend off the attentions of a serial blackmailer. But he's barely got to grips with the woman's keen sense of self-interest when he stumbles on to something far more unsavoury.Never one to run a mile when a woman n...

Where gentle humour and a little romance meet classic murder-mysteries.Join the curmudgeonly Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes as they set about solving three murder cases, each set in and around the small Oxfordshire market town of Banbury in the early 1960s.Each story brings you an array of colourful characters. From the elusive and calculating killers, to the unsuspecting and promptly dispatched victims. From the untrustw...

An old-fashioned festival where someone’s idea of fun proves nothing short of deadly.As their cosy little weekend of fun and frivolity is blown out of the water by a violent murder, Inspector Leslie Dykeman and Sergeant Stanley Shapes find themselves faced with a plethora of possibilities and few obvious suspects amongst a group of friends staying at the upmarket Marlborough Hotel. Except, that is, they’re about to discover that even the best of friends have secrets they prefer to ...

When you’re dressed for living and full of beans, a run-in with death might not be all that is seems.London based PI, David Good, only went out to get his hair cut and to pick up a few bits and bobs at the local shops but, somehow or other, he’s finished up with a murder case on his hands. A man he’d spoken to only briefly that very morning has turned up dead, seemingly the victim of a hit-and-run incident. But it doesn’t take Good long to find out there is a lot m...