Books in series
#1
The Death Miser
1933
Millions of copies sold worldwide. The author of the Department Z novels is back.
Millions of lives are at stake if a sinister international conspiracy succeeds. It's down to England’s elite detective agency, Department Z, to make sure that doesn’t happen.
They’ve got to keep things quiet, too. Discretion is something that the Honourable James Quinion knows only too well – it’s all part and parcel of being a member of the Secret Service.
Department Z is described as ‘a home for bachelors with a suicidal turn of mind…’ Its agents ready themselves for this high-profile, high-danger job. Quinion will find himself right in the firing line and in personal danger – how will he keep the conspiracy under control and under wraps?
#2
Redhead
1933
Martin Storm’s visit to New York seemed like it was a success. But that was until his car was machine gunned and the police had to smuggle him out of the country…
But Martin finds no safety at home, either, and the search begins to find the man who is hunting him down.
He soon discovers that he has become involved with an American underworld boss who is planning to expand his business to Britain. Will he be able to escape the gangster’s clutches, or will he become a victim in his complex game?
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1911295357
#3
First Came A Murder
1934
Sir Basil Riordan, mysterious, frightening, an immensely wealthy man. Was he also a killer? As head of England's elite secret service, "Z" Department, Gordon Craigie had to find out.
It wasn't an easy investigation. Too many important people were involved. A member of an exclusive London Club was poisoned. Could Riordan or his son, Marcus, be involved? It looked that way.
So Craigie assigned his best agent, Devenish, to the case. What Devenish, found was no clear-cut case of homicide. Instead it was a mad masquerade of murder, larceny, and deceit of the highest order and send Craig himself was in over his head.
#4
Death Round the Corner
1935
Leopold Gorman studied the World Economic Conference with interest – and then picked five rich and powerful men to bring his plan to fruition. If any one of them had shown reluctance to fall in with his scheme, he would be dead within an hour…. By the end of 1935, Gorman anticipated complete success.
The only man who was causing him any anxiety was Gordon Craigie, Chief of British Intelligence, but the way to reduce the risk, Gorman told himself, was to kill Craigie’s agents, the men of Department Z.
It was about this time, too, that Craigie himself decided that Gorman needed watching. And Gorman resolved that Tony Beresford, assigned by Craigie to follow him, should be next to “disappear”.
#7
The Terror Trap
1936
The greed of one man has meant the death of others… When two impossibly rich oil tycoons are found murdered in their own homes, a matter of life and death becomes one of national security. Jim Burke of Department Z is called in to stop the ambitious murderer from killing again—but it isn’t long before Burke’s investigation is derailed by an attempt on his own life. Will he be able to save Britain from this latest threat and escape unharmed? Burke knows that he’s up against something big, but is it too big for this new Secret Service man to handle? The Terror Trap is the seventh book in the Department Z series, and was originally published in 1936. ‘ Phenomenal .’ — Life Magazine ‘Mr. Creasey’s excitements follow fast upon each other.’ — Daily Telegraph ‘Action and pace have always been features of Mr. Creasey’s writing.’ — Scotsman ‘ Racy, amusing, and up to date . Told with speed and ingenuity.’ — Morning Post ‘Mr. Creasey is a high-spirited and rambunctious narrator.’ — John o’ London’s Weekly ‘Creasey realizes that it is the principal business of thrillers to thrill.’ — Church Times ‘ Will be remembered when most mystery stories are forgotten.’ — Public Opinion
#11
Menace
1938
Bob Kerr had every reason in the world not to want a visitor that afternoon.
Looking forward to a relaxing afternoon away from the trials of Department Z, Bob Kerr eagerly awaits the arrival of fellow agent Lois Dacre. He is temporarily amused by the sight of a passer-by oddly dressed in an enormous fur coat on an exceptionally warm day. Disrupted from his reverie by a call from Agent Craigie, Kerr is alerted to new developments in the principality of Vallena. Kerr cuts the call short to answer a knock at his door.
Suspiciously, the visitor is the man in the fur coat. Come from Vallena.
The information the man relays to Kerr is life-threatening. The visitor has a hit out on his own life and Kerr is next on the list.
As the number of assassinations in Vallena mount, British officials are put in the line of fire. Agent Kerr and Department Z must work swiftly and tirelessly in order to topple the criminal organisation before another life is lost.
#16
Sabotage
1941
The British stand alone against the Germans and the terror of their round-the-clock bombing. As homes and cities are reduced to rubble, morale teeters on a delicate seesaw.
Then an insidious enemy strikes where least expected - from within. Vital food supplies are destroyed and the country is flooded with leaflets predicting imminent starvation. Racing against time, Britain's ultra-secret Department Z soon realizes it is in mortal combat with ruthless men, so power hungry that treason and murder have become their way of life.
#24
The Department of Death
1949
The Edgar Award–winning author who sold eighty million books worldwide sends Department Z undercover in a spy thriller full of suspense and seduction.
Marlene von Barlack knew everything there was to know about politicians. She knew who they spoke to, where they went, and most of all she knew how to get them into bed.
But now Marlene must use her powers of persuasion to do some investigating of international proportions. Who among her prestigious paramours is plotting political destruction and seeking to destroy world peace?
As a frenzied manhunt begins across the continent, Marlene must race against the clock to work out which lover’s embrace was really a madman’s kiss of death . . .
“Mr. Creasey realizes that it is the principal business of thrillers to thrill.” —Church Times
“Little appears in the newspapers about the Secret Service, but that little makes anything on the subject probable fiction. Mr. Creasey proves himself worthy of the chance.” —The Times Literary Supplement
#28
The Black Spiders
1957
PB. Arrow Books, London 1972. A Department Z Adventure. When the earthquake struck the island of Canna, one of the mountains had been split open, the solid rock ruptured, buried strata opened up. And more than just rock had been revealed.Spiders. Swarms of deadly poisonous spiders had been let loose. Spiders whose bite was deadly and terrifylingly quick to take effect.
Author
John Creasey
Author · 85 books
AKA Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Margaret Lisle, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J.J. Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton, Jeremy York, Henry St. John Cooper and Margaret Cooke. John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
