Margins
Home Front Detective book cover 1
Home Front Detective book cover 2
Home Front Detective book cover 3
Home Front Detective
Series · 11 books · 2011-2024

Books in series

A Bespoke Murder book cover
#1

A Bespoke Murder

2011

May 1915. As zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German hysteria reaches fever pitch and attacks on German immigrants surge. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein's bespoke tailoring business comes under brutal attack, leaving his safe ransacked, his daughter, Ruth, raped and traumatized and Jacob dead. Inspector Harvey Marmion is detailed to the case and faces an uphill struggle to track down the perpetrators, even up to the chaos of the Front Line. But was the murder as opportunistic as it first appears, or did someone with a deadly grudge plan the attack?
Instrument of Slaughter book cover
#2

Instrument of Slaughter

2012

January 1916. Britain is on the brink of enforcing conscription. Cyril Ablatt, leader of Shoreditch s group of conscientious objectors, makes a rousing speech at a meeting of the No-Conscription Fellowship, refusing to be 'an instrument of slaughter in a khaki uniform'. When Cyril is brutally bludgeoned to death, Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy are assigned to the case. But public sympathy is lukewarm: some claim that those who won't fight for King and Country deserve to die. Marmion and Keedy will have to work fast to find the killer before any more deaths occur . . .
Five Dead Canaries book cover
#3

Five Dead Canaries

2013

Marmion and Keedy return for a third time in the acclaimed Home Front Detective series. As thousands of Brits are fighting on the Front Line, a new breed of women emerges to hold the Home Front together. Fiercely independent and fiery-spirited, these women are a raucous group of munition workers, or ‘munitionettes’. The ‘canaries’, so-called because of their chemically-stained yellow faces, decide to celebrate leader Florrie Duncan’s birthday but their frolics are soon cut short when all but one are killed in a startling explosion. With five times the victims there are five times the possible motivations for the murderer, and Marmion and Keedy certainly uncover some surprising clues. Grappling with this perplexing murder mystery involves marital dysfunction, failed bomb plots and an extremely competitive women’s football team…
Deeds of Darkness book cover
#4

Deeds of Darkness

2014

In June 1916, a young woman is found murdered in a cinema. Harvey Marmion and Joe Keedy set out to find the killer who so elusively fled in the dark. Before long, two more victims, of striking similarity but differing backgrounds, are found dead around the city.Meanwhile, miles from home, Marmion s son Paul prepares for life on the front line as he marches towards the Battle of the Somme. Suffering a vicious blow in No Man s Land, Paul is left blinded for the rest of his life. Marmion must come to terms with the permanent darkness of his son s life, while continuing to search for the brutal killer who only strikes in the dark."
Dance of Death book cover
#5

Dance of Death

2015

London, Autumn 1916. When he slips out of a house in the early hours of the morning, Simon Wilder is too preoccupied to realise that he is being stalked. As he walks along the street, lights begin to dim as a warning that there's another Zeppelin attack. Guns begin to pound away as British aeroplanes attack the Zeppelin. Suddenly, it bursts into flame and lights up the whole sky. The crowds cheer as the great fireball drops slowly down and crashes in a field but the one person unable to watch is Simon Wilder. While he is staring up at the sky, he is stabbed to death and left in an alleyway. It will prove to be a very puzzling case for Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy...
The Enemy Within book cover
#6

The Enemy Within

2016

Pentonville Prison, 1917. Wally Hubbard was meant to be serving a long sentence for arson, but when he makes an audacious escape, Inspector Marmion, who arrested him, is warned to watch his back. However, it seems that Hubbard has eyes for only one man: Ben Croft, who he blames for the death of his daughter. While Marmion struggles with heightened concerns for his problematical son Paul, the hunt to recapture Hubbard becomes entwined with a murder investigation where the identities of killer and victim become increasingly ambiguous. As complications mount up, Marmion tries desperately to untangle all the threads ...
Under Attack book cover
#7

Under Attack

2017

June, 1917. While another daylight air raid batters London, the body of respected businessman and devoted family man Gilbert Donohoe is fished from the Thames, the victim of strangulation. Inspector Marmion struggles with the case alongside his anxieties for his now-missing son, Paul, but the pressure increases when the Metropolitan Police are the target of a series of vicious press attacks. As Marmion is pilloried in the press, he uncovers a seedy path through London which will lead him towards the killer.
The Unseen Hand book cover
#8

The Unseen Hand

2019

1917. The Lotus Hotel offers sanctuary for its exclusively female clientele, attracting the cream of London's society. But a dead body found in one of its rooms is hardly good for business, and when it is discovered that the woman was neither a guest nor a member of staff, the Lotus' reputation as a safe haven is cast in doubt. Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are dispatched to look into the events at the hotel and soon suspect foul play. Tangling with a forgetful widower, a wily competitor and the haughty hotel owner, the pair will have to delve into the past to solve this crime in the present.
Orders to Kill book cover
#9

Orders to Kill

2021

December, 1917. Ada Hobbs has cleaned for Dr Tindall for many years and begins this frosty morning like any other day. But it turns out the house is not empty after all. The blood-covered George Tindall is sprawled across the floor. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy arrive to a horrific scene. Someone enjoyed killing Tindall, without a doubt. Their investigation takes them out of London, and on the trail of three different women as it emerges that Dr Tindall was not the respectable local GP after all, but a bigamist whose third wife had some very interesting connections in the crime fraternity.
Danger of Defeat book cover
#10

Danger of Defeat

2023

March, 1918. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy are about to leave Scotland Yard when they hear of a sinister siege involving three burglars, a shoot-out, and an injured policeman. Officers at the scene are led to believe that the burglars remain inside the house, and going against strict orders, Keedy creeps into the house to investigate. Suddenly, another gun shot is heard. Keedy has been shot … Rumours unfurl that the house was occupied by Irish tenants. Had the burglary been planned by terrorists in need of money to fund their campaign against the British government? While Keedy recovers in hospital, Marmion and his team begin to uncover the secrets that lie behind this complex incident …
Spring Offensive book cover
#11

Spring Offensive

2024

March, 1918. British newspapers carry the dreadful news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Detective Sargeant Joe Keedy is awaiting release from hospital in London and is anxious to resume the fight against crime on the Home Front. Late one night, a bank is raided by a gang and the villains escape by car with a sizeable haul. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion is put in charge of the case, but without Keedy at his side he faces an uphill battle to solve this perplexing case.

Author

Edward Marston
Edward Marston
Author · 81 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. A pseudonym used by Keith Miles AKA A.E. Marston Keith Miles (born 1940) is an English author, who writes under his own name and also historical fiction and mystery novels under the pseudonym Edward Marston. He is known for his mysteries set in the world of Elizabethan theatre. He has also written a series of novels based on events in the Domesday Book, a series of The Railway Detective and a series of The Home Front Detective. Series contributed to: . Malice Domestic . Crime Through Time . Perfectly Criminal

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved