Inspector Sloan

Series · 28

books · 1966-2019

By Catherine Aird, Edward Marston, Jan Burke, and more

Books in series

The Religious Body

1966

Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire C.I.D. makes his first appearance here as he looks into the murder of a nun at the Convent of St. Anselm. Apparently Sister Anne tumbled down the stairs to the basement to her death. Accidental? Upon closer examination, that didn't explain the evidence of a vicious blow to the back of her head. When Sloan delves into her background, the motives for murder multiply. First published in 1966, "The Religious Body" was Aird's first book and immediately established her as one of the leading exponents of the post-WW2 English traditional mystery.

Henrietta Who?

1968

Larking was a typical English village and, like a thousand similar villages, it also had its secrets. Inspector C.D. Sloan was soon to discover that point after the postman found the body of Grace Jenkins in the road that led to her thatched cottage. She had been murdered. But the real mystery involved Grace's daughter Henrietta. No one could really explain exactly who Henrietta was.

The Stately Home Murder

1969

First, let's look at the facts: a dead body in a suit of armor, a once-wealthy earl with lots to hide, and a sprawling estate stacked with witnesses. It’s another head-scratcher for Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan in this intriguing mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird. In the late 1960s and early 70s, times were tough in the upper reaches of British society. To survive, the Earl of Ornum did the previously unthinkable and opened his estate to wandering tourists. One day, a hyperactive boy and his family are delightedly roaming Ornum House. The curious one sees a full suit of armor on display and lifts the visor . . . only to find a human face staring back. As Sloan soon finds, the man in the armor is dead—and there’s a slew of suspects waiting to be interviewed. Was it the ditzy duchess? The disappointing nephew? One of the servants? The earl himself? Or a visitor? It’s up to Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, to find out before the murderer strikes again. Librarian's note: this novel was published in the UK as "The Complete Steel" in 1969 and in the U.S. as "The Stately Home Murder" in 1970.

A Late Phoenix

1971

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan is called on to solve the coldest of cases in this thriller from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird Berebury, England, did not have an easy go of it during the Second World War. This quaint Victorian town was destroyed when the Nazis dropped bomb after bomb on its perfect gardens and neat hedges. After three decades of disarray, the town council has finally begun reconstructing what’s left. All throughout Berebury, the sounds of hammers and saws drone on. But on this particular day, the noise stops. In the crater of a bomb site, a skeleton has been found. While its presence there isn’t unusual—hundreds died in bombing raids throughout England—the manner in which the pregnant girl met her end is sinister enough that Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, are called to the scene. The cause of death, it seems, was not the blast, but a bullet to the spine. Inspector Sloan is the best there is when it comes to cracking the most complex cases. But can he piece together a murder that’s been buried for more than a quarter century?

His Burial Too

1973

Inspector C. D. Sloan is confronted with a particularly puzzling murder in a sealed church tower

Slight Mourning

1975

In this classic parlor mystery from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a dinner party that ended in murder Twelve friends sit down for supper at Strontfield Park—but only eleven survive the evening. After dinner, the host, William Fent, offers to drive one of his guests home, only to die behind the wheel in a violent accident. The autopsy shows that Fent ingested enough barbiturates to kill a horse. So begins a fresh tale of murder and deceit for Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, whose list of suspects begins and ends with the surviving dinner guests. Among them are a theologian at the local university; Dr. and Mrs. Washby, whose wedding was the cause for celebration; Ursula Renville, tall, graceful, and utterly aloof; the fat and extravagant Mr. and Mrs. Marchmont; the spinster Miss Paterson; the rector’s daughter, Cynthia Paterson; Quentin Fent, heir to the Fent fortune; and Mr. Fent’s wife, the now-widowed Helen. Each of the guests had the opportunity to kill William Fent. But which one wanted him dead?

Parting Breath

1977

Murder in the Quadrangle The college dons at the University of Calleshire fully expected trouble when the students planned to shake their ivory tower with a sit-in at Almstone Hall. But no one expected the very peculiar theft from a dormitory room...or the very dead body in the college quadrangle. For Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan, the ivied halls hid a host of clues - from the words whispered with the dying man's parting breath to what a madrigal singer saw. So it was only a matter of time until he uncovered the murderer hidden in the groves of academe...but could he do it before death became another victim's alma mater?

Some Die Eloquent

1979

A deadly mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird: Where there’s a will, there’s a way—for murder That Miss Beatrice Wansdyke had died is not particularly surprising. A chemistry mistress at the Girls’ Grammar School in Berebury, she was a longtime sufferer of diabetes who managed to live her modest life to a ripe old age. But one thing is odd—Beatrice Wansdyke died a very wealthy woman. What was an old schoolteacher doing with a small fortune? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, Calleshire’s finest investigator, learns he is about to become a father. But with ominous players hell-bent on pursuing Miss Wansdyke’s money, will Sloan live to see his child’s first birthday?

Passing Strange

1980

The usually placid village of Almstone, caught up in the excitement of its traditional horticultural competitions, is further rocked when Nurse Joyce Cooper is found strangled with a piece of florist's wire

#10

Last Respects

1982

FIRST BANTAM BOOKS EDITION. May 1984 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK, Catherine Aird (A Going Concern). When local fisherman Horace Boller decided to row his boat out on the tidal backwash of the river one morning, he couldn’t have meant to land a catch like this. What he ended up with was a body floating on the river’s surface. And judging by the state of the corpse, the death was not a recent one. The strange thing is, the coroner report indicates that drowning was not the cause of death. It’s up to the intrepid C. D. Sloan—and his markedly less intrepid assistant, Constable Crosby—to investigate. Along the way, Calleshire’s most successful pair of puzzle-solving policemen will contend with a handful of additional strange deaths, befuddling municipal building codes, an antiquarian with interesting views on local history, and a fisherman who has his own motivation for helping (or perhaps hindering) the investigation. Can C. D. Sloan get to the bottom of this waterlogged killing? - Amazon

#11

Harm's Way

1984

When a human finger, dropped by a crow, is discovered, Inspector C.D. Sloan is called in to investigate the disappearance of a financier, responsible for the attempted takeover of a local family business

#12

A Dead Liberty

1986

A crime of passion, a jealous admirer, a woman who would kill before she would be spurned—it might all fit if only the primary suspect would talk in CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird’s Dead Liberty Lucy Durmast waits patiently in front of the judge at her own murder trial, refusing to utter a single word. Kenneth Carline, an employee of her father’s, was found poisoned to death after eating a meal that Lucy herself had prepared. Kenneth was set to marry another, and Lucy, it seems, was jealous. But what should have been an open-and-shut case of envy-driven murder becomes complicated when primary detective Trevor Porritt suffers permanent brain damage. C. D. Sloan inherits the file—and immediately begins poking holes in what looked like an airtight case. Why has the primary suspect gone mute? What was the victim doing with antinuclear pamphlets in his car? Was Detective Porritt’s run-in with the burglar an unhappy coincidence? And what part does the king of the African nation of Dlasa, a client of Lucy’s father, play in all this? When someone connected to the case dies and the son of the king of Dlasa goes missing, panic begins to spread. Can Inspector Sloan and his hapless assistant, Constable Crosby, untangle this knotted web?

#13

The Body Politic

1990

A clue found in the cremated ashes of a murder victim leads Detective Chief Inspector Sloan down a path of intrigue as he investigates a death at a reenactment of a famous battle and a murder in a Middle Eastern sheikdom

#14

A Going Concern

1993

Inspector C.D. Sloan investigates the death of Octavia Garamond, who left behind some very unusual requests and whose past contains a long-kept, and potentially dangerous, secret, as well as the reason for her death.

#16

Injury Time

Collected Mysteries

1994

Who poisoned Anna Macmillan with a deadly dose of antimony? Where are the priceless pearls that vanished during a country house weekend? What caused the temperature of a health club sauna to rise so dramatically that its sole occupant was dead within minutes? How was the code to an eminent scientist's high-tech alarm system broken on the very day it was issued? From the investigations of Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and his enthusiastic, but not very helpful, Constable Crosby in the not-so-sleepy county of Calleshire to the long lunches of civil servant Henry Tyler in the tranquil environs of London's Mordaunt Club, Catherine Aird's collection of sixteen stories takes the reader through an ingenious selection of crimes and puzzles, full of delightful literary subtleties and fascinating legal and medical twists.

#16

After Effects

1996

In this mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a case of medical malpractice that looks a bit too much like foul play Muriel Ethel Galloway passed away at home, twitching and grasping at objects only she could see. Her family mourns, sad but unsurprised that an old woman suffering from heart disease should die suddenly. But when Mrs. Galloway’s son receives an anonymous call alerting him that his mother’s life was put in jeopardy by her doctors, he demands action from the Calleshire Police. As world-weary detective C. D. Sloan learns, Mrs. Galloway’s passing was just one in a string of eerily similar deaths. Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been “gently pushed” toward taking part in the Cardigan Protocol, a double-blind drug trial from the powerful pharmaceutical company Gilroy’s. Something, it seems, is very wrong. But what might have been a simple malpractice case morphs into something much more complex when the doctor in charge of the trials goes missing and the headquarters of Gilroy’s is burgled by animal rights activists. As Detective Sloan well knows, murder is never a simple matter.

#17

Stiff News

1999

A letter received by an old woman's son after her death alerts Detective Inspector C. D. Sloane that one woman's death by natural causes in a local nursing home may actually be murder. But that is just the beginning of the odd events in this nursing home catering to former members of a WWII regiment.

#17

Anne Perry Presents Malice Domestic

1997

Collects seventeen traditional mysteries by such contemporary writers as Marjorie Eccles, Jan Burke, Anthea Fraser, and Edward Marston. \ A Dance with Life, Death... and Laughter by Anne Perry \ The Corbett Correspondence by Edward Marston & Peter Lovesey \ Like to Die by Catherine Aird \ Immortality \[Sebastian Grady\] by Jon L. Breen \ Ways to Kill a Cat by Simon Brett \ Mea Culpa by Jan Burke \ The Gentleman’s Gentleman by Dorothy Cannell \ Malice Among Friends by Sarah Caudwell \ True Confessions by Kate Charles \ Abstain from Beans by Lindsey Davis \ Time’s Wingèd Chariot by Marjorie Eccles \ Alternative Reality by Anthea Fraser \ Come Sable Night by Kerry Greenwood \ Murder Mid-Atlantic by Edward Marston \ City Boy by Susan Moody \ One in Every Family by Betty Nathan \ The Two Ladies of Rose Cottage by Peter Robinson \ Sweet Fruition by David Williams

#18

Little Knell

2000

Inspector C. D. Sloan is called in when it is discovered that a large collection of artifacts that has been left to the Calleshire museum includes a three-thousand-year-old mummy case containing an all-too-recent murder victim.

#19

Amendment of Life

2002

For decades, Catherine Aird’s crime novels featuring C.D. Sloan have been beloved by fans and lauded by critics for their adroit plotting, playful wit, and literate charm. With Amendment of Life, Aird delivers the lively and engrossing novel that readers have come to rely upon. Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire CID is used to the occasional oddity in his relatively quiet part of the English countryside. But lately things have taken a strange turn. First, in the center of a yew maze that is the showpiece of the Tudor-era house, Aumerle Court, a body is spotted by Miss Daphne Pedlinge, the elderly chatelaine of the Court. By the time the groundskeeper actually makes it to the center, he, too, spies the body, and it is indeed dead. Meanwhile, a few miles away, a slaughtered rabbit is left on the Bishop’s doorstep in nearby Calleford, an omen as portentous as the body in the maze. Now Inspector Sloan, with the somewhat trying personage of Constable Crosby in tow, must uncover what precisely is going on as they launch an investigation with more twists and turns than the maze itself.

#20

Chapter and Hearse

2003

A wealthy businessman has died under suspicious circumstances. A Christmas with the family provides more drama than could be expected. A girl accuses the hospital of killing her grandmother. In 16th Century Scotland, the death of a clansman is not what it first appears. From the investigations of Inspector C. D. Sloan and his enthusiastic, all-too-constant, but not very helpful sidekick Constable Crosby of the Calleshire C.I.D. to the travails of Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, from the mysterious Malcolm Venables of the Secret Service to Sheriff Rhuaraidh Macmillan of 16th century Scotland, Catherine Aird's latest collection of literate, delightful tales takes the reader through the full range of crime and punishment. Aird's mix of deft plotting, charming wit, and clever writing has made her one of the most engaging and enduring traditional crime writers. In her latest volume, all of her considerable gifts as a storyteller are on display.

#21

Hole in One

2005

vg Allison & Busby 2006 edition paperback book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

#22

Losing Ground

2007

The dramatic theft of an 18th century painting is discovered just moments before the old manor house uniquely depicted in the background of the portrait is set alight. Coincidence? Does the reputation of the Baronet, the subject of the painting, as a hell-raiser and member of the Crustacean Club have any connection to the fire?

#23

Past Tense

2010

Sloan and Constable Crosby are on the case again. A young girl has been murdered, found dead in the river. But what connection does she have to the recently deceased Josephine Short? Following the twisting trail of evidence, Sloan works to uncover the truth behind the life of Josephine Short and uncover the murderer behind a young girl's death.

#24

Dead Heading

2013

When Jack Haines reports a break-in at his greenhouse, the motive of the intruder is unclear. Other than the destruction of some expensive orchids, no damage has been done and nothing seems to be missing. But Detectives Sloan and Crosby sense something sinister, and soon their suspicions are confirmed. Similar reports are multiplying and sabotage is the word on everyone's lips. The pair are drawn into an equally perplexing case when the mysterious Miss Enid Maude Osgathorp goes missing. Investigations begin at her deserted abode, Canonry Cottage, where the detectives soon discover that the house has been raided. Shattered glass is found in the larder and traces of blood bespatter the floor - a disturbing event has taken place, but the identity of the perpetrator is unknown. It soon becomes clear that the cases are linked, but will this provide the clues necessary to solve the mystery? Detectives Sloan and Crosby aim to find out ...

#25

Last Writes

2014

The police inspector brightened. ‘I must say that any suggestion of a motive would be a help. The deceased didn’t appear to have any natural enemies.’ ‘We’ve all got natural enemies, Inspector. I think what poor Walkinshaw had were some unnatural ones.’ Last Writes is a mischievously clever compendium of twenty-two short stories from the pen of classic crime author Catherine Aird. Not only do her much-loved police duo Detective Inspector Christopher Sloan and Detective Constable William Crosby feature, but also a host of new characters including the mysterious Malcolm Venables of the Secret Service. Full of delicious twists and turns, Last Writes is be a collection to curl up with and savour.

#26

Learning Curve

2016

Much-loved Calleshire research chemist Derek Tridgell has been ill for some time. On his deathbed, his incessant, but unintelligible mutterings culminate in a very clear cry of foul murder. Detective Inspector Sloan and Detective Constable Crosby are brought in to investigate whether these are just the ramblings of a man at death's door, or a real confession at the final hour. Their enquiries uncover three tragic deaths that may or may not be linked to the deceased's last an accidental drowning at a rival chemist manufacturer; an old friend of Derek's killed in a caving expedition whose body was never retrieved; Derek's son Paul walking away unscathed from a fatal car accident that killed one and left others irrevocably injured. With a tight-lipped Paul knowing more than he's letting on, Sloan and Crosby have their work cut out if they're going to untangle this complex case . . .

#27

Inheritance Tracks

2019

Detectives Sloan and Crosby investigate a fatal inheritance settlement in the twenty-fifth instalment of this popular cozy mystery series Four strangers arrive at the solicitors' office of Puckle, Puckle, and Nunnery. They have never met, and have no idea why they have been invited. But they - along with a missing man - are descendants of the late Algernon George Culver Mayton, the inventor of 'Mayton's Marvellous Mixture' and each entitled to a portion of the Mayton Fortune. But before they can split the money, the missing man must be found. Two months later, Detectives Sloan and Crosby receive a call that one of the legatees has died following an attack of food poisoning. Did the deceased merely ingest a noxious substance by accident, or are the legatees being picked off one-by-one?

Authors

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

Peter (Harmer) Lovesey (born 1936 in Whitton, Middlesex) is a British writer of historical and contemporary crime novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath. Lovesey's novels and stories mainly fall into the category of entertaining puzzlers in the "Golden Age" tradition of mystery writing. He is also well known as a writer of non-fiction histories of track & field athletics and several of his novels have used the sport as a theme. His first-ever book in 1968 was The Kings of Distance, a study of five great runners, Most of Peter Lovesey's writing has been done under his own name. However, he did write three novels under the pen name Peter Lear. Lovesey's novels and short stories have won him a number of awards, including both the Gold and Silver Daggers of the Crime Writers' Association, of which he was chairman in 1991/92. In 2000, he received the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement in crime writing and in 2018 he was made a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. Peter Lovesey lives near Shrewsbury. His son Phil Lovesey also writes crime novels.

Lindsey Davis

Author · 42 books

Lindsey Davis, historical novelist, was born in Birmingham, England in 1949. Having taken a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant. She left the civil service after 13 years, and when a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, she decided to become a writer, writing at first romantic serials for the UK women's magazine Woman's Realm. Her interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honour), for which she couldn't find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further nineteen Falco novels and Falco: The Official Companion have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009. Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.

(from Fantastic Fiction online) Dorothy Cannell was born in London, England, and now lives in Belfast, Maine. Dorothy Cannell writes mysteries featuring Ellie Haskell, interior decorator and Ben Haskell, writer and chef, and Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell, a pair of dotty sisters and owners of the Flowers Detection Agency. (from Internet Book List) Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

aka Vanessa Graham

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire. After getting his BA Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and took his MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a PhD in English at York University. He has taught at a number of Toronto community colleges and universities and served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, 1992-93. Series: * Inspector Banks Awards: * Winner of the 1992 Ellis Award for Best Novel. * Winner of the 1997 Ellis Award for Best Novel. * Winner of the 2000 Anthony Award for Best Novel. * Winner of the 2000 Barry Award for Best Novel. * Winner of the 2001 Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Kerry Greenwood

Author · 52 books

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has a degree in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written twenty novels, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy, is an award-winning children's writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. In 1996 she published a book of essays on female murderers called Things She Loves: Why women Kill. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written thirteen books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. Kerry Greenwood has worked as a folk singer, factory hand, director, producer, translator, costume-maker, cook and is currently a solicitor. When she is not writing, she works as a locum solicitor for the Victorian Legal Aid. She is also the unpaid curator of seven thousand books, three cats (Attila, Belladonna and Ashe) and a computer called Apple (which squeaks). She embroiders very well but cannot knit. She has flown planes and leapt out of them (with a parachute) in an attempt to cure her fear of heights (she is now terrified of jumping out of planes but can climb ladders without fear). She can detect second-hand bookshops from blocks away and is often found within them. For fun Kerry reads science fiction/fantasy and detective stories. She is not married, has no children and lives with a registered wizard. When she is not doing any of the above she stares blankly out of the window. http://www.earthlydelights.net.au

Sarah Cockburn (1939-2000) wrote under the pen-name Sarah Caudwell. She was a mystery writer. The four books of her "Hilary Tamar" series are her only novels other than The Perfect Murder which she co-wrote with several other novelists, but she also wrote several short crime stories. She was the half-sister of Alexander Cockburn. Series: * Hilary Tamar Mystery

David Williams

Author · 1 books

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

Jon L. Breen

Author · 6 books