Books in series
#1
Introducing the Toff
1938
A little road rage was not unusual even in the 1940s, but the Toff was not expecting bullets to be part of the argument when his Allard blocked the path of an oncoming Daimler in an English country lane. What had been a pleasant day playing cricket became the start of a lethal fight against cocaine rings, gangsters and the criminal empire of The Black Circle.
#3
The Toff Steps Out
1939
Paul Laking is dead and the police suspect suicide. Yet Sir John Laking, a highly respected local landowner and magistrate, is missing along with his daughter, and the telephone wires have been cut. And what is this to do with the ‘Mensak Incident’ in which a village has been subjected to bombardment, and the Toff’s (The ‘Honourable Richard Rollison’) fascination with weapons of all kinds, especially from the East? There are hidden crimes, including murder, to be uncovered and it would seem that only the Toff has any chance of getting at the truth, or has he?
#4
Here Comes the Toff
1940
The Hon. Richard Rollison - the Toff to the police and underworld of a dozen countries - had always considered himself attractive to beautiful women, but when Irma Cardew came back into his life, he could only wonder who was marked as her current victim.
The lovely Irma was charming, witty . . . and guilty of more than one murder. Still, she always managed to be acquitted, no matter how strong the evidence against her. Irma back in action meant that some poor man was soon to be relieved of his bank account, if not his life.
The Toff did not know that Irma had set her eyes on him!
#8
The Toff Goes to Market
1942
It’s a time of shortage and rationing. The Honourable Richard Rollison (aka ‘The Toff’) is in the army, but gets permission to visit his aunt, Lady Matilda Wirrington, who is supposedly on her death bed. Had she died, things would have been different, but as it was a recovery led from one thing to the other and ‘The Toff’ found himself involved in an investigation of the black market – profiteering by dishonest ‘businessmen’ in order to earn huge amounts of money out of people’s needs in times of inadequate supply. This, though, went beyond that and wholesale murder raised its ugly head as both ‘The Toff’ and Scotland Yard battle it out with those involved.
A 1942 crime thriller novel by the British writer John Creasey. It was the eighth in his long-running featuring the gentleman amateur detective The Toff. It was one of a number of novels produced in the era that featured the booming wartime black market as a major plotline. It has been republished on a number of occasions.
-Wikipedia
#12
The Toff and the Curate
1944
New Parson, Ronald Kemp, seeks the help of The Honourable Richard Rollison, alias the Toff, after one of Kemp's parishioners is accused of murder.
#13
The Toff and the Great Illusion
1944
Too many killers spoil the murder ... until the Toff is marked as the next victim!
#19
The Toff Takes Shares
1948
Frightened for the safety of her playboy cousin Alice Hellier stows away in the Toff's car - and the debonair detective becomes caught up in a desperate financial plot.
#20
The Toff and Old Harry
1949
Available as digital audio for the very first time, The Toff Series from Grand Master of fiction John Creasey. John Creasey (1908-1973) published over 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. In 1969 he was given the the Mystery Writers of America's highest Honour, the Grand Master award.
#27
Call the Toff
1953
When the Toff travels to South Africa his unconventional welcome proves that someone suspects the true purpose of his visit - someone determined to confirm their suspicions and commit murder if necessary!
#31
The Toff At The Fair
1954
Richard Rollison - The "Toff" to the underworld and Scotland Yard alike - was disliked but respected by those on the wrong side of the law. Lady Luck seemed always to smile his way, and the smart crook would stay out of his path. But his family considered him nothing more than a silly playboy, and not quite respectable - until the unhappy day when the family found itself deep in an evil mess of blackmail, drugs and perhaps murder!
#32
A Six for the Toff
1955
NB: This is the American title.
#35
The Toff in New York
1956
'Say, Miss Hall, I hope that brother of yours hasn't run into any trouble.' But Will Hall had been kidnapped and the Honourable Richard Rollison, known by many by the apt if absurd soubriquet of the 'Toff' is soon on the scene, but not before a murdered man had fallen into Valerie Hallís arms. There's lots of action in 'millionaire surroundings', with a rich private eye and the NYPD all on the case, whilst the Toff tracks Dutch Himmy, surely the worst man in New York ...
#37
The Toff on Fire
1957
A baby is abandoned at the Toff's residence with a pencilled note, which leads back to the flame-throwing terror of London's east End, a master sadist - the Doc.
#38
The Toff and the Stolen Tresses
1958
MysteryLarge Print EditionThree lovely heads have been shorn long, silken hair has been cut off and the Toff is faced with one of the most ingenious gangs of criminals that he has ever encountered. Clue after clue blazes a twisting and unexpected trail. And the Honourable Richard Rollison is drawn into an exciting climax deep in the heart of the East End, as he attempts to find a solution to the problem of the stolen tresses . . .
#39
The Toff on the Farm
1958
A farm is for sale and the Toff is interested. But the owner then disappears and two excessively high offers are received. Murder is afoot and a deep mystery remains to be solved. The Toff is stretched to the limit in finding an answer to the several conundrums.
#40
Double for the Toff
1959
Within a few minutes of each other, two puzzling yet unconnected cases are presented to The Honourable Richard Rollison (aka ‘The Toff’), with requests for help. The beautiful Isabel Cole’s fiancée is accused of murder and she needs to save him from what seems an unjust fate, whilst Cedric Dwight is being pursued by a gang of murderous hoodlums. Both are urgent and complex cases and for a moment it seems that ‘The Toff’ will have to choose between them. There is absolutely no connection between the cases and yet ….
#41
The Toff and the Runaway Bride
1959
The Honourable Richard Rollison (aka 'The Toff') reluctantly agrees to attend a wedding. Is he the only one that notices something strange about the bride? Murder and blackmail follow with Rollison seeking a first wife, a discovery in the Thames, and him as a suspect. He is Paris bound when the police stop him, but that is not allowed to get in his way as he attempts to solve the mystery and reveal the murderer's identity.
#43
The Toff and the Kidnapped Child
1960
When Richard Rollison, alias the Toff, decides to investigate the disappearance of Eve Kane's husband he has no idea of what he is likely to uncover. Then, the daughter is kidnapped and a chilling message received with a lock of hair. Should Eve pay - she thinks she should - but have the kidnappers underestimated the Toff?
#44
Follow the Toff
1961
Dedicated to helping both the young and beautiful as well as the old and needy The Honorable Richard Rollison was now being entertained by Katherine Dangerfield in a fancy bistro on the Champs Elyse'es. Beyond was the noisy throng that swarmed and added to the din at the Arc de Triomphe beyond their table.
The Toff had been shadowed in the spring in Paris and young artists were starting to die. Under his bed an engraver Simon Roy Shawn was becoming more dead all the time. Mrs. Dangerfield's art-dealer husband was missing and she was reluctant to notify the police especially when threatened.
Reluctantly the Toff agreed to help was already implicated because he was the last person to see those artists killed alive. Did he do it—-many will wonder.
#46
A Doll for the Toff
1963
When the Honorable Richard Rollison, aka The Toff, receives a voodoo doll in the mail with a knife stuck through her chest the detective becomes involved in a bizarre case in which crime and black magic seemed to be inextricably mixed.
#51
Stars for the Toff
1967
MysteryLarge Print EditionThe stars tell dark fortunes as the Toff meets astrology . . . and murder-by-horoscope!Mona Lister was young, beautiful, very much in love . . . and cursed with the ability to see into the future. Second sight was a terrible curse to Mona, for the tomorrows that she saw meant only trouble and death to her loved ones. It took the intervention of the Toff the Honorable Richard Rollison to save the future from becoming a bitter yesterday.
#52
The Toff and the Golden Boy
1969
There is an outbreak of robberies with threatened violence on small tobacconist shops in London. Gangs of long-haired youths are involved, led by someone known as ‘Golden Boy’. The Toff (the Honourable Richard Rollison) is curious as no one really understands the motive for these crimes which at first seem petty in objective, albeit serious. However, as he gets dragged deeper into the mystery, The Toff discovers there is much more at stake, and he is caught up in a rising crescendo of violence, mayhem and attempted murder.
#53
The Toff and the Fallen Angels
1970
Murder strikes at a home for unwed mothers, and the Toff takes on an incredible challenge!
#54
Vote for the Toff
1971
The Toff is usually above politics. He’s an independent and dislikes party regimentation. But when a favorite MP is murdered immediately before the elections, friends urge him to run for Parliament. An old girl friend is particularly persistent She’s just arrived from America and her surefire journalistic instinct tells her that feature articles on the famed Toff’s launch into politics would sell well back home.
Those who have known him, those who have shared his lifetime devotion to justice, those who have risked death at his side, know that Rollison is not joking. But there are others who think that his desire to contest a parliamentary election is just a playboy’s whim, a passing fancy, while others react with vicious threats and brutal murder because they believe his politicking is just an excuse to find the late MP’s murderers and expose a ring of dangerous drug peddlers.
#56
The Toff and the Terrified Taxman
1972
The 56th book to feature the Honourable Richard Rollison, this one finding our hero trying to straighten out a 10,000-pound mistake in his tax assessment, only to find that the tax inspector and other officials are apparently terrified of him.
Authors
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.
