A John Coffin mystery
9 primary works • 13 total works
Book 17
Detective Constable John Coffin investigates the murder of a young woman, whose body is found floating in the Thames with a sinister note attached to her. A gripping crime novel from one of the most universally praised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
In 1946, newly promoted detective-constable John Coffin arrives in Greenwich to take up his post. Soon after, the body of a young woman floats down the Thames to South London.
It quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary murder: the victim has been strangled, stabbed and mutilated. Attached to the body is a note reading "Present for my mother," a reference to former actress Rachel Esthart, whose son drowned under mysterious circumstances 17 years previously, and who has just received a postcard promising an imminent gift from the boy, whose death she has never acknowledged.
Then two other bodies are found in the river, murdered in the same brutal way, and Coffin has a multiple murder case on his hands...
Book 18
A corpse in his new house leads detective John Coffin on the trail of a murderer... A dark, gripping crime novel from one of the most appraised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
The body of an adolescent boy is found by workmen under the floor of detective John Coffin's house - and though it's not his case, Coffin keeps up with an investigation that comes to centre on his own neighbours.
Attracted to Rose Hilaire, the sergeant learns that her son was a friend of the murder victim and of other missing boys. Rose's troubles multiply as she fights to protect her son and her dress factory, hard-won after years of poverty. The business is threatened not only by scandal but by Rose's designer, Gaby Glass, who schemes to take off with her creations.
Book 19
Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent John Coffin investigates a spate of killings at the notoriously evil No.22 Church Row. But he suspects there's more to it than just a haunted house...From one of the most universally praised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent John Coffin is openly sceptical of the evil reputation of the house at No. 22 Church Row. True, the house has seen violent death over the centuries. But none of it suspicious. Until now...
Coffin suspects something more than a haunted house. He sees a human, complex web of relationships, interlocking and interacting in a way he can't yet fathom, and in which people get caught up and destroyed - as they play into the game of a very clever killer.
Book 20
Book 21
A young girl's body is discovered in an alleyway in London's Docklands, brutally murdered. Police chief commander John Coffin investigates. From one of the most universally praised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
A young girl's body is discovered in an alleyway in London's Docklands. The brutal murder polarizes the inhabitants of the newly gentrified neighbourhood under the jurisdiction of police chief commander John Coffin.
Coffin receives a series of notes from 'the Paper Man' promising more bodies if the young girl's killer isn't caught. As the case goes unsolved, more bodies turn up, and now Coffin must deal with escalating neighbourhood turmoil, while unravelling a complex sequence of events to find two killers...
Book 22
When a small boy disappears from the notorious Regina Street in the Second City of London, Chief Commander John Coffin takes on the case. From one of the most universally praised English mystery authors.
Regina Street, nicknamed Murder Street, has known more than its fair share of murders and violent deaths - and one inhabitant predicts that worse is yet to come. The local police dismiss him as an eccentric, but then a small boy disappears.
Chief Commander John Coffin takes on the case, and discovers that the boy's mother, a young actress, is something of an enigma herself. And soon the story behind the boy's disappearance unfolds into a history of jealousy and love.
Book 24
That the children have been specifically targeted by someone with a grudge against the police seems obvious; that the perpetrator is deranged is now clear. The only witnesses to the abductions are a gang of roller-bladers, but fear and something else is keeping them quiet. The Second City is gripped by the horror of these events, and horror too comes stalking directly to Coffin's door, threatening both him and Stella. But is it Harry Seton's nemesis who is seeking out Coffin, or the child-killer still out there in the night?
Book 25
Commander John Coffin investigates the deaths of two policemen, and the apparent suicide of a police officer's wife. A darkly authentic crime novel from one of the most highly praised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
The Coffin Tree grew in a garden in London. It had been struck by lightning, which would have killed most trees - but not this one. Near it, a shrouded body has been burnt. Had the victim voluntarily climbed on to the fire, as one eyewitness reports?
That same summer, two of Coffin's young detectives died - deaths that were said to be accidental. In Coffin's view, however, two accidents are two too many.
Commander John Coffin is not a fanciful man, but somehow the half-dead tree, its top killed by lightning, standing in a sad patch of rough earth, seems to him to epitomise his problems. Why did the two policemen die? How did one dead police officer's wife come to die a grisly death herself at the foot of the coffin tree?
Coffin can't believe that it was suicide, but in his efforts to solve the crimes, he is forced to question his own judgement, and to confront the mysteries of another human heart.
Book 30
A man from John Coffin's past is looking for his identical twin brother - a dangerous man, capable of murder. But are their identities one and the same? From one of the most appraised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
Sad, savage and bitter is what Stella Pinero says to her husband John Coffin, Commander of London's Second City, of the murder case which cuts into both their lives.
Coffin is at the height of his powers when he is surprised by a visit from the past: Inspector Harry Trent, with whom Coffin had worked years ago, is looking for his identical twin brother- a dangerous man; a man who might already have killed a woman; a man Trent fears might threaten violence to the Macintoshes, the couple who fostered the twins as children.
When Joe and Josie Macintosh are found stabbed to death, Coffin has to discover not only their killer, but their true identities. And even more important is the question hanging over all of them: who is this man called Harry Trent and what is he capable of? The answer lies in the past- bizarre, terrifyingly and horribly real...
Two women are brutally murdered within a year of each other. John Coffin, Commander of the Police, investigates. From one of the most highly praised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
Student Amy Dean has disappeared with her boyfriend Martin - a year after Martin's former girlfriend Virginia was found beaten to death. Then Amy's body is found, encased in a crude wooden box. The connection between the two incidents seems clear - but John Coffin, Commander of the Police, discovers that both girls worked at Star Court House, a home for battered women and children. Coffin is under pressure - personal and professional - to untangle a tragic web of murder and lies.