Lydmouth Crime

8 primary works

An Air That Kills

by Andrew Taylor

Published 2 February 1995

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph

From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the first instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series

Workmen in the small market town of Lydmouth are demolishing an old cottage. A sledgehammer smashes into what looks like a solid wall. Instead, layers of wallpaper conceal the door of a locked cupboard which holds a box - and in the box is the skeleton of a young baby.

Items within the box suggest that the baby was entombed early in the nineteenth century, but when another man is also found dead, the evidence suggests that the baby's death is more recent and that a killer is on the loose. For Journalist Jill Francis, newly arrived from London, this looks like her first story to chase ...

'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times

'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid

'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

A Mortal Sickness

by Andrew Taylor

Published 1 December 1995

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph

From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the second instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series

When a spinster of the parish is found bludgeoned to death in St John's, and the church's most valuable possession, the Lydmouth chalice, is missing, the finger of suspicion points at the new vicar, who is already beset with problems.

The glare of the police investigation reveals shabby secrets and private griefs. Jill Francis, struggling to find her feet in her new life, stumbles into the case at the beginning. But even a journalist cannot always watch from the sidelines. Soon she is inextricably involved in the Suttons' affairs. Despite the electric antagonism between her and Inspector Richard Thornhill, she has instincts that she can't ignore . . .

'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times

'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid

'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

The Lover of the Grave

by Andrew Taylor

Published 11 February 1998

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph

From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the third instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series

After the coldest night of the year, they find the man's body. He is dangling from the Hanging Tree on the outskirts of a village near Lydmouth, with his trousers round his ankles. Is it suicide, murder, or accidental death resulting from some bizarre sexual practice?

Journalist Jill Francis and Detective Inspector Thornhill become involved in the case in separate ways. Jill is also drawn unwillingly into the affairs of the small public school where the dead man taught. Meanwhile a Peeping Tom is preying upon Lydmouth; Jill has just moved into her own house and is afraid she is being watched. And there are more distractions, on a personal level, for policeman and reporter . . .

'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times

'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid

'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

The Suffocating Night

by Andrew Taylor

Published 12 November 1998

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph

From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the fourth instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series

The Korean war rumbles in the background throughout this novel as a reporter is found murdered at the Bathurst Arms, squatters are evicted from a military camp and there are new developments in the three-year-old hunt for a missing teenager. And in spite of all that's going on, Jill Francis, a local journalist, and DI Richard Thornhill find they can no longer resist their feelings for each other.

'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times

'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid

'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

Where Roses Fade

by Andrew Taylor

Published 1 June 2000

When Mattie Harris's body is found drowned in the river, everyone in Lydmouth knows something is wrong. Mattie wasn't a swimmer - it can't have been a simple accident. She was drunk on the last night of her life - could she have fallen in Or was she pushed Mattie was a waitress, of no importance at all, so when Lydmouth's most prominent citizens become very anxious to establish that her death was accidental, Jill Francis's suspicions become roused. In the meantime she is becoming ever closer to Inspector Richard Thornhill, and discovering that the living have as many secrets as the dead...

Death's Own Door

by Andrew Taylor

Published 17 October 2001

Journalist Jill Francis and Inspector Richard Thornhill undertake a baffling investigation of criminal perpetration set against the background of the Welsh border town of Lydmouth in the 1950s.

Call The Dying

by Andrew Taylor

Published 11 October 2004

It is 1955 and the influx of televisions do nothing to relieve the tensions in the deeply conservative town of Lydmouth. Mr Frederick, a television engineer, arrives to sell and adapt the new sets. He comes for two nights and apparently leaves. On the evening of that same day, eccentric Dr Bayswater, a retired GP, is found dead. A gentleman's yellow kid glove, slightly gnawed by rats, is found lying next to his body. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Thornhill is drafted in to investigate. It soon becomes apparent that the case is going to be far from straight-forward. Bayswater was not liked, particularly not by his dashing successor, Dr Connolly nor by a local lorry driver with a grudge and a need for money. Meanwhile, Jill Francis has returned after three years to take over as editor of the Gazette. But there is fierce competition from the ruthless Ivor Fuggle's rival Evening Post and when she is not trying to keep the newspaper afloat she spends her much of her time with Dr Connolly. Nevertheless, despite himself, Thornhill is still in love with her.

Naked to the Hangman

by Andrew Taylor

Published 19 October 2006

A retired police officer is murdered in the ruins of Lydmouth Castle. The reason for his death unfolds a decade earlier in Palestine during the chaotic closing months of the Mandate, the cradle of Middle Eastern terrorism. As a young police officer, Inspector Richard Thornhil saw and did things which still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Is he himself a killer? Now, in Lydmouth, the past has come back to claim him and he is under suspicion of another murder. His wife Edith and his former lover Jill Francis form an uneasy alliance and try to help him. But there are many complications ...