All the beloved, irascible Auntie Poldi wanted from her Sicilian retirement was time to enjoy sunshine, a free-flowing supply of wine and a sultry romance with Chief Inspector Montana. But then her idyll is rudely disrupted by the last person she wants to see on her doorstep - John Owenya, detective inspector with the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Aff...

G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown is perhaps the most lovable amateur detective ever created. This short, shabby priest with his cherubic, round face attracts situations that baffle everyone—except Father Brown and his rather naïve wisdom. The twelve enthralling stories in this book take Father Brown from London to Cornwall, from Italy to...

Terence Alexander stars in these two classic crime dramas, adapted from the novels of John CreaseyMeet The Honourable Richard Rollison - a.k.a the Toff. A debonair aristocrat and ace amateur sleuth, he's the scourge of London's criminal underworld: sometimes working alone, sometimes hand-in-glove with the police. But wherever he goes, he leaves his...

Three vintage crime serials, adapted from John Creasey's hugely popular thrillersRoger West is a home-loving, hard-hitting and very human policeman. Nicknamed 'Handsome' West, he's more than just a pretty face - he's also Scotland Yard's youngest, smartest detective and a crime-solving supremo. Six of his adventures were dramatised for radio betwee...

Detective fans of all races and creeds, of all tastes and fancies will delight in the exploits of this wise and whimsical padre. Father Brown's powers of detection allow him to sit beside the immortal Holmes, but he is also "in all senses a most pleasantly fascinating human being," according to American crime novelist Rufus King. You will be enchan...

Bill Nighy stars as actor and amateur sleuth Charles Paris in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Simon Brett's novelCharles' career is on the up. He's starring in a revival of a popular (though hackneyed) 70's farce – and while his fellow actors aren't exactly who you'd want to find yourself in bed with, he's happy to be in work.But...

Charles is out of work again, and to make matters worse his mother has come to stay and he's no way of escaping her. So when he's offered some voiceover work by old friend, Hugo, he's delighted to get out of the house. But Hugo's marriage is in trouble: his much younger wife, Ellie, spends all her time at her Amateur Dramatic Group, and Hugo is dri...

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles ParisCharles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he's unimpressed with the director's vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.But he soon finds...

With a well-placed paw on a keyboard or a pointed stare, Kathleen's two cats, Hercules and Owen, have helped her to solve cases in the past-so she has learned to trust their instincts. But she will need to rely on them more than ever when a twenty-year-old scandal leads to murder . . . The arrival of the Janes brothers has the little town of Mayvil...

Normally, the arrival of an art exhibition at the Mayville Heights library would be cause for celebration. But thanks to the overbearing curator and high-tech security system that comes with it, Kathleen's life has been completely disrupted. Even Owen and Hercules have been affected, since their favorite human doesn't seem to have a spare moment to...

Small-town librarian Kathleen Paulson often seems to gets mixed up in murder, but luckily, her very special cats always find a way to help her close a case ... The charming Minnesota town of Mayville Heights is hosting a music festival, and the whole place is bustling with musicians and tourists. Kathleen is looking forward to taking in some fabul...

A full-cast BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, known to be a favourite among her own works.When Doctor Calgary visits the Argyle family, he believes he brings good news. He is there to clear the name of Jacko, who was convicted of the murder of his own mother, Rachel. But the doctor's news is not greeted with the enthusiasm he expec...

A classic Marple mystery, read by Emilia Fox. The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Miss Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poo...

The house guests at Styles seemed perfectly pleasant to Captain Hastings. There was his own daughter, Judith; an inoffensive ornithologist called Norton; dashing Mr Allerton; brittle Miss Cole; Doctor Franklin and his fragile wife, Barbara; Nurse Craven; Colonel Luttrell and his charming wife, Daisy; and the charismatic Boyd-Carrington. So Hasting...

Hercule Poirot is determined to solve an old husband and wife double murder that is still an open verdict… Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was...

It is World War II, and while the RAF struggles to keep the Luftwaffe at bay, Britain faces an even more sinister threat from "the enemy within": Nazis posing as ordinary citizens. With pressure mounting, the Intelligence service appoints two unlikely spies, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Their mission: to seek out a man and a woman from among the...

While playing an erratic round of golf, Bobby Jones slices his ball over the edge of a cliff. His ball is lost, but on the rocks below he finds the crumpled body of a dying man. With his final breath the man opens his eyes and says, 'Why didn't they ask Evans?' Haunted by these words, Bobby and his vivacious companion, Frankie, set out to solve a m...

After the notorious 'Middle Street Massacre' of 1951, when the majority of Brighton's criminals wiped one another out in a vicious battle as the local police force enjoyed a brief stop en route for an ice cream, Inspector Steine rather enjoys life as a policeman. So it's really rather annoying when an ambitious - not to mention irritating - new Con...

What if Baker Street's most gifted resident wasn't called Sherlock Holmes? An evil stalks London, blown in from the tropics. Stories of cursed giant rats and malign spirits haunt the garrets of Limehouse. A group of merchants are, one by one, dying. The elementary choice to investigate these mysterious deaths is, of course, Holmes and Dr Watson....

    Private Detective Agatha Raisin immerses herself in the glittering lifestyle of the fabulously wealthy when Sir Charles Fraith is accused of murder - and Agatha is named as his accomplice! A high-society wedding, a glitzy masked ball, and an introduction to the world of international show-jumping where the riders are g...

A gripping cosy mystery set in Durham, for fans of Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands. When librarian and budding Private Investigator Kitt Hartley visits her ex-assistant Grace Edwards in Durham, she soon learns of an unsolved murder.  A year ago, Jodie Perkins, a Mechanics student, disappeared after her student-radio broadcast was cut short w...