DS Liam Kilshaw Books in Order

The DS Liam Kilshaw series takes Matt Brolly's interest in coastal settings in a new direction, moving from Weston super Mare to the wild shores of Cornwall. Liam Kilshaw is a former marine who nearly died on a mission and now lives with the scars, both physical and psychological, of that experience.

In an attempt to manage his post traumatic stress, Kilshaw has returned to the sea in a different role, working as a detective while also serving with the local lifeboat crew. The opening novel, The Lines, begins with a night time callout off the Cornish coast that brings a dead man to the surface. Zip tie marks on the victim's wrists show this was no accident, and the later discovery of a young woman with similar injuries points toward links with a county lines drugs operation.

As Kilshaw follows those links inland, he faces hostility from criminal networks and suspicion from a tight knit community that does not always welcome outsiders, even when they grew up nearby. The investigation forces him to confront a gangland underworld and dredges up memories of his military past, making the sea both a source of peace and a reminder of what he has survived.

The Replacement deepens the connection between crime and coastal folklore. A mutilated body washes up on Sennen Beach, the staging echoing the myth of Bucca Dhu, a sea spirit said to demand sacrifice. While some locals are quick to blame superstition, Kilshaw tracks more concrete leads involving a missing crew member, a lost shipping container and smugglers who know how to use storms as cover. The case plays out against the bleakness of a Cornish winter, with the tide itself feeling like an unpredictable character.

In Broken Circle the series moves inland to ancient stone sites without losing its sense of place. The body of a teenage girl is found posed in the Merry Maidens stone circle, her face covered in clay and ochre in a way that recalls an old tale of dancers turned to stone. When two skeletons are uncovered beneath a nearby stone and further victims are discovered at remote historic locations, Kilshaw must learn enough about local legends to see how a modern killer is twisting them.

Together these books offer a mix of police procedural detail, storm lashed atmosphere and psychological suspense. Kilshaw is capable and resilient but clearly damaged, and Brolly allows his struggle with trauma, loyalty and guilt to sit alongside the puzzle of each case. Readers who like their crime fiction rooted in a vivid landscape and threaded with myth will find plenty to enjoy by starting with The Lines and following the series in order.