Hardcastle Books in Order

In a London shaken by the Somme, DI Ernest Hardcastle investigates the murder of a young woman. Intelligence officers keep obstructing him, making the blunt, determined detective wonder what MI5 is trying to hide.

On Armistice Day 1918, a missing lodger is found strangled beneath Brighton's Palace Pier. Hardcastle investigates the pregnant woman's complicated life, where blackmail, an army officer, and a photographer all offer possible motives.

Ernest Hardcastle and Charles Marriott investigate another murder against the pressures of wartime London. The case draws the divisional inspector into a maze of competing stories, official concerns, and a conspiracy that reaches beyond the first crime.

In February 1915, a policeman is shot in Westminster, then the wife of a Royal Flying Corps officer is killed nearby. Hardcastle must untangle lies involving a bookseller, artist, reporter, and military officers.

Actress Victoria Hart is strangled in Windsor Great Park on Christmas Day. Hardcastle and Marriott trace her life to a wartime revue and its recruiting campaign, where another death suggests a troubling connection to the army.

Four weeks before the Somme, Hardcastle investigates the murder of retired colonel Sir Adrian Rivers in Kingston upon Thames. With Marriott's help, he questions a difficult household while a Zeppelin raid brings danger even closer.

In June 1917, the murder of a senior Ministry of Munitions official raises fears of German espionage. A second killing points Hardcastle and Marriott toward a Woolwich Arsenal worker, but the connection is far from clear.

In July 1917, a cashier is murdered at Victoria Station and an abandoned army cap seems to identify the killer. Hardcastle and Marriott head to Aldershot expecting an easy arrest, only to find a baffling case.

Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle takes on a wartime murder case that refuses to yield a simple explanation. With Charles Marriott beside him, he pursues the facts through London streets shaped by suspicion, secrecy, and the demands of war.

In March 1918, a body recovered from the Thames leaves Hardcastle facing a stubborn and tangled inquiry. The victim's widow, a close circle of suspects, and Special Branch attention make the case harder at every turn.

This standalone novel follows a man's life through the upheavals of two world wars. The house at Oxford Square becomes a point of connection as personal choices, love, loss, and history reshape the people around it.

New Year's celebrations end when a jeweler is murdered in a Vauxhall robbery. Hardcastle traces the thieves' motorcar into a case involving military secrets, divided loyalties, and Special Branch interference during the First World War.

In summer 1918, Georgina Cheney is found dead beneath her window, but Hardcastle suspects she was murdered. As he and Marriott uncover similar deaths and a list of secret lovers, the inquiry becomes a hunt for a repeat killer.

Ernest Hardcastle investigates a murder in wartime London, where a collector's private passions may hide a dangerous motive. With Marriott's help, he must sort genuine evidence from the stories people tell to protect their reputations.

A new investigation takes Ernest Hardcastle and Charles Marriott into the uncertain lives of wartime Londoners. As they search for answers, a missing person and a serious crime force the detectives to question every easy assumption.

Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle faces another wartime London case where the obvious answer will not do. With Sergeant Charles Marriott, he follows evidence through a tense mix of private secrets, public pressure, and the threat of wider consequences.

In August 1939, DI Walter Hardcastle is promoted into a secret inquiry after burglaries target homes linked to a new war submarine. When a break-in ends in double murder, he must find a German agent before war begins.