MJ Lee Books in Order

In 1928 Shanghai, the mutilated body of a blonde woman washes up on the notorious Beach of Dead Babies with the Chinese character for justice carved into her chest. Inspector Danilov hunts a relentless killer in a city seething with crime and politics.

A Chinese family is found slaughtered in their Shanghai home even as a fellow officer is shot dead across town. Danilov’s instincts link the two cases, drawing him into conspiracy at the heart of the concessions and putting those closest to him at risk.

An adopted American billionaire wants Jayne Sinclair to find his real father, armed only with a birth certificate, an old photograph and a stolen book. Her search uncovers a link to a 1921 killing in Ireland and the turmoil of revolution.

Jayne Sinclair is hired to vet the ancestry of a charismatic American with his eye on the presidency. When the British politician who commissioned her is assassinated, Jayne races between London and wartime Europe to expose the candidate’s hidden past.

A woman covered in countless knife cuts staggers through Shanghai’s streets screaming for Inspector Danilov, then dies. Soon more bodies appear, each arranged as part of a taunting puzzle. Danilov must solve the game before the killer’s messages turn fatal for him.

A young teacher asks Jayne Sinclair to investigate a mysterious medal and a sketch of a woman linked to his family. The trail leads from modern Manchester into the carnage of the Somme and a long buried dispute over a substantial inheritance.

Samuel Pepys's stolen diary threatens to expose secrets from both his marriage and life at Charles II's court. Accompanied by Will Hewer, he searches Restoration London's corrupt streets for the diary and his wife's missing locket.

In 1932, tensions in Shanghai are close to boiling over when children begin to vanish from its crowded streets. As their bodies are displayed in public with chilling messages, Danilov and his assistant Strachan race to stop a murderer exploiting a city on the brink.

A label, a silver button and a scrap of leather hidden in an attic lead Jayne Sinclair back to the Christmas Truce of 1914. As she unravels the story behind the relics, she hopes to bring comfort to a boy stuck in hospital.

On her deathbed, Freda Duckworth confesses she once gave up an illegitimate baby to a children’s home and never saw him again. Jayne Sinclair tracks the missing brother through lies, lost records and a shameful chapter of child migration schemes.

Once a rising star in Manchester CID, DI Thomas Ridpath is now recovering from serious illness and clinging to his job at the coroner’s office. When new murders echo the work of a jailed serial killer, he must question his own past case.

After a DNA test shows actress Rachel Marlowe has West African ancestry, she asks Jayne Sinclair to explain a result her aristocratic family tree cannot. Jayne’s investigation uncovers links to the slave trade and fortunes built on Caribbean sugar estates.

Jayne Sinclair finally turns her skills on her own family when she learns the father she thought dead is alive, in prison for murder. Following a trail back to wartime espionage and a betrayed agent, she must decide how much truth she can live with.

Trying to rebuild his life, Ridpath witnesses a horrific motorway incident that nobody else seems to have seen clearly. His stubborn pursuit of an answer uncovers a web of corruption and pushes Manchester toward an eruption of violence.

A block of flats goes up in flames, leaving a single dead man in his armchair. As more burned bodies appear around Manchester with eerie messages sprayed nearby, Ridpath follows a trail into the murky world of youth football in the 1990s.

When an antique dealer produces a signed first edition of A Christmas Carol, Jayne Sinclair has three days to uncover the story behind its Victorian inscription. Her search through old Manchester records reveals a forgotten family and a very personal Dickens connection.

Years after the Beast of Manchester was supposedly caught, people connected to that investigation start to die. Forced to revisit the case that made his name, Ridpath hunts a killer who is using old mistakes as fuel for fresh revenge.

A detainee dies in an immigration removal centre, and the official word is suicide. Ridpath spots inconsistencies in the reports and battles indifference from the system as he uncovers abuse, cover ups and a very human cost behind the paperwork.

The body of a young boy is found in a field by the River Mersey, stirring grim echoes of past child murders. Back at work and fighting PTSD, Ridpath races to stop a calculating predator before another child disappears.

Three embalmed hands are discovered in a derelict Victorian house that once held a children’s home. As Ridpath links the gruesome find to a long missing teenager and a vanished social worker, he has just days to unearth decades of abuse.

Alice Taylor was adopted during the Second World War and has spent decades not knowing who she really is. Jayne Sinclair digs into bomb damaged records to uncover Alice’s birth parents and the fate of the father who disappeared.

After a man dies in a Manchester police cell, the city erupts in anger. Asked to investigate before the inquest, Ridpath finds broken CCTV, missing officers and layers of lies, and realises the truth could destroy more than one career.

A letter discovered in a family bible sends genealogist Jayne Sinclair into an Australian family's apparently well-documented past. Contradictions surrounding department-store founder Annie Kelly turn a straightforward assignment into a search through deliberate lies and missing identities.

Two bodies locked in an embrace are discovered in a sealed room inside a derelict Manchester warehouse. With the original investigation stalled, Ridpath must establish their identities and determine whether a killer has escaped detection for decades.

A body floating in the River Dee draws DI Emma Christie into the secrets behind Chester's picturesque streets. As her investigation exposes betrayal and blurs trusted relationships, confronting her own past may become essential to preventing another death.

Teenage drug dealers are being killed in Chester, leaving DI Emma Christie to untangle the city's hidden networks of violence. Mounting deaths and uncertain loyalties increase the pressure to identify a ruthless murderer before more young lives are lost.

Four years after a teenage boy disappeared, revelations of police mistakes bring DI Ridpath into the investigation. Reopening the case exposes a more brutal threat than expected, endangering his career and the people closest to him.

A skeleton beneath Chester's ancient walls leads DI Emma Christie into a cold case connected to missing young women. As old secrets surface, she discovers that the killer behind the buried violence may still be watching and waiting.

Unexpected DNA results reveal Native American ancestry in a family whose records point entirely to Salford. Genealogist Jayne Sinclair follows their roots into the nineteenth century, searching for an ancestor whose journey connects industrial England with the Great Plains.

A man's apparent suicide at a petrol station and a teenage girl's killing of her mother appear unrelated. Investigating for the coroner, DI Ridpath searches for a hidden connection before further deaths expose the truth too late.

A murdered man dressed as Santa Claus shatters the festive atmosphere of Chester's Christmas Market. DI Emma Christie uncovers blackmail and corruption linking the victims while racing to stop another killing before the crowded Winter Watch Parade.

A Roman tour guide is murdered and displayed in gladiator clothing at Chester's Temple of Minerva. Further deaths suggest someone is recreating ancient rituals, sending DI Emma Christie through the city's historic streets to stop the pattern.

An elderly soldier dies alone from starvation, while another man confesses to killing his father. DI Ridpath's parallel investigations reveal that systems designed to protect vulnerable people may be enabling a wider pattern of calculated deaths.

Women are being murdered in Chester's ancient Rows, where hidden passages allow a killer to vanish unseen. DI Emma Christie searches for the victims' connection and the person who knows the historic district well enough to evade her team.