Peter Maxwell Books in Order

Schoolgirl Jennifer Hyde is found strangled in an abandoned house near Leighford High. Dissatisfied with the official investigation and troubled by his responsibility toward her, teacher Peter Maxwell starts asking questions that threaten his career and personal safety.

A compulsory training course reunites Peter Maxwell with his first serious love from Cambridge. When trouble overtakes the conference, he must untangle relationships among scattered delegates without the familiar police contacts he normally relies upon in Leighford.

A school visit to the Museum of the Moving Image ends with a teacher and pupil missing. Feeling responsible, Peter Maxwell searches for them and enters a dangerous Soho world involving pornography, blackmail, and murder beyond his familiar classroom.

Peter Maxwell agrees to advise on a historical film being shot near Leighford, only for the director to be killed by a musket ball. With students implicated and rivalries everywhere, he investigates the hostility surrounding the production.

A frozen corpse appears on Peter Maxwell's doorstep at New Year: an elderly recluse reputed to be a witch. As further killings unsettle Leighford, he looks beyond rumors of curses to investigate the murderer deliberately drawing him in.

Peter Maxwell takes his nieces to a theme park, where they witness a passenger's murder on a water ride. The victim's work for a charity connected to Leighford High sends Maxwell investigating an organization whose apparent respectability hides danger.

Peter Maxwell joins former schoolmates for a farewell reunion before their old school becomes a conference center. A death among the abandoned buildings exposes secrets accumulated since their schooldays, and further danger makes the gathering increasingly difficult to escape.

A staff exchange takes Peter Maxwell from Leighford High to an affluent private school, where a housemaster falls from the roof. A second teacher's death confirms murder, drawing Maxwell and his police girlfriend into the institution's guarded secrets.

An Ofsted inspection becomes a murder investigation when inspector Alan Whiting is found stabbed at Leighford High. With the headteacher under suspicion and personal entanglements complicating the case, Peter Maxwell sets out to investigate the inspectors and defend his colleague.

An archaeological excursion brings Peter Maxwell and his pupils to a grave containing a body much too recent for the dig. The discovery turns a school trip into a murder inquiry, drawing the history teacher toward another dangerous investigation.

Former pupil Deena Harrison returns to Leighford High to rescue its troubled production of Little Shop of Horrors. When deaths begin disrupting the theatrical company, Peter Maxwell questions the supposed accidents and investigates what is happening behind the performances.

A murdered man is discovered in a shallow grave at Dead Man's Point, and a pupil claims to have witnessed the crime. She will speak only to Peter Maxwell, pulling him into an investigation that threatens his reputation and life.

A school photographer accidentally records a murder on Leighford beach, giving Peter Maxwell a reason to investigate. Another killing involving a former pupil deepens the mystery, and the apparently unconnected crimes begin drawing dangerously close to Leighford High itself.

A buffet prepared for interviews at Leighford High leaves staff and guests suddenly ill, disrupting Peter Maxwell's wedding preparations. Reluctantly appointed acting headmaster, he helps investigate the incident while suspicion turns toward him and the danger reaches into his personal life.

A staff paintballing excursion brings Peter Maxwell face to face with a murdered escaped convict. When students receive disturbing messages seemingly requiring the dead hacker's expertise, the technologically reluctant teacher must untangle a crime that depends on skills he lacks.

A family holiday becomes a school trip to the Isle of Wight, then turns ominous when an art teacher's wife disappears. A subsequent death draws Peter Maxwell and his policewoman wife into a mystery linking events on the island and mainland.

An American exchange teacher and his eccentric family arrive at Leighford High while Peter Maxwell covers the history department. When a local poker player is murdered after the newcomer's father-in-law joins the games, Maxwell helps investigate the troubling connections.

Returning from America, Peter Maxwell encounters the murder of a teenage girl on Leighford beach. Further attacks and a disappearance make a colleague the prime suspect, prompting Maxwell to investigate in hopes of clearing him and preventing another death.

A new headteacher threatens staff positions at Leighford High, and Peter Maxwell's inquiries uncover an apparently missing past. Two local mothers are murdered, tying the crimes to his pupils and drawing him into an investigation that also threatens his school.

A reality television crew arrives at Leighford High, exposing private tensions before one member is stabbed in the headteacher's office. A second killing brings the danger directly to Peter Maxwell, who must uncover the secrets behind the cameras.

Peter Maxwell's summer stay at Haledown House is interrupted by an aristocrat's murder, staged to resemble an animal attack. Another guest's poisoning suggests someone is protecting a dangerous secret, and Maxwell must investigate before further deaths follow.

Peter Maxwell's dislike of online teaching takes a darker turn when a Zoom lesson reveals a student's murdered parents. With lockdown restricting movement and another body discovered, the schoolmaster must determine how the killer entered unnoticed.

An explosion at Peter Maxwell’s history club suggests someone wants the teacher dead. A second attack and his neighbor’s abduction lead him toward an arsonist who has twisted his lessons into a campaign of violence and revenge.