The third trio of mysteries in the “beautifully crafted,” Silver Dagger Award–winning police procedural series set in Kent, England (TheWashington Post). Det. Inspector Luke Thanet may be a family man with a soft heart and bad back, but he also has a bloodhound’s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no case is too tough, in these mysteries from the “dependably pleasing” Dorothy Simpson (Boston Globe). Element of Doubt: Nerine Tarrant, a notorious woman with a taste for married men, is found dead on her patio, her neck broken by the fall from the second floor. The wall was too high for an accidental tumble, and a woman with Nerine’s lust for life would never have committed suicide. Many in the village of Ribbleden wanted her dead—but it’s up to Inspector Thanet to determine who gave her the final push. “Solidly charming.” —Publishers Weekly Suspicious Death: The Sturrenden police station is in chaos. The superintendent has retired, and a brusque, ambitious upstart has been promoted. Thanet is almost relieved to get away to investigate a drowning. Powerful businesswoman Marcia Salden has been found in the river, and the autopsy suggests foul play. It’s up to the inspector to unravel the tangled web of conspiracy that ensnared the victim in a watery grave. “Pace, plot and subtle characterization all combine to make this a cracking good read.” —The Sunday Telegraph Dead by Morning: Leo Martindale has returned to Sutton-in-the-Weald after twenty years to claim his inheritance. The morning after a heavy snowstorm, his body is found. Was his death an accident, a hit and run caused by icy roads—or was it murder? Inspector Thanet will have to ignore Superintendent Draco breathing down his neck and plow through the clues to uncover the chilling truth. “Skillfully plotted . . . vivid characters.” —Publishers Weekly

The second trio of mysteries in the “beautifully crafted,” Silver Dagger Award–winning police procedural series set in Kent, England (The Washington Post). Det.Inspector Luke Thanet may be a family man with a soft heart and bad back, but he also has a bloodhound’s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no case is too tough, in these mysteries from the “dependably pleasing” Dorothy Simpson (Boston Globe). Close Her Eyes: When a teenage girl from a strict fundamentalist religious order goes missing, her parents insist that the investigation of her disappearance be left in the hands of God. But when Charity Pritchard is found murdered, Inspector Thanet and Sergeant Lineham vow to tear off the church’s veil of secrecy to reveal her killer. “A well-crafted [and] compelling mystery novel.” —The Armchair Detective Last Seen Alive: When Luke Thanet was a young man, Alicia Parnell was one of the most popular girls in Sturrenden—until her perfect life was shattered by her teenage boyfriend’s suicide. Alicia’s family left town soon after. But now, two decades later, Alicia has returned to the country village where she was born—only to die there the day after she arrives . . . To find the killer, Inspector Thanet will have to dig deep into their shared past, in this CWA Silver Dagger winner. “A classic detective story . . . complex and ingenious.” —Literary Review Dead on Arrival: Inspector Thanet is brought in when a dead man is found in bed, apparently killed by a single blow with a blunt object. When the corpse is identified as Steven Long, the question is no longer who wanted to kill him, but who didn’t? Long was loathed by everyone in town, from his long-suffering ex-wife to the man whose family he killed in a driving accident. To find the culprit, Thanet will have to get to the bottom of a lifetime of hate. “An intriguing tale not to be missed.” —Yorkshire Post

In the fourteenth novel in the British mystery series from the Silver Dagger award-winning author Dorothy Simpson, “a modern-day version of Agatha Christie” (Booklist), Inspector Luke Thanet has a both murder and a wedding on his hands. Newspaper reporter Jessica Manifest’s questionable death takes Inspector Luke Thanet away from his daughter’s wedding preparations to investigate the victim’s supposedly accidental death. As he delves into her secretive past, he realizes that there are many people with motives for murdering her. “Thanet's investigation proceeds with satisfying depth…Simpson tailors her plot with skill and care, nicely dovetailing all the clues and reserving a special twist for the end” (Library Journal).

When Marcia Salden, a successful business woman, is found drowned in the local river, the police are called in. There is no clear evidence that the woman was murdered, but to Inspector Luke Thanet this is definitely a suspicious death. It seems that Ms Salden's talent for making money was matched by her talent for making enemies. A lot of people had the motive to kill the woman, but who had the opportunity? Inspector Thanet means to find out, even if he has to investigate them all.

Julie Holmes has always held a seductive power over men. Her golden hair and deep blue eyes entrance admirers wherever she goes, even after she leaves London for peaceful Kent with her doting husband. But could any of these devotees have become so obsessed as to turn a knife on her? Inspector Thanet refuses to accept this assumption. He is much more curious about the events of a foggy November evening nearly twenty years ago, when Julie was only three, and their link to the hideous nightmares she suffered in the weeks prior to her death. Slowly, as Thanet works through his feverish thoughts, he comes upon a theory that would solve not one murder but two . . .

The first three mysteries in the “beautifully crafted,” Silver Dagger Award–winning police procedural series set in Kent, England (The Washington Post). Detective Inspector Luke Thanet may be a family man with a soft heart and bad back, but he also has a bloodhound’s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no mystery is too tough. The Night She Died: Beautiful Julie Holmes lies dead in her front hall with a kitchen knife through her heart. The perpetrator could have been a burglar, a jealous husband, or a spurned lover, but the real answer may lie in a death that happened twenty years ago. Six Feet Under: Middle-aged cleaning woman Carrie Birch doesn’t strike Thanet as a likely candidate for murder. But when he digs up the dirt on her, he discovers a surprisingly long list of suspects. Puppet for a Corpse: Dr. Arnold Pettifer is dead from an apparent overdose, but Thanet isn’t so certain it’s suicide. After he discovers the doctor’s pregnant wife had a lover, he begins to suspect her—but then again, nothing about this case is what it seems.

A doctor’s apparent suicide sets off alarm bells for Detective Inspector Thanet, “a shrewd yet compassionate observer of aberrant human behavior” (The New York Times). The Hippocratic oath binds medical professionals to a lifetime of helping fellow human beings. For a doctor to kill himself is not just to renege on that pledge, but to betray all mankind. When Dr. Arnold Pettifer is found dead from an overdose of pills and alcohol, Det. Inspector Luke Thanet’s first reaction is disgust. His second is suspicion: This, he thinks, is murder. Nothing in Pettifer’s life would point to suicide. He had a prospering practice, money in the bank, a beautiful new wife, and a baby on the way. But when Inspector Thanet learns that Pettifer’s wife had taken a lover, he begins to suspect her—only to find that nothing about the death of Dr. Pettifer is as obvious as it may seem. This CWA Silver Dagger–winning series set in the Kent countryside is beloved by fans of the classic English mystery. Puppet for a Corpse showcases the talents of police inspector Thanet, “a subtle interviewer with a genius for reading character” (The New York Times). Puppet for a Corpse is the 3rd book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.