Aunt Dimity series.
Set primarily in the Cotswolds, Aunt Dimity is the central character in a series of cozy mystery/gothic romance novels. Although the series is named for Aunt Dimity, the books actually follow Lori Shepherd, who is "assisted" by her deceased aunt in solving various mysteries.

Charlie Peace series.
Charlie is a sharp, young black Scotland Yard detective who works first in London and then in West Yorkshire. Charlie, working with his boss, Superintendent Mike Oddie, uses both his humanity and his cunning to crack the latest case. The novels are peppered with colorful, comfortable characters.

Jane Austen series.
These historical mysteries feature English author Jane Austen playing amateur sleuth. The books are presented as lost diaries that have been "edited." 

Hamish Macbeth series.
Hamish is the local police constable of Lochdubh in the Scottish Highlands. He has no ambition, but he does have extraordinary common sense and insight into the lives of the quirky villagers who are his neighbors. He leads a quiet life until there is a murder to solve.

Agatha Raisin series.
Agatha is a frustrated, yet endearing, middle-aged public relations agent who moved from London to the Cotswolds after she took early retirement and sold her public relations firm. She solves murders in each of the earlier books, but in the fifteenth book she sets up her own detective agency. The police, and even some of her acquaintances, are convinced that she solves crimes through accident and luck.

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy series.
In this series, the now-married Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, become entangled in intrigue with other Austen characters. 

Tom Thorne series.
Brooding and melancholy, middle-aged Detective Inspector Tom Thorne heads a team of London detectives in a series that offers a twist on the serial killer genre.

Quirke series.
Quirke is a consultant pathologist in the Dublin city morgue—and a tall, powerful character more at ease among the cold, silent slabs than in the company of his fellow men. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised in a corrupt Irish boarding school, and is now widowed and childless. To most of his acquaintances, and even his mates, Quirke is impatient and intolerant. It seems at times that dead bodies are his only company, but in truth, his profession provides his greatest pleasure. Inquisitive by nature, he is fascinated with unlocking the secrets to the mysterious cadavers' deaths.

Flavia De Luce series.
Set in the 1950s, Flavia, the precocious youngest daughter of Colonel De Luce, is an 11-year-old sleuth and aspiring chemist in the small village of Bishop’s Lacey in England. She finds clues that the police overlook, and her powers of deduction help solve the latest crime.

Oscar Wilde series.
Victorian author and playwright Oscar Wilde makes for a suave sleuth as he solves crimes. He is assisted by historical figures: Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and the poet Robert Sherard, who “narrate” the stories.

Fethering series.
Fethering is a fictitious village on England's south coast. It is the place of residence of amateur sleuths Carole Seddon, a retired civil servant, and her neighbor, Jude Nichols, whose origins are obscure.

Mrs. Jeffries series.
Everyone is awed by Inspector Witherspoon's Scotland Yard successes, but what they don't know is that his secret weapon is his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries. She keeps his house, keeps him on his toes, and helps solve his cases.

Kate Shackleton series.
Set in 1920s Yorkshire, this series features Kate Shackleton, a young First World War widow who has developed a reputation for finding people.

Jack Taylor series.
Jack Taylor is dismissed from the Garda Síochána (Irish police) for drinking. He  now “finds things” for people in Galway since Private Eye sounds too much like “informer” to the Irish.

Ursula Blanchard series.
Ursula is a Lady-in-Waiting and undercover spy in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. She uses her considerable skills and wit to uncover mysteries and thwart various plots against the Queen and her realm.

Ellie Haskell series.
Ellie is an interior decorator who solves mysteries along with her husband Ben, a writer and chef. Joining them are Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell, a pair of dotty sisters and owners of the Flowers Detection Agency. Outlandish characters enliven the stories and the titles are puns on literary classics.

Miss Marple series.
Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster who lives in the quiet village of St. Mary Mead, is deceptively dotty and fragile looking. With her sharp eyes and intelligence though, she knows human nature and helps solve crimes that have the police stumped.

Hercule Poirot series.
The intrepid Belgian detective lives in England and must often explain that he is not French. With his egg-shaped head, famous mustaches and superior intellect, he uses his "little grey cells" to solve crimes that appear unsolvable.

Mike Yeadings series.
The series features Superintendent Mike Yeadings and his Thames Valley CID department. Those who like their British police procedurals with a tinge of the macabre will be rewarded.

Dorothy Martin series.
Dorothy is a retired American schoolteacher now residing with her second husband, Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, in England. Her outspoken American ways can cause some wincing on the part of her husband, but she is a good amateur sleuth who helps solve crimes in the London area.

Morse series.
Morse is a senior Criminal Investigation Department officer with the Oxford City Police Force. He drives a Jaguar, enjoys real English ale, poetry, art, the classics, and cryptic crossword puzzles, and has a penchant for music -- especially opera and Wagner. Despite his sullen temperament, his appearance of snobbery, and his treatment of his assistant, Sergeant Lewis, he is likeable enough as he successfully solves the latest murder in and around Oxford. 

Sherlock Holmes.
The incomparable Holmes is the prototype for the modern mastermind detective. The cases he solves are fastidiously recorded by his friend and assistant, Dr. John Watson.

Daisy Dalrymple series.
The Honourable Daisy Dalrymple has taken a job as a journalist to ensure her independence -- an unusual step for the daughter of a viscount in 1922. Her investigations often take her abroad in this series of well-drawn characters, snappy dialogue, and interesting plot twists.

Bryant & May Peculiar Crimes Unit series.
Two detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are members of the fictional Peculiar Crimes Unit. The series is set primarily in London, with stories taking place in various years between World War II and the present through the use of flashbacks. While there is a progressive narrative, many of the books focus on major criminal incidents in the detectives' shared past. Interwoven are factual layers of London's history, structures, and society.

Lovejoy series.
This series covers the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer based in East Anglia, who is a bit of a rogue and an amateur sleuth. His scruples are questionable, but he does have a reputation in the antiques trade for an almost supernatural talent for recognizing exceptional items as well as spotting fakes and forgeries.

Inspector Lynley series.
The main characters are Thomas Lynley (a peer of the realm) and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers of New Scotland Yard who solve murders together as partners and sometimes individually. They are often joined by forensic scientist Simon St. John and his wife, Deborah. The storylines can be disturbing and intense, but are well-written and have been made into a popular TV series.

Chief Inspector Barnaby series.
Inspector Tom Barnaby, eventually Detective Chief Inspector, solves murders in small villages all around the English countryside. A genius in criminal investigation, he is highly experienced and very methodical (prone to taking his time). In fact, he often quickly reaches a conclusion as to the identity of the murderer, which he reveals only after he has accumulated enough evidence. A happily married man, he and his wife, Joyce, have an adult daughter named Cully. The books have been turned into a very popular TV series.

Phryne Fisher series.
Glamorous, terribly fashionable, and handy with a pistol, the Honourable Phryne Fisher, often referred to as “Miss Fisher,” is the main character in this series of detective novels. Phryne is a twenty-eight-year-old wealthy aristocrat who lives in Melbourne in the late 1920s. With support from her maid, Dot, and other able assistants, she solves all manner of crimes. The capable Miss Fisher can fly a plane, drive her own car, and sometimes even wears trousers. Displaying bohemian panache, she also manages to maintain class and style. These popular stories have been shown on PBS’s Mystery series.

Lambert and Hook series.
The team of Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook investigate crime in Gloucestershire. Both are golf enthusiasts. The trademark meticulous descriptions of police investigative techniques are here, along with solidly constructed characters.

Inspector Peach series.
The irreverent, irrepressible DCI Percy Peach will appeal primarily to fans of the jauntier British procedurals such as those in the Inspector Morse mold, but he will also appeal to the more academic fan. 

Ruth Galloway series.
Ruth, a quirky and sharp-tongued anthropologist, lives happily alone and enjoys digging in the remoter parts of Norfolk. She is occasionally called in by the police to help investigate newly discovered bones that have been uncovered in a variety of circumstances and in various settings.

Richard Jury Series.
Initially a Chief Inspector, and later a Scotland Yard Superintendent, Jury is invariably assisted in his cases by his hypochondriac but dependable sergeant, Alfred Wiggins, and Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Jury is very attractive but tends to be melancholy and is unlucky in love. Adding to the series is a recurring ensemble of interesting minor characters.

Thomas Silkstone series.
Set in eighteenth-century England, the brilliant anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone is a pioneering forensic detective.

Burren Mysteries series.
Irish historical mysteries that tell the history of Ireland through the Iron Age, Brehon Law, and Monastic, Viking, and Elizabethan ages. The series heroine is Mara, the brehon of the kingdom of the Burren, who serves as both an investigating magistrate and a law school professor.

Bill Slider series.
Slider is a police inspector with Shepherd’s Bush CID in London. He and his team cover the streets investigating crime and often turn up dark secrets. These are taut psychological thrillers.

Abbot Agency series.
Bea Abbot and her husband had been running the highly successful Abbot Agency for many years, but when he falls ill and dies, she is pressured by her Member-of-Parliament son to retire. Bea is so tired from the long years of nursing her husband that all she wants is peace and quiet and to have her pretty Victorian house in Kensington all to herself. What she gets are a couple of young lodgers with troubled backgrounds and an old friend banging on her door, asking for help. What she ultimately gets is murder! And that scenario launches the series. Other crises follow in subsequent novels, and Bea tends to take on cases in which the client is reluctant to involve the police.

Dalziel and Pascoe series.
There is a great contrast between the large, gruff, uncouth Andy Dalziel, an old-school detective, and his colleague, the suave, smooth, highly educated Peter Pascoe. Set in Yorkshire, the pair solves cases assisted by able colleagues in these subtly psychological and suspenseful novels.

Simon Serrailler series.
In this series of gripping psychological thrillers, Detective Chief Inspector Serrailler and his team tackle tough issues and crime in the cathedral city of Lafferton. Simon is a handsome, enigmatic man who can be charming, but at times, also distant and cold.

Sheila Malory series.
Mrs. Malory is a plain-spoken woman residing in the little seaside town of Taviscombe, England. A middle-aged widow, she putters among charities, neighbors, chores, and pets, and ends up stumbling over bodies or tracking missing persons. While there are some similarities to Miss Marple, Mrs. Malory is younger and has a much more hopeful and warm-hearted approach to people.

Harpur and Iles series.
Colin Harpur is a Detective Chief Inspector, and Desmond Iles is the Assistant Chief Constable in an unnamed coastal city in southwestern England. Harpur and Iles are complemented by an evolving cast of reccurring characters on both sides of the law. The books are characterized by grim humor and a bleak view of the relationship among the public, the police force, and the criminal element.

Adam Dalgliesh series.
Detective Chief Inspector, later Commander, of the Metropolitan Police Service of New Scotland Yard in London, Dalgliesh is an intensely cerebral and private person. A widower, he lives in a flat above the Thames, where he writes poetry in his spare time. He and his crack squad of CID officers handle only the most sensitive of cases. Dalgliesh is a later example of the gentleman detective.

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series.
These crime thrillers featuring CID Detective Superintendent Grace are based in Brighton where Grace and his team often find themselves in a race against time when solving cases. Over the course of the series, the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Sandy, haunts him and is a reminder of his troubled past.

DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine series.
Detective Inspector Peter Shaw is the main protagonist in this series of crime fiction novels. He is joined by Detective Sergeant George Valentine in the county of Norfolk, England. This series is masterful in its combination of gritty, contemporary crime drama and old-fashioned, play-by-the-rules mystery writing.

Peter Diamond series.
Diamond, head of the CID in modern day Bath, is a large, tenacious investigator who often works outside of standard police procedures. He does his best to avoid his boss, who only slows him down in solving his cases.

Logan McRae series.
McRae is a detective sergeant in Aberdeen, a setting of horrific crimes, murders, serial killers, and much eating of chips and drinking of beer. The violence in the book is often depicted in graphic detail, and the books are surprisingly vivid in their descriptions of the city. In this series, the city is as much a character as are the homicide detectives and the victims of crime.

Brock and Kolla series.
Detective Chief Inspector David Brock is the head of the Serious Crimes division of Scotland Yard. Brock and his team are assigned only the most serious and perplexing of cases. On his team is Kathy Kolla, who progresses in rank from Sergeant to Inspector under Brock's tutelage, and she becomes a key partner in unraveling and solving the crimes they encounter.  The cases take Brock and Kolla to all corners of London, and occasionally tinternationally, in these sharply observed and award-winning crime novels.

Tony Hill series.
This series pairs British clinical psychologist Hill, a brilliant criminal profiler, and his long-term work partner and sometimes lover, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan. The novels are tense thrillers dealing with serial killers and other dangerous criminals and often depict violence and torture. The novels were made into the Wire in the Blood TV series.

Lloyd and Hill series.
Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd and Sergeant Judy Hill are a crime-solving duo in England. She is smart and ambitious, determined to succeed on her own; he is supportive but secretly wishes for a more old-fashioned kind of relationship. They know each other well – she tolerates his smugness and flair for the dramatic and he appreciates her cool logic and occasional brilliant insights. Together they make an interesting and believable detecting team.

Rumpole series.
Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister, defends any and all clients. In fact, his skill at defending his clients is legendary among the criminal classes. A man of strong ethics, he prefers not to advance, content in his role of defender in the "Old Bailey." Among Rumpole’s many courtroom weapons is humor. It makes it much tougher for the prosecutors when the jury is laughing at their case.

Richard Nottingham series.
Nottingham is the Constable of the City of Leeds in the 1730’s. While the series has its share of murders, it’s also about the people in the city, relationships, and life in 18th-century England, where there is one law for the rich, and a much more brutal one for the rest of society.

Henry Christie series.
DCI Henry Christie investigates crime in bleak Northern England. Intelligent and appealing, Christie is the type of tough, caring, no-nonsense officer we imagine an effective policeman should be. Married, with two fast-growing daughters, he is the epitome of a working-class northerner. He commands respect from his team because they know that when the going gets tough, he’ll be leading from the front. He likes to ruffle feathers and has little time for superior officers who can’t pull their operational weight.

William Monk series.
Set in Victorian England, Monk is a very clever man who wields irony and sarcasm with considerable skill while remaining obstinate, proud, and impulsive. This normally disastrous combination of attributes (which caused his initial firing from the Police Force) is offset by his intelligence, unswerving sense of justice, and loyalty to those he deems worthy. He will fearlessly solve the case and see the evildoers brought to justice no matter what it takes. 

Thomas Pitt series.
Set in Victorian England, rumpled, working-class Inspector Thomas Pitt is assisted in his cases by his aristocratic wife, Charlotte, and her upper class relatives and connections.

Cadfael series.
Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk in medieval Shrewsbury, leads a quiet life as the monastery's herbalist. However, because of his skill and knowledge of the outside world as a former Crusader, he is drawn into the political and social intrigue inside and outside the monastery. The series is set during the turbulent years of the struggle for the English throne between King Stephen and Empress Maud, both descendants of William the Conqueror.

Lois Meade series.
Lois, a local cleaner in a small English village, has a close and intimate knowledge of many of its inhabitants. Danger lurks close by as Lois becomes embroiled in the deeply hidden passions and emotions smoldering beneath the facade of idyllic village life.

John Rebus series.
John Rebus once served in Britain's elite SAS; now he's an Edinburgh detective who hides from his memories, antagonizes his superiors, and misses promotions. The post-war upbringing he had in a Scottish housing project during the decline of heavy industry makes him identify with those who distrust authority and struggle against adversity. He has a love of books, owns an extensive music collection, and drives a battered car. He is a smoker, a heavy drinker and is married to his job. Married once, the traits that keep him strong (and intimidating) are also the traits that drive those closest to him away.

Chief Inspector Wexford series.
Detective Chief Inspector Reginald “Reg” Wexford lives in a particularly murder-prone village in Sussex. Wexford is a great reader with a ready supply of literary quotations.  A civilized man with decent values, he is unusually tolerant and compassionate. His success in case-solving is often based on his ability to see in people emotions and motivations that other detectives would miss. He is aided by Detective Inspector Michael Burden, who is 20 years younger than Wexford but is older in temperament and is a bit of a prude. Rendell's portrayal of the ongoing friendship between the two men creates continuity for the series.

Baker Street Letters series.
Two brother lawyers lease offices on London's Baker Street and begin receiving mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes.  Their lease requires them to answer all letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street.  And so, the adventures of Nigel and Reggie begin as they investigate old mysteries.

Inspector Banks series.
After living in London and working in the Metropolitan Police Unsolved Crime Squad, Detective Inspector Alan Banks moves his family to the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale. His charming demeanor helps him deal with suspects as well as the victims of crime, but he can come down hard when he needs to get answers quickly.

Suzie Fewings Genealogical Mystery series.
This series combines mystery and genealogy. Suzie is a keen genealogist who discovers interesting secrets in her families’ roots back in England. She helps others with their research too, and often uncovers secrets better left buried.

Roger the Chapman series.
A former monk, young Roger the Chapman (or peddler), earns his living selling lace and silk throughout the English countryside. His real passion though is solving puzzles, so he uses his keen wit and intelligence to solve mysteries along his travels. The series is set during the tumultuous years of the War of Roses, the fight for the throne between the royal houses of York and Lancaster.

Alan Grant series.
An Inspector of Scotland Yard, Grant is a slightly built, dapper gentleman-police officer of independent means. Grant fancies himself an expert on faces. The five books in which he appears constitute an oeuvre whose highly literate and witty prose have attracted a devoted following.

Sherlock Holmes series.
A famous tin box in the attic of the house at 221B Baker Street is unlocked by the Great Detective's loyal companion, Dr. Watson. Crossing historical fact with inventive fiction, the author has Holmes working on intriguing true-crime cases that captured headlines at the turn of the last century, as well as having real-life clients as illustrious as Oscar Wilde and as infamous as Dr. Crippen.

Ian Rutledge series.
Still broken and suffering from the ravages of his service in the Great War, Scotland Yard Inspector Rutledge’s thoughts are haunted by the ghost of a soldier, Hamish MacLeod, who taunts him as he works on his cases. These are good psychological suspense novels.

Bess Crawford series.
Set in World War I, Bess Crawford is a resourceful British army nurse who becomes involved with murder investigations while she serves in both Britain and France. Her strength comes from her upbringing as the daughter of a career Army officer posted to India. In living amongst other cultures she develops a sense of duty and compassion to serve from an early age.

Hennessey & Yellich series.
Chief Inspector George Hennessey and Detective Sergeant Yellich are with the Vale of York police. In each book in the series, the author gives a little biography of the characters. Hennessey is a widower whose wife died suddenly when their son was an infant. That son is now grown with a family of his own, so Hennessey lives with his dog, reads military history, and takes a walk every night about York, ending up at the local pub, where he has one pint of bitter. Yellich is a happily married man who is content with his work and his home life.

Maisie Dobbs series.
Maisie is a psychologist/investigator in post-World War I London. Her beginnings are working class, but good fortune brings her into contact with the upper class, where she consequently receives an education. She serves as a nurse during the war and then returns to London to work with her mentor, accomplished detective Dr. Maurice Blanche. When Blanche retires, Maisie opens up her own detective agency.