Books

Introducing your new crime thriller Bristol detective DS George Cross, champion of the outsider, the voiceless and the dispossessed.

Bristol detective DS George Cross investigates the suspicious death of a homeless man, and discovers a link to a cold case murder from years before. DS George Cross can be rude, difficult, and awkward with people. But his unfailing logic and dogged pursuit of the truth means his conviction rate is the best on the force. So when his police colleagues dismiss the death of a man as a squabble among Bristol's homeless community, Detective Sergeant George Cross is not convinced. Who was the unknown man whose weather-beaten body is discovered on Clifton Downs? Did the tragedy that led to a life on the streets also lead to his death? As he delves into the dead man's past, Cross becomes convinced that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a cold case murder from years before. A murder that someone has got away with for fifteen years...

Every generation has its iconic detective - Holmes, Poirot and Morse - but Cross is emerging as the one for now. Treasure him.' DAILY MAIL
'George Cross is becoming one of my favourite detectives.' ELLY GRIFFITHS

The victim's worst enemy was himself.

When an elderly man is found dead in his home, the angle of his neck says he fell down the stairs. The stab wound on his body tells a different story.

In the weeks before his murder, Alistair Moreton changed. A recluse by nature, neighbours swear someone was living with him, someone he didn't want them to see.

Moreton spent a lifetime making enemies and now DS George Cross needs to uncover which one finally struck back. Because in all of Alistair's years, there was something important he never learned.

If you go through life hurting people, don't be surprised when they teach you a lesson.

Perfect for fans of MW Craven, Ann Cleeves and Joy Ellis, The Teacher is part of the million-copy-bestselling George Cross Mystery series, which can be read in any order, by the 2025 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award longlistee.

SOMEONE'S ABOUT TO TURN THEIR LAST PAGE...

'One of the most iconic British fictional detectives of the 21st century.' DAILY MAIL
'These are must-read detective novels.' MARK BILLINGHAM
'One of my favourite detectives.' ELLY GRIFFITHS

Beware a well-read murderer...

A bookseller is found dead in his shop on a quiet square in Bristol, surrounded by rare books, first editions and a shocking amount of blood.

DS George Cross, usually the first to spot holes in a suspect's story, is distracted. His father's recent diagnosis has left him unsettled, relying on others in a way he is not comfortable with. It's impacting the case – and himself – more than he'd like to admit.

The truth only gets murkier as George uncovers tales of lost manuscripts and rival dealers, revealing how dangerous the rarefied world of bookselling can be – especially when the suspects are so familiar with crime novels.

They know exactly how to get away with murder.

Perfect for fans of MW Craven, Ann Cleeves and Joy Ellis, this is the seventh book in the bestselling million-copy-bestselling George Cross Mystery series, which can be read in any order, by the 2025 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award longlistee.

'George Cross is becoming one of my favourite detectives.' ELLY GRIFFITHS

A victim with no enemies. A murder with no motive.

When the body of a monk is found savagely beaten in woodland near Bristol, DS George Cross discovers that nothing is known about the man's past.

How can he unpick a crime when he doesn't know anything about the victim? And why would someone want to harm a monk?

His past reveals that he had no enemies, although George learns he was exceedingly wealthy, that he sacrificed it all for his faith.

For a man who has nothing, it seems strange that greed could be the motive for his murder. But greed is a sin after all...

Perfect for fans of MW Craven, Ann Cleeves and Joy Ellis, The Monk is part of the million-copy-bestselling George Cross Mystery series, which can be read in any order, by the 2025 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award longlistee.

No fingerprints. No weapon. No witnesses.

For days, George Cross notices the same woman sitting patiently in the reception of the Bristol Crime Unit. Eventually, he asks her why.

She wants to talk about her daughter's death, officially ruled a suicide after a long history of drug abuse. But the mother insists she was rebuilding her life and had been clean for years. She knows this wasn't suicide – someone did this to her daughter.

George doesn't operate on hunches or gut feelings, he simply follows the evidence wherever that might take him. And the facts of this case tell him this woman was murdered.

He just has to prove it.

Perfect for fans of MW Craven, Ann Cleeves and Joy Ellis, The Patient is part of the million-copy-bestselling George Cross Mystery series, which can be read in any order, by the 2025 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award longlistee.

When a weather-beaten body is found on Clifton Downs, the police are quick to dismiss it as a quarrel among the unhoused community.

DS George Cross knows how it feels to be overlooked. Unwilling to do the same to others, he sets out to find out what really happened to the dead man.

As George learns about a life that slowly unravelled, his investigation leads him to a decades-old murder. The question is how are the two deaths linked – and who killed each victim?

If anyone can find the answers, it's George Cross – a man who has always felt like an outsider himself.