Dorothy Simpson

A snowstorm in a quiet English village ends in death in this "skillfully plotted" mystery starring the beloved Detective Inspector Thanet (Publishers Weekly). Over the last year, Superintendent Draco has turned the little police station at Sturrenden upside down. A hard-driving, fiery Welshman, he has breathed new life into a stagnant police force, and Det. Inspector Luke Thanet has been forced to admit that even if he's difficult to work with, Draco...

There's no shortage of suspects when a body turns up in a charming English village in this mystery starring mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet. Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is pulling into his driveway, anticipating a long, lazy evening at home, when murder intervenes. A village so lovely it seems straight out of a fairytale, Ribbleden is far from the main roads and Thanet's usual beat. When the inspector pulls into town, the quiet country streets...

Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger: A troubled woman returns to her peaceful English village after twenty years-and is murdered within twenty-four hours. When Det. Inspector Luke Thanet was a young man, Alicia Parnell was one of the most popular girls in Sturrenden: beautiful, charming, and brilliant. But her perfect life was shattered when her teenage boyfriend killed himself. Alicia's family left town soon after, and Thanet never expected to see her...

A country vineyard is tainted by murder in this "absorbing" English police procedural starring Detective Inspector Thanet (Publishers Weekly). Sturrenden Vineyard is a few miles west of town, a lovely piece of land where tourists come to sip wine, tour the grounds, and enjoy the exquisite Kentish scenery. But Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is too busy for such frivolous activities, so his first visit comes with the introduction of a an attraction far...

A compelling British police procedural starring the mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet from "a modern-day version of Agatha Christie" (Booklist). Change is coming to the Sturrenden police station. After twenty years at the helm, the superintendent has retired, and Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is now reporting to a brusque, ambitious upstart recently promoted from Cardiff. A new chief means turf wars and bureaucratic infighting. With the station...

A mystery about a missing girl and a secretive church in a small English village from an author known for "character and psychological insight" (The Washington Post). On a blistering summer weekend, as all of England rushes to the seashore, Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is looking forward to a few days off to putter around his garden and forget the stresses of his job. A famously soft-hearted detective, Thanet takes every crime personally, and he's overdue...

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. Last Seen Alive: When Luke Thanet was a young man, Alicia Parnell was one of the most popular girls in Sturrenden-until...

British police detective Luke Thanet tracks a housewife’s killer in the debut novel of an award-winning mystery series “in the P. D. James manner” (Kirkus Reviews).
Luke Thanet is a British police inspector with a soft heart, bad back, and bloodhound’s nose for murder. When a young woman is found stabbed through the heart with a kitchen knife, Thanet and his partner, the brusque young Mike Lineham, rush...