<div>A mystery about a missing girl and a secretive church in a small English village from an author known for &ldquo;character and psychological insight&rdquo; (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&rsquo;s overdue for a break. But when a young girl goes missing, it&rsquo;s all hands on deck. Thanet will move heaven and earth to bring Charity Pritchard home alive. But do her parents even want her found? Charity&rsquo;s family belongs to a strict fundamentalist religious order, and they insist that the investigation of her disappearance be left up to God. But when the holy approach fails tragically and Charity is found brutally murdered, Thanet and his partner, the impetuous young Mike Lineham, will tear the church apart to find her killer. &ldquo;A well-crafted [and] compelling mystery novel,&rdquo; Close Her Eyes is part of the acclaimed Inspector Thanet series, which includes CWA Silver Dagger winner Last Seen Alive (The Armchair Detective). Close Her Eyes is the 4th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Buy From US

Kobo

Google

Barnes & Noble

Apple

Amazon

Close Her Eyes

<div>British police detective Luke Thanet tracks a housewife&rsquo;s killer in the debut novel of an award-winning mystery series &ldquo;in the P. D. James manner&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). Luke Thanet is a British police inspector with a soft heart, bad back, and bloodhound&rsquo;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 to the scene. Julie Holmes lies dead in her front hall, wrapped in her overcoat, her handbag missing. The perpetrator could have been a burglar, a jealous husband, or a spurned lover. But Detective Inspector Thanet never leaps to conclusions, and always takes his time; it seems the key to finding this killer lurks twenty years in the past. When Julie was a child, she witnessed a murder&mdash;a traumatic event so scarring she repressed it entirely. Thanet believes that before she died, Julie&rsquo;s memory came back&mdash;and so did the killer . . . The first in the series featuring Inspector Thanet, a &ldquo;most likable policeman,&rdquo; The Night She Died is a compelling procedural from an acclaimed CWA Silver Dagger winner (Yorkshire Post). The Night She Died is the 1st book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

The Night She Died

<div>A doctor&rsquo;s apparent suicide sets off alarm bells for Detective Inspector Thanet, &ldquo;a shrewd yet compassionate observer of aberrant human behavior&rdquo; (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&rsquo;s first reaction is disgust. His second is suspicion: This, he thinks, is murder. Nothing in Pettifer&rsquo;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&rsquo;s wife had taken a lover, he begins to suspect her&mdash;only to find that nothing about the death of Dr. Pettifer is as obvious as it may seem. This CWA Silver Dagger&ndash;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, &ldquo;a subtle interviewer with a genius for reading character&rdquo; (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. </div>

Puppet for a Corpse

<div>An English village is shaken by murder in this police procedural from the &ldquo;dependably pleasing&rdquo; author of The Night She Died (The Boston Globe). Det. Inspector Luke Thanet may be the only happy cop in England. He has two healthy children, a wonderful wife, and the inner peace that comes from knowing there&rsquo;s nothing on the job he can&rsquo;t handle. But all that changes the first day he goes to Nettleton, a little town with evil secrets&mdash;and a body count on the rise. The first victim is Carrie Birch, a quiet woman who lives with her elderly mother and has never made an enemy in her life. When she doesn&rsquo;t come home one night, her mother panics and calls the police. Inspector Thanet&rsquo;s partner, the brash young Mike Lineham, answers the call. He finds Carrie brutally murdered in a Nettleton bathroom, the first revelation in a series of shocks that will tear the little village wide open. A classic British mystery, Six Feet Under is perfect for fans of Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, and the blockbuster television series Midsomer Murders. Six Feet Under is the 2nd book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Six Feet Under

<div>Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger: A troubled woman returns to her peaceful English village after twenty years&mdash;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&rsquo;s family left town soon after, and Thanet never expected to see her again. But two decades later, Alicia comes home to start her life over in the country village where she was born. No one knows what drew her back, and no one has a chance to ask&mdash;because less than a day after her return, Alicia is murdered. Her body is found in the Black Swan hotel, and all signs point to strangulation. Inspector Thanet is shocked by the death of someone he knew, and to find Alicia&rsquo;s killer, he&rsquo;ll have to dig deep into their shared past. Someone in Sturrenden has a secret, and Thanet must uncover it before the killer strikes again. The winner of the CWA Silver Dagger, Britain&rsquo;s top prize for crime fiction, Last Seen Alive is a compelling puzzle from a &ldquo;dependably pleasing&rdquo; author (The Boston Globe). Last Seen Alive is the 5th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Last Seen Alive

<div>A British detective must find the killer of a much-despised villager in this mystery from &ldquo;a modern-day version of Agatha Christie&rdquo; (Booklist). Det. Inspector Luke 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&rsquo;t? A troublemaker with enemies wherever he went, 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. The long-running series featuring Detective Inspector Thanet, which includes The Night She Died and CWA Silver Dagger winner Last Seen Alive, is perfect for fans of P. D. James and classic police procedurals. Dead on Arrival is &ldquo;an intriguing tale not to be missed&rdquo; (Yorkshire Post). Dead on Arrival is the 6th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Dead on Arrival

<div>A compelling British police procedural starring the mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet from &ldquo;a modern-day version of Agatha Christie&rdquo; (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 in chaos, Thanet is almost happy to investigate a suspicious death. The political side of detective work is what keeps Thanet from seeking promotion. He would rather be risking his neck in the field, and he&rsquo;s one of the best at his job. When powerful businesswoman Marcia Salden is found dead in the River Sture and the autopsy suggests foul play, Thanet descends on the village of Telford Green, where a tangled web of conspiracy rewarded Marcia&rsquo;s ambition with murder. The award-winning Detective Inspector Thanet series about one of the best-loved English policemen is perfect for fans of P. D. James and Midsomer Murders. Suspicious Death is the 8th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Suspicious Death

<div>There&rsquo;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&rsquo;s usual beat. When the inspector pulls into town, the quiet country streets are deserted: Everyone is crowded outside the manor gates, waiting to learn what happened to Nerine Tarrant. A notorious woman with a taste for married men, Nerine was 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&rsquo;s lust for life would never have committed suicide. Many in Ribbleden wanted her dead&mdash;but who gave her the final push? Written by the CWA Silver Dagger&ndash;winning Dorothy Simpson, this classic village mystery with a shocking modern twist is perfect for fans of P. D. James or Midsomer Murders. Element of Doubt is the 7th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Element of Doubt

<div>A snowstorm in a quiet English village ends in death in this &ldquo;skillfully plotted&rdquo; 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&rsquo;s difficult to work with, Draco gets results. But when a body is found in the little village of Sutton-in-the-Weald the morning after a heavy snowstorm, Draco insists on overseeing the investigation&mdash;which means finding the killer won&rsquo;t be Thanet&rsquo;s only problem. Leo Martindale returned to Sutton-in-the-Weald after twenty years to claim his inheritance. Two days later, he&rsquo;s dead. Was the death an accident, a hit and run caused by icy roads&mdash;or was it murder? Thanet will have to ignore his boss breathing down his neck to find out the truth. When it comes to mixing elements of the traditional English murder mystery with the thrills of a modern police procedural, no one does it better than CWA Silver Dagger winner Dorothy Simpson. Dead by Morning is the 9th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Dead by Morning

<div>A quaint English village&rsquo;s summer gala is interrupted by murder in this award-winning mystery series starring the mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet. The Thaxden F&ecirc;te is one of the highlights of the Sturrenden social calendar, and this year it promises to be better than ever. Local celebrities have descended on Thaxden Hall to raise money for the town hospice. The food is exquisite, the music lovely, and the company divine. Det. Inspector Luke Thanet and his wife are having a wonderful time at the party&mdash;until murder intervenes. The victim is the mother of Hugo Fairleigh, local member of Parliament and organizer of the f&ecirc;te. An elderly woman who suffered a stroke just a few days before, she&rsquo;s an unlikely target for a killer, yet someone saw fit to hold a pillow over her face until she breathed no more. Suspecting the killer came from Fairleigh&rsquo;s own circles, Thanet begins investigating the MP&rsquo;s family, certain of only one thing: This party is over. Written by the CWA Silver Dagger&ndash;winning Dorothy Simpson, Wake the Dead is a perfect English mystery novel: at once tightly plotted, understated, and utterly shocking. Wake the Dead is the 11th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Wake the Dead

<div>A country vineyard is tainted by murder in this &ldquo;absorbing&rdquo; 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 more in keeping with his usual interests: murder. Vineyard owner Zak Randish has been found dead in his personal laboratory, where he&rsquo;d been working late into the night to perfect the next vintage. His equipment is smashed and his blood stains every surface, mingling with the wine. Although outwardly happy, successful, and at peace, Randish had terrible secrets, and Thanet must uncover them soon, lest the vineyard&rsquo;s tidy rows of grapes run red with blood as red as Sturrenden wine. Perfect for fans of P. D. James or Midsomer Murders, No Laughing Matter is another sterling entry in Dorothy Simpson&rsquo;s long-running, award-winning mystery series. No Laughing Matter is the 12th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

No Laughing Matter

<div>Detective Inspector Thanet uncovers the shocking secrets that led to an artist&rsquo;s murder in this captivating entry in the award-winning British mystery series. When a woman is found with a bloody gash on her scalp and a plastic bag over her head, there&rsquo;s no question that she was murdered. But Det. Inspector Luke Thanet, a veteran homicide investigator whose cases have carried him across the sprawling Kentish countryside, is about to discover a mystery far more shocking than anything he&rsquo;s encountered before. The victim is Perdita Master, an artist with a terminally ill mother and a husband who threatened violence when she demanded a divorce. The husband is the natural suspect, but as Thanet and his partner, the dogged Sgt. Mike Lineham, dig into the case, they will discover a tantalizing connection to a powerful local barrister&mdash;and a secret that many people might have killed for. Charming, stylish, and endlessly absorbing, the CWA Silver Dagger&ndash;winning Luke Thanet mysteries are some of the best English police procedurals ever written. Doomed to Die is the 10th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. </div>

Doomed to Die

<div>The first three mysteries in the &ldquo;beautifully crafted,&rdquo; Silver Dagger Award&ndash;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;t so certain it&rsquo;s suicide. After he discovers the doctor&rsquo;s pregnant wife had a lover, he begins to suspect her&mdash;but then again, nothing about this case is what it seems.</div>

The Inspector Thanet Mysteries Volume One

<div>The second trio of mysteries in the &ldquo;beautifully crafted,&rdquo; Silver Dagger Award&ndash;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&rsquo;s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no case is too tough, in these mysteries from the &ldquo;dependably pleasing&rdquo; 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&rsquo;s veil of secrecy to reveal her killer. &ldquo;A well-crafted [and] compelling mystery novel.&rdquo; &mdash;The Armchair Detective Last Seen Alive: When Luke Thanet was a young man, Alicia Parnell was one of the most popular girls in Sturrenden&mdash;until her perfect life was shattered by her teenage boyfriend&rsquo;s suicide. Alicia&rsquo;s family left town soon after. But now, two decades later, Alicia has returned to the country village where she was born&mdash;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. &ldquo;A classic detective story . . . complex and ingenious.&rdquo; &mdash;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&rsquo;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. &ldquo;An intriguing tale not to be missed.&rdquo; &mdash;Yorkshire Post</div>

The Inspector Thanet Mysteries Volume Two

<div>The third trio of mysteries in the &ldquo;beautifully crafted,&rdquo; Silver Dagger Award&ndash;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&rsquo;s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no case is too tough, in these mysteries from the &ldquo;dependably pleasing&rdquo; 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&rsquo;s lust for life would never have committed suicide. Many in the village of Ribbleden wanted her dead&mdash;but it&rsquo;s up to Inspector Thanet to determine who gave her the final push. &ldquo;Solidly charming.&rdquo; &mdash;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&rsquo;s up to the inspector to unravel the tangled web of conspiracy that ensnared the victim in a watery grave. &ldquo;Pace, plot and subtle characterization all combine to make this a cracking good read.&rdquo; &mdash;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&mdash;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. &ldquo;Skillfully plotted . . . vivid characters.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

The Inspector Thanet Mysteries Volume Three

<div>“A master of plot manipulation. . . . The pleasure here is watching [Inspector] Thanet . . . arrive at an understanding of what would make a person kill for love.” —The New York Times Book Review The thirteenth novel in the British mystery series featuring Inspector Luke Thanet from the Silver Dagger Award–winning author Dorothy Simpson, “a modern-day version of Agatha Christie” (Booklist). When playboy Max Jeopard is killed at his own engagement party, Inspector Luke Thanet is called in to investigate and uncovers a host of suspects, including his fiancée, a jealous brother, an ex-girlfriend, and the victim’s future in-laws . “This English village ‘cozy’ goes down well” —Library Journal “A really excellent example of the genre: well thought out and equally well executed, with some cunningly concealed surprises. Inspector Thanet is a definite find.” —Times Literary Supplement “Pace, plot and subtle characterisations all combine to make this a cracking good read.” —Sunday Telegraph “Clean writing, shrewd portraits and tight plots.” —Financial Times </div>

A Day for Dying

<div>Serious crime isn't supposed to happen in elegant English country homes, especially not in such families as that of Queen's counsel Ralph Mintar, a prominent barrister who's destined to become a high-court judge. So it's particularly shocking when Mintar's attractive wife, Virginia, goes missing just after a small dinner party. Her disappearance is eerily reminiscent of the day four years before, when the Mintars' adult daughter Caroline left the house, never to return. Caroline seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, but Virginia's body is soon found at the bottom of a garden well, and Inspector Luke Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Mike Lineham, who are called in to investigate, quickly discard any idea of accidental death. Virginia was the perfect murder victim. Her outrageous flirting made her many enemies, several of whom were there on the night of her death. They had both reason and opportunity to kill her, but which one took the final, fatal step? Who wanted Virginia dead and gone? Who was Virginia's latest lover? What does her mother-in-law have to hide? What about Caroline's younger sister and her womanizing fianc&#233;? Thanet and Lineham wonder how they can even begin to unravel the morass of family secrets that complicate this case. Distracted by his own daughter Bridget's dangerous pregnancy and pushed by his boss to find hard evidence in this high-profile homicide, Luke Thanet feels pressured as never before as he probes into the life and death of one of the most poignant and, finally, shocking cases of his career. Always a skilled mistress of the classic British crime novel, award-winning author Dorothy Simpson is at the top of her form in this powerful novel of family love gone tragically wrong.</div>

Dorothy Simpson
Follow this author

Books By Dorothy Simpson (17 Books)