When a farmer, William Tey, is hacked to death with an ax in his barn, Scotland Yard assigns Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers to the case. Lynley is the 8th Earl of Asherton and is a graduate of Eton and Oxford; he is on the fast track in the police service. Havers has a working c…

Emily Proctor is found stabbed in Hyde Park. The police learn that the 23-year-old was living her dream. She had obtained a first in law and was a pupil in the Chambers of well-known barrister Tony Wainwright. At age 13, Emily had first seen Wainwright in a television documentary about refugees and had always wanted to…

When the daughter of a Cambridge professor is brutally killed while out jogging, Lynley and Havers are assigned to the case. The young woman was deaf and on the evidence, it appears the attack was deliberate. There are any number of suspects: the girl's father is divorced, re-married to a much younger woman who suspect…

Lynley and Havers investigate the death of Hatham Kureshi in the seaside village of Balford-le-nez. He was to marry Shala Malik, the daughter of a prominent businessman. The marriage was an arranged one but it turns out she was having an affair with a local man, Theo Shaw. She is also pregnant. Things are not going wel…

DI Lynley and DS Havers investigate the murder of a forensic psychologist, Professor Dermot Finnegan, who was blown to bits with a car bomb. In his profession, he has done much work for the police and the list of those seeking revenge is endless. In his home village, Noel Shakespeare's daughter was imprisoned for killi…