David Ashton

In Master of the Mint, a new figure of justice is walking the streets of 17th-century London - Isaac Newton, scientific genius. After thirty years as a Cambridge academic, Newton takes up a new post at the Royal Mint in the Tower of London. But the work doesn't stay peaceful: soon he finds himself asking questions within drinking dens of ill-repute, in pursuit of a notorious counterfeiting gang. Can he stop their plans to set off a financial crash that will bring down the Government? In Nemesis, Isaac Newton must contend not only with opponents to his currency plans, but also with a French secret agent who is aiding the theft of England's entire supply of silver. When a wagon of silver is stolen, and his close colleague murdered, Newton must face facts: he's been betrayed. But is he able to protect his country from the same fate?

A theatre company arrives in Leith to perform King Lear. A robbery is planned, a gruesome murder committed, both of which set Inspector James McLevy on the prowl, and Jean's past returns in the shape of the avenging son of a man she has long ago been accused of poisoning.

Even more lethally, her own lost family life resurrects in the present, as a wild young actress who trails violence and death behind her, involves Jean in a dangerous complex game that gnaws at the very root of her identity.

All this grounded in Leith's gritty backdrop - the rich exotic world of the theatre meeting the harsh reality of the streets.

Book 2 in the Jean Brash mystery series.

Forced to run for his life after killing two suspects, assaulting the Chief Constable and inadvertently causing the death of Lieutenant Roach, McLevy has fled Leith for San Francisco. Somewhat rashly, and against her better judgement, Jean Brash has decided to accompany him...

Unimpressed by San Francisco's bawdy houses, Jean shifts from brothel-keeping to playing poker, and is soon making a killing. McLevy, however, is having a harder time adjusting. Adrift and purposeless, he goes looking for trouble - and finds it in spades. As he and Jean face violence, corruption, skulduggery and murder, McLevy sets about doing what he does best: tackling crime. His time as a policeman may be over, but in this wild, lawless West, there's a desperate need for a good private investigator...

Based on the real-life memoirs of the 19th Century investigator who inspired Sherlock Holmes, Inspector James McLevy, this atmospheric mystery series features the fictional casebook of Edinburgh's finest thief-taker. Accompanied by his loyal partner, Constable Mulholland, McLevy prowls the murky streets of 1840s Leith bringing criminals to justice - assisted by the madam of Edinburgh's finest bawdy-house, the deliciously immoral Jean Brash. In this collection of thrilling episodes, he goes on the trail of an ingenious cat burglar; contemplates a game of golf with desperate stakes; and joins Her Majesty's protection squad to hunt down a deadly assassin. He also faces trouble in the shape of a runaway bridegroom and a blackmailer; probes a judge's murder as his allegedly cheating wife claims her innocence; and looks into the curious case of the Italian aristocrat found dead at Waverley station. Meanwhile, Jean Brash plans revenge on a sadistic client - but her deadly battle with the malign Caleb Grant has heartbreaking consequences... Also included is the original pilot show, introducing us to the dour detective; and a Christmas Special, in which McLevy forswears Yuletide revelry to hunt for a supernatural thief...

In these collected episodes, McLevy investigates the kidnap of a women's rights campaigner, sets out to prove that a celebrated stage magician is a jewel thief; probes a series of street attacks on clients of The Just Land; and is kidnapped by a grieving father seeking vengeance for the death of his son. Plus, Jean's life hangs in the balance when she is poisoned by a mystery assailant; Mulholland is challenged to a duel; and the new docks in Leith threaten to change McLevy's life forever... Also included is Meet James McLevy, a 2016 remake of the original pilot episode, in which the idiosyncratic detective investigates the demise of a bank manager found dead and naked by the Water of Leith.

Edinburgh, New Year's Day. An elegant female figure walks the cobblestones with a certain vengeful purpose. Jean Brash, the mistress of the Just Land, brings her cool intelligence to solving a murder, a murder that took place in her own bawdy house. A prominent judge, strangled and left dangling, could bring her whole life to ruin, and she didn't haul herself off the streets, up through low, dirty houses of pleasure and violent vicious men, to let that come to pass.

The search for the killers will take Jean back into her own dark past as she uncovers a web of political and sexual corruption in the high reaches of the Edinburgh establishment. A young boy's death long ago is demanding justice, but as the body count increases, she has little time before a certain Inspector James McLevy comes sniffing round like a wolf on the prowl.

Book 1 in the Jean Brash mystery series.