Gordon Griffin

Thousands of lives have been saved by this spaniel. He is a best friend in dog's clothing. An RAF dog with his mossy feet firmly on the ground. A brave dog who has served his colleagues and his country with unstinting devotion. A dog in a million.

This is the story of the partnership of Buster and Will, told by Will himself, describing how each came to save the other's life. This is a relationship that produced some heroic feats in the dust and desert heat of Afghanistan - and beyond. Buster, uniquely, has served five tours of duty - more than any other military dog.

"With some dogs you share a boil in the bag breakfast and maybe a blanket on a cold desert floor. Some you wouldn't leave in charge of your Grandma unless you wanted to find out just how fast the old girl could run. But, if you're very, very lucky there will be the one dog you would lay down your life for - and for me that dog is Buster."

As told to Isabel George.

Fetherhoughton is a dreary town in 1950s northern England. Father Angwin has lost his faith. Sister Philomena strains against convent life. The inhabitants of the town go about their lives in a haze. Then a stranger appears, bringing with him the hint of something new. But who is Fludd? An angel come to shake the dwellers from their stupor, or is he the devil himself, a wanderer of the darkest places in the human heart?

When Dan, one of the farm vets, is injured in a car accident, everyone at Barleybridge Animal Hospital is shocked. Scott Spencer, back from Australia, steps in to cover for him, not guessing what secrets are about to be revealed which will turn his life upside down and amend his callous attitude to women.  Book 4 of series.

A scurrilous newspaper has built up a large following by publishing details of political and sexual scandals. It is remarkably well-informed and has therefore created a whole host of enemies. When the editor is killed and the printing press smashed to bits, the Invisible Detectives are hired by the man who financed the production of the paper. He wants the killer brought to justice and the scandal sheet revived. Peter and Paul Skillen find themselves in great danger as they unearth an enormous amount of scandal and corruption before the villains are brought to book.

In this first instalment of the Bow Street Rivals series a riot breaks out in Dartmoor prison, enabling some American inmates to escape. The twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen catch wind of a projected assassination but the target is unknown. Trouble ensues when a woman from the Home Office vanishes; a mysterious lady turns up at the archery shooting gallery; and Paul's gambling addiction worsens...

George Surridge, director of the Birmingham Zoo, is a man with many worries: his marrige is collapsing; his finances are insecure; and an outbreak of disease threatens the animals in his care.

Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog's Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate.

In the seeming tranquility of Regency Square in Cheltenham live the diverse inhabitants of its ten houses. One summer's evening, the square's rivalries and allegiances are disrupted by a sudden and unusual death - an arrow to the head, shot through an open window at no. 6.

Unfortunately for the murderer, an invitation to visit had just been sent by the crime writer Aldous Barnet, staying with his sister at no. 8, to his friend Superintendent Meredith. Three days after his arrival, Meredith finds himself investigating the shocking murder.

Six of the square's inhabitants are keen members of the Wellington Archery Club, but if Meredith and Long thought that the case was going to be easy to solve, they were wrong...

When a woman is found murdered in Langstone Harbour, DI Andy Horton is assigned to the case but not for long if Superintendent Uckfield has his way. With the clock ticking Horton is soon forced to take a decision that will put his life on the line . . .

Inspector Andy Horton's holiday peace is shattered when, stepping out across an abandoned golf course, he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand, leaning over a corpse. Horton's old adversary, DCI Birch, is convinced she is a mentally disturbed killer, but Horton is not so sure . . .

The historic city of Eborby is gripped by fear. A killer is on the prowl who binds and asphyxiates his victims before leaving their bodies in isolated churchyards. DI Joe Plantagenet believes the case may have occult connections and is forced to get into the mind of a cunning - and scarily ruthless - killer. Book 1 of series.

Singmass Close has a sinister past. In the 50s it was the hunting ground of the Doll Strangler, a ruthless killer who was never brought to justice. Now DI Joe Plantagenet wonders whether a copycat killer is at work when the strangled body of teenager Natalie Parkes is found in the same close, a mutilated doll lying by her side. Book 2 of series.

Thirteen Torland Place is a house with a disturbing past. When a student living there is found murdered, DI Joe Plantagenet wonders whether her death has anything to do with its grim history. Then other, similar deaths come to light and he fears that a ruthless serial killer is at work. Book 3 of series.

Boothgate House is a recently converted apartment building which was once an asylum for the insane known as Havenby Hall. Solicitor Melanie Hawkes is investigating Havenby Hall when her young daughter is kidnapped. DI Joe Plantagenet believes there may be a connection to the house's disturbing past. Book 4 of series.

Taking a short cut home beneath the ruined abbey, a teenage girl reports stumbling across a body. But during the subsequent search, no body is found. The police are sceptical, but Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe her. Then a woman is reported missing, and Joe finds himself caught up in a complex investigation involving a production of 'The Devils' at the local Playhouse. Could the play have something to do with the woman’s disappearance? Nothing is as it first appears...  Book 5 of series.

When the decaying body of a murdered woman is discovered in a suburban house, DI Wesley Peterson has problems establishing her true identity. But as he tries to find out more about the mysterious woman, he finds he has another more disturbing case to investigate. Book 16 of series.

DI Wesley Peterson is called in when the body of a strangled woman is found floating out to sea in a dinghy.The discovery mars the festivities of the Palkin Festival, held each year to celebrate the life of John Palkin, a fourteenth century Mayor of Tradmouth who made his fortune from trade and piracy. And now it seems like death and mystery have returned to haunt the town... Book 18 of series.

When DI Wesley Peterson is summoned to investigate a killing, he assumes that the case is a routine matter. But soon dark secrets and deadly deceptions start to emerge from the victim's past, and Wesley begins to realise that a simple incident of cold-blooded murder is altogether more calculated and complicated that he could ever imagine. Book 19 of series.

When Darren Hatman reports his daughter Leanne missing, DI Wesley Peterson isn't too concerned. Leanne works at Eyecliffe Castle, now converted into a luxury hotel. When Darren is found murdered in the grounds, Wesley suspects a connection between the recent crimes, the disappearance of two girls in the 1950s and a mysterious Sicilian ruin called the House of Eyes.  Book 20 of series.

Promising young author, Zac Wilkinson, is working on the biography of literary legend Wynn Staniland, and hopes to reveal the true story of the recluse to a waiting world. When Wilkinson is found brutally murdered, DI Wesley Peterson finds links to the unexplained poisoning of a middle-aged couple - and Staniland appears to be the connection. The case becomes personal for Wesley, and as he begins to unravel decades of secrets and deception, the shocking truth proves almost too much to bear...  Book 21 of series.

When archaeologist Neil Watson unearths a long-buried mechanical figure in a Dartmoor field, he is determined to discover the truth behind the bizarre find. Then two people are found shot dead in nearby Manor Field and DI Wesley Peterson is called in to investigate. Is there a link between the double murder and the accidental death of a young history student in Manor Field 20 years ago? And just what is the true identity of the Mechanical Devil?  Book 22 of series.

The Sykes family have lived at Fairley Terrace since their youngest daughter, Rowan, was born. Fiercely clever, Rowan finds it difficult to fit in with the other village children, so when her beloved older sister, Laurel, takes a new job and moves back home, Rowan is overjoyed.

Laurel is happy to be with her family - even if she's keeping the real reason for her return to herself. It seems like she's destined to keep repeating the mistakes of her past when it comes to matters of the heart.

The two sisters are each longing for excitement and a fresh start, and when familiar faces return to Fairley Terrace, along with an enigmatic new resident, it looks like they might get their wish. But their harmony is about to be shattered by a mysterious stranger who threatens to expose a long-kept secret - and is prepared to stop at nothing to wreak revenge on the family.

Book 5 in the Fairley Terrace series.

A note that is discovered hidden in a wall cavity of a London hotel leads Detective Inspector Harry Vicary and his team to a burial site containing the charred bones of two men. To solve the case Vicary must uncover what happened at a notorious gangland garden party – a party from which two men never returned . . .

May 1915. With thousands of Britons fighting in the trenches, a severely depleted police force remains behind to keep the Home Front safe. Scotland Yard is already overstretched when the sinking of the Lusitania sparks an unprecedented wave of anti-German riots and arson attacks.

Among the victims is the immigrant tailor Jacob Stein, found dead in his burnt-out shop. Initially Jacob's killing appears to be the tragic excess of wartime hysteria - but when it transpires that Jacob had been stabbed, his safe ransacked, and his daughter Ruth raped, the possibility that these assaults were long-premeditated crimes becomes unavoidable.

Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy must take on this case of cover-ups and contradictions and track down Jacob's killer and Ruth's assailants.

1916. As thousands of Brits are fighting on the Front Line, a new breed of women emerges to hold the Home Front together. Fiercely independent and fiery-spirited, the munitionettes, or 'canaries', are easily recognisable with their chemically-stained yellow faces. Among the raucous group of women is Florrie Duncan, who plans to celebrate her birthday in style at the Golden Goose pub. But the celebrations are cut short when all but one are killed in a brutal explosion.

In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvey Marmion and Joe Keedy are assigned the task of finding the killer who so elusively fled in the dark. Before long, two more victims, of striking similarity but differing backgrounds, are found dead around the city. Meanwhile, miles from home, Marmion's son Paul prepares for life on the front line as he marches towards the Battle of the Somme.

France, 1963. Inspector Lucas Rocco finds himself moved from the Paris metropolis to a small village. His new patch might be rural, but it's certainly not uneventful: on his first day, he finds a murdered woman wearing a Gestapo uniform lying in a British military cemetery. Before long Rocco realises he's up against a formidable enemy who will go to any lengths - even murder - to stop his investigation.

May 1940: Sergeant Jack Tanner has been posted to a training company on the southeast coast of England where the mysterious deaths of two Polish refugees lead him to believe there has been foul play. But Tanner must first deal with an enemy far more deadly than the Germans.... Book 2 of the series.

1895. Former Scotland Yard detective Daniel Wilson, made famous from his days working the Jack the Ripper case, and his archaeologist sidekick Abigail Fenton are summoned to investigate the murder of a young woman at the Manchester Museum. Though staff remember the woman as a recent and regular visitor, no one appears to know who she is, and she has no possessions which identify her. Seeking help from a local journalist, Daniel hopes to unravel this mystery, but the journey to the truth is fraught with obstacles.

His name was Will Fowler, an actor in the esteemed theatrical company called Lord Westfield's Men, a vibrant young man flushed from the success of a recent performance at the Queen's Head theatre. So exuberant was he that he persuaded the resourceful manager of the company, Nicholas Bracewell, to quaff a pint or two at a nearby pub. Alas, it was to be Will's last taste of beer. A tavern brawl left him dead - but not before he gasped for Nicholas to find his fast-fleeting, red-bearded murderer and administer a just revenge. Yet finding Will's murderer in London's dark, crowded streets was a seemingly impossible task - not to mention the fact that Lord Westfield's Men were just commanded to appear at the court of Elizabeth I - an honour one dare not refuse...

Murder turns the journey of a lifetime into a deadly nightmare The plague has struck London once again but so has opportunity for theatre company Lord Westfield's Men. Invited to perform at the wedding celebrations of Sophia Magdalena, the fair maid of Bohemia, the company's bookholder Nicholas Bracewell and his acting troupe begin the long journey across Europe. Confident they will arrive safely and deliver Lord Westfield's secret missive to an alchemist in the Imperial Court, Nicholas is unaware what danger travels with them. Treacherous seas become the least of Nicholas' worries when one of their actors is savagely killed. To make matters worse, when they finally arrive in Prague, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II proves to be an eccentric and bewildering host and Nicholas' beloved Anne Hendrik is kidnapped...

Caroline Luard is shot dead in broad daylight in the grounds of a large country estate. With few clues available, her husband soon becomes the suspect ... But is he guilty? Quick Reads.

It's mid-summer in Shetland, when the sun never sets. When a mysterious Englishman is found hanging from a rafter in a boathouse on the jetty, a clowns mask on his face, Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that this is a local murder. But at this crazy time of the year nothing is quite as it seems.  Book 2 of series.

When an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident, Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson - his own colleague, Sandy Wilson. Then there's another death and Jimmy must dig up old secrets to stop the killer from striking again...  Book 3 of series.

When a woman's body is discovered at the Fair Isles bird observatory, with feathers threaded through her hair, the islanders react with fear and anger. Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez soon realises that there's a killer on the island just waiting for the opportunity to strike again...  Book 4 of series.

It's 1985, and Jack returns for another year as head teacher at Ragley village school. It's the year of Halley's Comet, Band Aid, Trivial Pursuit and Microsoft Windows. But meanwhile Jack has to battle with some rising stars of the teaching profession to save his job and his school....