Sloan and Crosby Books
Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire C.I.D. makes his first appearance here as he looks into the murder of a nun at the Convent of St. Anselm. Apparently Sister Anne tumbled down the stairs to the basement to her death. Accidental? Upon closer examination, that didn't explain the evidence of a vicious blow to the back of her head. When Sloan delves into her background, the motives for murder multiply. First published in 1966, "The Religious Body" was Aird's first book and immediately established her as one of the leading exponents of the post-WW2 English traditional mystery.
Larking was a typical English village and, like a thousand similar villages, it also had its secrets. Inspector C.D. Sloan was soon to discover that point after the postman found the body of Grace Jenkins in the road that led to her thatched cottage. She had been murdered. But the real mystery involved Grace's daughter Henrietta. No one could really explain exactly who Henrietta was.
On a stately home public tour, mischievous boy lifts the visor from a suit of armor - and finds corpse. Inspector Sloan and inadvertent joker Constable Crosby must sort out who stashed the body and why. Key is tea served to batty great-aunts. Clues also are in ne'er-do-well nephew and attempted blackmail.
Decades ago, Germans bombed the village at Lamb Lane. But now redevelopment is under way. During the excavation, a workman finds the skeleton of a pregnant girl with a bullet lodged in her spine. The trail is definitely stone cold when C. D. Sloan takes on the case.
When Bill Fent dies in a car crash, the post mortem reveals a lethal dose of barbiturate. And the poison must have been administered by either his family or by a fri end at his dinner party. Inspector C.D. Sloan has a murderer to uncover. '
Inspector Sloan looks into a murder at the local university.
As the doctor said, it's not so important what Miss Wansdyke died from as to whom she left a quarter of a million in pounds. Inspector Sloan agrees.
Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan, called in when a Calleshire fisherman finds a body in his nets--dead, but not from drowning--follows a trail that leads to a two-hundred-year old shipwreck, a precious cargo, and another body
When a human finger, dropped by a crow, is discovered, Inspector C.D. Sloan is called in to investigate the disappearance of a financier, responsible for the attempted takeover of a local family business
Inspector C.D. Sloan investigates a bizarre case of murder involving African black magic and an accused murderess who will not talk
A clue found in the cremated ashes of a murder victim leads Detective Chief Inspector Sloan down a path of intrigue as he investigates a death at a reenactment of a famous battle and a murder in a Middle Eastern sheikdom
Inspector C.D. Sloan investigates the death of Octavia Garamond, who left behind some very unusual requests and whose past contains a long-kept, and potentially dangerous, secret, as well as the reason for her death.
Who poisoned Anna Macmillan with a deadly dose of antimony? Where are the priceless pearls that vanished during a country house weekend? What caused the temperature of a health club sauna to rise so dramatically that its sole occupant was dead within minutes? How was the code to an eminent scientist's high-tech alarm system broken on the very day it was issued? From the investigations of Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and his enthusiastic, but not very helpful, Constable Crosby in the not-so-sleepy county of Calleshire to the long lunches of civil servant Henry Tyler in the tranquil environs of London's Mordaunt Club, Catherine Aird's collection of sixteen stories takes the reader through an ingenious selection of crimes and puzzles, full of delightful literary subtleties and fascinating legal and medical twists.
When Mrs. Galloway, who suffers from heart disease, finally passes away it comes as no shock to the staff at Berebury Hospital. Abel Granger's family had also been long prepared for his death that same morning. So why then has Mrs. Galloway's son called in Detective Inspector Sloan to investigate, and why is Abel Granger's doctor so uncomfortable? The only thing that seems to link the two patients is the Cardigan Protocol, a drug trial being carried out for Gilroy's, a pharmaceutical company. This, along with the unexplained disappearance of the doctor in charge of the drug trials and the surprising break-in of the Gilroy's headquarters by a group of animal rights activists, leads D. I. Sloan to suspect that something much more sinister than coincidence is afoot.
When an old woman dies of apparently natural causes, a letter received by her son leads Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan into a disturbing investigation into possible murder in a regimental retirement home for World War II veterans.
Inspector C. D. Sloan is called in when it is discovered that a large collection of artifacts that has been left to the Calleshire museum includes a three-thousand-year-old mummy case containing an all-too-recent murder victim.
For decades, Catherine Aird’s crime novels featuring C.D. Sloan have been beloved by fans and lauded by critics for their adroit plotting, playful wit, and literate charm. With Amendment of Life , Aird delivers the lively and engrossing novel that readers have come to rely upon. Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire CID is used to the occasional oddity in his relatively quiet part of the English countryside. But lately things have taken a strange turn. First, in the center of a yew maze that is the showpiece of the Tudor-era house, Aumerle Court, a body is spotted by Miss Daphne Pedlinge, the elderly chatelaine of the Court. By the time the groundskeeper actually makes it to the center, he, too, spies the body, and it is indeed dead. Meanwhile, a few miles away, a slaughtered rabbit is left on the Bishop’s doorstep in nearby Calleford, an omen as portentous as the body in the maze. Now Inspector Sloan, with the somewhat trying personage of Constable Crosby in tow, must uncover what precisely is going on as they launch an investigation with more twists and turns than the maze itself.
Detective Chief Inspector (D.C.I.) C. D. Sloan works in the deceptively quiet town and county of Calleshire, where for many years he's endured the pressures of his demanding, unreasonable boss and the company of Constable Crosby, Sloan's all too constant but not very helpful sidekick. He's also solved a series of complex murders in Aird's long-running series long praised for it's literate wit, style and charm. In her first new novel in almost two years, Hole in One , a death occurs on the links, a death that is nearly impossible and is, quite improbably, is murder. But improbable is a Calleshire specialty and as far as D. C. I. Sloan is concerned, impossible is merely par for the course.
The dramatic theft of an 18th Century painting is discovered just moments before the old manor house uniquely depicted in the background of the portrait is set alight, coincidence? Does the reputation of the Baronet, the subject of the painting, as a hell-raiser and member of the Crustacean club have any connection to the fire?
“Aird’s delicious concoctions are never less than elegant and mischievously sharp.” —The Times (London) DCI Sloan and Constable Crosby are on the case again. A young girl has been murdered, found dead in the river. But what connection does she have to the recently deceased Josephine Short? Following the twisting trail of evidence, Sloan works to uncover the truth behind the life of Josephine Short and uncover the murderer behind a young girl’s death.
When Jack Haines reports a break-in at his greenhouse, the motive of the intruder is unclear. Other than the destruction of some expensive orchids, no damage has been done, and nothing seems to be missing. But Detectives Sloan and Crosby sense something sinister, and soon their suspicions are confirmed. Similar reports are multiplying and sabotage is the word on everyone's lips. The pair is drawn into an equally perplexing case when the mysterious Miss Enid Maude Osgathorp goes missing. Investigations begin at her deserted abode, Canonry Cottage, where the detectives soon discover that the house has been ransacked. Shattered glass is found in the larder, and traces of blood spatter are found on the floors. Something disturbing has undoubtedly taken place, but Sloan and Crosby can't figure out who did it, or why. As it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, the two detectives must work to find the missing woman, and how she connects to the greenhouse burglary, before it is too late. Dead Heading is the 23rd book in Catherine Aird's series following Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan.
Much-loved Calleshire research chemist Derek Tridgell has been ill for some time. On his deathbed, his incessant, but unintelligible mutterings culminate in a very clear cry of foul murder. Detective Inspector Sloan and Detective Constable Crosby are brought in to investigate whether these are just the ramblings of a man at death's door, or a real confession at the final hour. Their enquiries uncover three tragic deaths that may or may not be linked to the deceased's last words: an accidental drowning at a rival chemist manufacturer; an old friend of Derek's killed in a caving expedition whose body was never retrieved; Derek's son Paul walking away unscathed from a fatal car accident that killed one and left others irrevocably injured. With a tight-lipped Paul knowing more than he's letting on, Sloan and Crosby have their work cut out if they're going to untangle this complex case . . .
Five strangers are summoned to hear the last will and testament of a man they’ve never met: the late Algernon Mayton, a distant relative and inventor of Mayton’s Marvellous Mixture. However, one of them never arrives. Unable to receive their share of the fortune until the missing man has been located, they begin a search. Two months later, Detective Sloan is called in to help after one of the group dies of poisoning. Is this a simple case of accidental ingestion of a noxious substance, or is this the start of the legatees being picked off one by one? Sloan and Crosby quickly discover where matters of money, family rivalry and a missing person are involved, there is almost certainly foul play afoot.
When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconds with their printing firm's money, Detective Inspector Sloan is tasked with what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement. However, unsettling events - tyres slashed, bricks through windows - make it clear that someone is really gunning for Mike. There is just one print job to put to bed in time for a lavish launch party at Ornum House. All goes according to plan until one of Mike's employees is found dead . And he wasn't the only casualty. DI Sloan and DC Crosby have a tangled set of motives and some devious chicanery to unpick to discover a killer.