Ishmael Jones Books

ISHMAEL JONES IS ON THE CASE. Paranormal private detective Ishmael Jones is invited to his employer's country house for Christmas just in time to become embroiled in a locked-room mystery with a supernatural twist. CALL HIM ISHMAEL . . . Ishmael Jones. He's used to keeping a low profile, living under the radar and on the dark side of the road. He makes his living solving mysteries and uncovering dark secrets some would prefer to stay hidden. But when he's invited by his employer—a man known only as "The Colonel"—to spend Christmas at the Colonel's sprawling country house, Ishmael Jones decides to come in from the dark for some holiday cheer. Jones arrives at the remote Belancourt Manor in the midst of a blizzard only to discover that the Colonel has gone missing. It soon becomes clear that the guests are harboring dark secrets—and that it will be up to Ishmael Jones to stop a savage killer. A locked-room, country house mystery with a supernatural twist as only Simon R. Green could write it. Praise for The Dark Side of the Road : “[A] brisk, breezy first in a new mystery series . . . With convincing supernatural twists [and] witty chapter titles . . . readers will be anxious for a sequel.” — Publishers Weekly “Genre-blending author Green introduces another wisecracking protagonist, Ishmael Jones . . . Fans of the British TV series Torchwood will enjoy the irreverent, otherworldly protagonist.” — Booklist “A new book from Green is always a treat for SF and urban fantasy fans, because they know that in his fictional worlds things are never quite what they seem until it’s too late. His first foray into more traditional crime fiction (albeit with an otherworldy flavor) will delight mystery readers, especially those who relish a bit of genre blending.” — Library Journal “Pure horrific fun.” —Audio File Magazine “Without a doubt, this is one of the best books the author has ever penned down.” —The Gatehouse “I really enjoyed the book. If anything it was over too soon. The author captures the English Country Manor Murder Mystery feel very well, as he sets up pretty much everybody as a suspect . . . I look forward to finding out more in future volumes.” —British Fantasy Society “The first book in the Ishmael Jones’ series had a great set of mysteries that left you dying to know what was going on.” —Creature From The Book Lagoon Praise for Jekyll & Hyde Inc. : “This book is hard to put down. It is exciting from start to finish, with thrills and monsters waiting behind every dark corner.” —San Francisco Book Review “Green transforms Robert Lewis Stevenson’s classic horror novel into the launch pad for an exciting adventure. He takes readers through a romp involving multiple horror classics, updated to the twenty-first century in an amusing and entertaining read.” —Ricochet “There’s something about Green’s dark humor that sucks me into many of his books. And, as violent and gory as this book is, it’s really about a good man striving to stay good in the worst circumstances.” —Lesa's Book Critiques “It has all the grim and all the dark of many of the author’s previous series.” —Reading Reality Praise for the Deathstalker series: “Green moves his plot at top speed, and his characters are alive and his background solid.” —Asimov's SF Magazine “A huge SF novel of sweeping scope, told with a strong sense of legend… some old-fashioned heroes and a theme of honor — and for the most part, it works.” —Locus “Green writes great space opera, with blasters and swords and heroes that kick butt around the galaxy.” —SF Site “An over-the-top masterpiece that veers between brutal comedy and touching riffs on love, loyalty and betrayal . . . bloody funny and extremely bloody.” —The Guardian “One of the few writers still using the galactic empire as a theme, and he does it to good effect. At times the stories have some of the feel of a fantasy epic, but they’re undeniably sf, rip roaring space operas with dastardly villains, exciting battles, nefarious plots, and strong willed heroes. Take this as an antidote after one too many serious and relevant stories about the human condition.” —Science Fiction Chronicle “A great facility with action scenes [and] dialogue . . . Terrific new characters.” —SFX Magazine “I would recommend this book if you like your plots sweeping, your characters big and your stories bold.” —SFcrowsnest “Space opera at its action best. The novel is populated with heroic figures reminiscent of Lancelot and Arthur and villains that make Darth Vader seem like a nice person . . . Once again, Simon R. Green has written a work that will appeal to Star War fans.” —Midwest Book Review “Space opera at its finest . . . The motley band of rebels plays off each other with the sharp wit and endearing affection found in the best buddy comedies, and Lewis, with his wry humor, is an engaging galactic Indiana Jones.” —RT Book Reviews “Space opera on a grand scale done with great talent and a sense of adventure.” —Science Fiction Chronicle “A guaranteed blood-and-thunder romp, shot-through with broad swathes of fashion parody, a sustained piss-take on ‘lives of the Rich and Famous’ and the occasional lance of satire. This last is refreshing stuff. It’s mostly aimed at Dictatorship, Fascism, Established Religion, the Toadying Media and so-forth–and it’s nice to find an author who knows that laughter is the most destructive weapon to aim at a repressive establishment. In short, very violent, very funny, very good.” —Infinity Plus “Action, characterization, and ethical dilemmas all balanced and mingled in a way to keep readers turning pages.” — Booklist “Green’s ingenuity and sarcastic prose style keep readers from getting grossed out by the bloodshed or bored by tired space opera theatrics.” — Publishers Weekly “An epic crescendo in this final installment. Green uses every trick in his extensive repertoire in constructing this ultimate Deathstalker adventure. Highly recommended.” —SFRevu Praise for Simon R. Green: “Simon R. Green is a great favorite of mine. It’s almost impossible to find a writer with a more fertile imagination than Simon. He’s a writer who seems endlessly inventive.” —Charlaine Harris “A macabre and thoroughly entertaining world.” —Jim Butcher on the Nightside series “Nobody delivers sharp, crackling dialogue better than Green, and no one whisks readers away to more terrifying adventures or more bewildering locales.” —Black Gate Magazine “As quintessentially British as fish and chips!” —SF Site “Simon R Green is one hell of a consistent writer—if you like your Fantasy /SF served with lashings of pulp mayhem, dollops of snarky characters and big piles of extreme gore, violence and horror. Mmm tasty.” —Fantasy Book Review UK “Simon R. Green is one of my all-time favorite writers and I haven’t read a book of his that I haven’t devoured. I hope he has many more years of writing left in him and suggest that if you need a fix, pick up his Ishmael Jones books.” —Crooked Reviews “A splendid riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, conveyed with trademark wisecracking humor, and carried out with maximum bloodshed and mayhem. In a word, irresistible.” — Kirkus on Night Fall, starred review “[F]or those who want a fantasy-genre mash-up that doesn’t slow down.” —Booklist on From a Drood to a Kill

“Call me Ishmael. Ishmael Jones. I am the man in the shadows, that even the shadows are afraid of. The secret agent whose life is the greatest secret of all. And some of the cases I work are trickier than others.” A rogue agent has come in from the cold and wants to spill his secrets. The Organisation wants Ishmael to find out if Frank Parker is who he says he is, what he really knows, and why he has emerged from the shadows after all this time. Ishmael heads to Ringstone Lodge in Yorkshire where Parker is being held to find that an atmosphere of fear and suspicion prevails. As he and his fellow residents are menaced by a series of alarming and inexplicable incidents, Ishmael sets out to prove that it’s human trickery rather than any supernatural being behind the seemingly ghostly goings-on. But matters take an unexpected turn when one of their number is brutally murdered, and once again Ishmael must turn detective in order to entrap a twisted killer before they strike again.

Ishmael Jones travels to the Scottish Highlands on a mysterious dual mission in this intriguing, genre-blending mystery. The Organisation has despatched Ishmael and his partner Penny to Coronach House on the shores of Loch Ness where the secretive but highly influential Baphamet Group are holding their annual meeting. The Organisation believes an imposter has infiltrated the Group and they have instructed Ishmael to root him – or her – out. It’s not Ishmael’s only mission. The first agent sent by the Organisation has been found dead in her room, murdered in a horribly gruesome manner. Ishmael must also discover who killed his fellow agent, Jennifer Rifkin – and why. Dismissive of rumours that the legendary ‘Coronach Creature’ is behind Jennifer’s death, Ishmael sets out to expose the human killer in their midst. But he must act fast – before any more Very Important People are killed.

Ishmael Jones is faced with a dead body and a missing mummy in this highly entertaining, genre-blending mystery. Death shall come on swift wings to whoever desecrates this tomb … Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny have been summoned to remote Cardavan House, home of the world’s largest private collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts, for the unveiling of George Cardavan’s latest acquisition: a bone fide Egyptian mummy. When a bloodstained body is discovered beside the empty sarcophagus, Ishmael is dismissive of the theory that the mummy’s curse is to blame. Instead he sets out to uncover the human killer responsible. But how can Ishmael explain the strange, shuffling footsteps that creep along the corridors? Who is playing games with them … and why?

Dinner at an ancient Cornish inn leads to one baffling disappearance after another in the latest intriguing Ishmael Jones mystery. “It’s just a nice weekend, in a nice country inn. Nothing bad is going to happen …” Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are attending the re-opening of Tyrone’s Castle, an ancient Cornish inn originally built by smugglers. Over dinner that night, the guests entertain one another with ghost stories inspired by local legends and superstitions. But it would appear that the curse of Tyrone’s Castle has struck for real when one of their number disappears into thin air. And then another . . . Is the inn really subject to an ancient curse? Skeptical of ghost stories, Ishmael believes the key to the mystery lies in the present rather than the past. But with no bodies, no evidence and no clues to go on, how can he prove it?

The sudden appearance of a sinister black hole in the English countryside leads to a baffling murder investigation for Ishmael Jones. “The past is England’s dreaming, and not all of it sleeps soundly …” Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny have been despatched to assist a group of scientists who are investigating a mysterious black hole which has appeared on a Somerset hillside. Could it really be a doorway to another dimension, an opening into another world? When one of the scientists disappears into the hole – with fatal consequences – Ishmael must prove whether it was an accident – or murder. But with no clues, no witnesses and no apparent motive, he has little to go on. Is there an alien predator at large, or is an all-too-human killer responsible? Only one thing is certain: if Ishmael does not uncover the truth in time, more deaths will follow …

A wedding. A murder. A 200-year-old curse: Ishmael Jones is plunged into a baffling investigation when he answers an old friend’s call for help. Although he hasn’t seen Robert Bergin for 40 years, Ishmael feels duty bound to respond when his old friend calls for help. Robert’s daughter Gillian is about to be married, and he is afraid she’ll fall prey to the ancient family curse. Arriving in rural Yorkshire, Ishmael and his partner Penny learn that the vicar who was to perform the ceremony has been found dead in the church, hanging from his own bell rope. With no clues, no evidence and no known motive, many locals believe the curse is responsible. Or is someone just using it as a smokescreen for murder? With the wedding due to take place the following day, Ishmael has just a few hours to uncover the truth. But his investigations are hampered by sudden flashes of memory: memories of the time before he was human. What is it Ishmael’s former self is trying to tell him … ?

When a body is discovered in a locked toilet cubicle on the late-night train to Bath, Ishmael Jones is faced with his most puzzling case to date. When Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are asked to escort a VIP on the late-night train to Bath, it would appear to be a routine case. The Organisation has acquired intelligence that an attempt is to be made on Sir Dennis Gregson’s life as he travels to Bath to take up his new position as Head of the British Psychic Weapons Division. Ishmael’s mission is to ensure that Sir Dennis arrives safely. How could anyone orchestrate a murder in a crowded railway carriage without being noticed and with no obvious means of escape? When a body is discovered in a locked toilet cubicle, Ishmael Jones has just 56 minutes to solve a seemingly impossible crime before the train reaches its destination.

Ishmael Jones investigates a haunted house . . . but is haunted by his own past in the latest of this quirky paranormal mystery series. "That house is a bad place. Bad things happen there . . ." Set high on top of Widows Hill, Harrow House has remained empty for years. Now, on behalf of an anonymous prospective buyer, Ishmael and Penny are spending a night there in order to investigate the rumours of strange lights, mysterious voices, unexplained disappearances, and establish whether the house is really haunted. What really happened at Harrow House all those years ago? Joined by a celebrity psychic, a professional ghost-hunter, a local historian and a newspaper reporter, it becomes clear that each member of 'Team Ghost' has their own pet theory as to the cause of the alleged haunting. But when one of the group suddenly drops dead with no obvious cause, Ishmael realizes that if he can find out how and why the victim died, he will have the key to solving the mystery.

Returning to the small town where he crash-landed in 1963, Ishmael Jones is in search of answers. But his investigation is de-railed by a brutal murder. “I think something very bad and very dangerous has come to your little town, Inspector . . .” As long-buried memories from his hidden past begin to resurface, Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny feel compelled to return to the small country town where Ishmael crash-landed in 1963; the place where his memories began. Norton Hedley is no ordinary town. Apparitions, sudden disappearances, sightings of unusual beasts: for centuries, the place has been plagued by a series of inexplicable events. Ishmael’s first task is to track down local author Vincent Smith, the one man he believes may have some answers. Ishmael and Penny aren’t the only ones seeking the mysterious Mr Smith. When their search unearths a newly-dead body in the local mortuary – a body that’s definitely not supposed to be there – Ishmael becomes the prime suspect in the ensuing murder investigation. His only hope of discovering the truth about his origins lies in exposing a ruthless killer.

NEW ISHMAEL JONES NOVEL FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING URBAN FANTASY NOVELIST SIMON R. GREEN. SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE ISHMAEL JONES IS BACK IN THIS LATEST INSTALLMENT OF GREEN'S POPULAR SERIES. Ishmael Jones knows all there is to know about solving mysteries. Together with his love and partner in crimes, Penny Belcourt, he specializes in cases of the weird and uncanny. Lucas Carr went to Glenbury Hall, an old country manor house turned hotel. He signed in at reception, took his key, and went upstairs to his room. But he never got there. Somehow he vanished along the way, with not a single clue to suggest what might have happened to him. Lucas belonged to the same mysterious organization that employs Ishmael and Penny, so they are sent in to solve the mystery. But when they arrive at grim and isolated Glenbury Hall, they discover it has a reputation as one of the most haunted old houses in England. None of the usual headless monks or walled-up nuns—just stories of lost souls that dance with the statues in the grounds; doors that won’t stay shut, and rooms that aren’t always there; and something that prowls the house in the early hours, endlessly searching. They say . . . it crawls. Does Lucas’ disappearance have something to do with the organization or the Hall’s haunted past? Ishmael and Penny have to work their way through a series of mysterious clues and misleading suspects, uncovering secret after secret, before they finally arrive at a truth that no one suspected. The problem with history is that it’s not always content to stay in the past. Praise for Haunted by the Past : “The 11th book in Green’s fantastical mystery series pokes fun at the genre, with fun and plenty of cathartic resolution for readers who like rueful chuckles with their chills. Recommended for those who like antiheroes with more than a bit of snark.” — Library Journal Praise for the Ishmael Jones series: “[A] brisk, breezy mystery series . . . With convincing supernatural twists [and] witty chapter titles . . . readers will be anxious for sequels.” — Publishers Weekly “A new book from Green is always a treat for SF and urban fantasy fans, because they know that in his fictional worlds things are never quite what they seem until it’s too late. His first foray into more traditional crime fiction (albeit with an otherworldy flavor) will delight mystery readers, especially those who relish a bit of genre blending.” — Library Journal “Without a doubt, this is one of the best books the author has ever penned down.” — The Gatehouse “I really enjoyed the book. If anything it was over too soon. The author captures the English Country Manor Murder Mystery feel very well, as he sets up pretty much everybody as a suspect . . . I look forward to finding out more in future volumes.” —British Fantasy Society “Ishmael is a wonderful character, an extraterrestrial living among humans, and the series (this is the third installment) is a clever mixture of thriller and SF-horror genres. Green is best known for the Deathstalker space operas, but give this one a few more installments to develop, and it could well become Green’s masterwork.” — Booklist , starred review “Lovers of high-quality fantasy and science fiction should make it a point to seek this guy out, if they haven’t already.” — Booklist “This relatively new series is a wonderful balance of murder mystery and urban fantasy with a sci-fi twist . . . If you enjoyed Green’s previous books or if you are looking for a classic mystery with a modern twist, this is the series for you!” —That’s What I’m Talking About “Ishmael Jones is one of the most underrated series’ ever and I haven’t found one book in the series yet to disappoint . . . I can’t recommend this book and this whole series enough!” —Tiny Book Reviews Praise for Jekyll & Hyde Inc. : “This book is hard to put down. It is exciting from start to finish, with thrills and monsters waiting behind every dark corner.” — San Francisco Book Review “Green transforms Robert Lewis Stevenson’s classic horror novel into the launch pad for an exciting adventure. He takes readers through a romp involving multiple horror classics, updated to the twenty-first century in an amusing and entertaining read.” —Ricochet “There’s something about Green’s dark humor that sucks me into many of his books. And, as violent and gory as this book is, it’s really about a good man striving to stay good in the worst circumstances.” —Lesa's Book Critiques “It has all the grim and all the dark of many of the author’s previous series.” —Reading Reality Praise for the Deathstalkers series: “Green moves his plot at top speed, and his characters are alive and his background solid.” — Asimov's SF Magazine “An over-the-top masterpiece that veers between brutal comedy and touching riffs on love, loyalty and betrayal . . . bloody funny and extremely bloody.” —The Guardian “Space opera at its action best. The novel is populated with heroic figures reminiscent of Lancelot and Arthur and villains that make Darth Vader seem like a nice person . . . Once again, Simon R. Green has written a work that will appeal to Star War fans.” — Midwest Book Review “A guaranteed blood-and-thunder romp, shot-through with broad swathes of fashion parody, a sustained piss-take on ‘lives of the Rich and Famous’ and the occasional lance of satire. This last is refreshing stuff. It’s mostly aimed at Dictatorship, Fascism, Established Religion, the Toadying Media and so-forth—and it’s nice to find an author who knows that laughter is the most destructive weapon to aim at a repressive establishment. In short, very violent, very funny, very good.” —Infinity Plus Praise for Simon R. Green: “Simon R. Green is a great favorite of mine. It’s almost impossible to find a writer with a more fertile imagination than Simon. He’s a writer who seems endlessly inventive.” —Charlaine Harris “A macabre and thoroughly entertaining world.” —Jim Butcher, on the Nightside series “Nobody delivers sharp, crackling dialogue better than Green, and no one whisks readers away to more terrifying adventures or more bewildering locales.” — Black Gate Magazine “As quintessentially British as fish and chips!” —SF Site “Simon R Green is one hell of a consistent writer—if you like your Fantasy/SF served with lashings of pulp mayhem, dollops of snarky characters and big piles of extreme gore, violence and horror. Mmm tasty.” —Fantasy Book Review UK “Simon R. Green is one of my all-time favorite writers and I haven’t read a book of his that I haven’t devoured. I hope he has many more years of writing left in him and suggest that if you need a fix, pick up his Ishmael Jones books.” —Crooked Reviews “A splendid riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, conveyed with trademark wisecracking humor, and carried out with maximum bloodshed and mayhem. In a word, irresistible.” — Kirkus on Night Fall, starred review “[F]or those who want a fantasy-genre mash-up that doesn’t slow down.” — Booklist on From a Drood to a Kill