Home Front Detective Series Collection 1-11 - Edward Marston

Category: Adults, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Language: EnglishKeywords: Detective and Mystery Stories World War I British Homefront
Written by Edward Marston
Read by Ryan Bateman
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 48 Kbps
Unabridged
Ebooks included.
The “Home Front Detective” series of historical mystery novels. The series stars Inspector Harvey Marmion, who is usually partnered with Sergeant Keedy on his cases, with the books being set around 1915, 1916, and 1917. World War I features prominently in some fashion in these books.
“A Bespoke Murder” is the first novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2011. May of 1915. While zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the Lusitania’s sinking, anti-German hysteria reaches a fever pitch and there is a surge on attacks against German immigrants. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein’s bespoke tailoring business comes under a brutal attack, leaving his daughter (Ruth) raped, Jacob himself dead, and his safe ransacked.
Inspector Marmion is detailed to the case and he faces quite the uphill struggle to track down the perpetrators, even up to the chaos of the Front Line. However was the murder exactly as opportunistic as it first seemed, or did somebody with a deadly grudge plan this attack?
Once more Edward has created a credible atmosphere inside of an intriguing story.
“An Instrument of Slaughter” is the second novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2012. January of 1916. The second novel features a young conscientious objector, named Cyril Ablatt, who is refusing to join the army. After he makes a rousing speech at this mass meeting, he gets bludgeoned to death.
Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy get assigned the case. The crime arouses very little public sympathy and Ablatt’s buddies fear that they are also in danger. When there is another murderous attack in the exact same part of London, the press is harshly critical of Scotland Yard.
Marmion’s not convinced that both attacks of the same person. Nor does he believe Ablatt was the saint described by his friends and family.
Brimming with tenderness, heroism, suspense and chicanery, as it crisply evokes a vivid picture of this era.
“Five Dead Canaries” is the third novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2013. 1916. While thousands of Brits are out fighting on the Front Line, there’s a new breed of woman that emerges to hold the Home Front together. Fiery spirited and fiercely independent, the munitionettes, or ‘canaries’, are easily recognizable with their chemically stained yellow faces.
Among the raucous group of women is Florrie Duncan, who’s planning on celebrating her birthday in style at the Golden Goose pub. However the celebrations get cut short when all but one of them, a pretty young Irish girl named Maureen Quinn, are murdered in a brutal explosion.
Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy take the investigation over and it leads them into a series of unforeseen dangers.
“Deeds of Darkness” is the fourth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2014. This fourth installment of the series confronts Sergeant Joe Keedy and Inspector Harvey Marmion with a case that tests every single one of their abilities.
June, 1916. A young woman is strangled to death in a cinema during a Charlie Chaplin film. It is revealed that her husband is away in the army. The detectives wonder why the killer would risk committing a murder in a public place such as this. They make slow progress at first and then the crime gets pushed off of the front pages of the papers by the beginning of the battle of the Somme.
Marmion, because his son’s involved, has got a special interest in some events in France however his attention is soon brought back to London when another murder occurs. One young art student is discovered dead in a public park and there are some clear indications that she is the victim of the exact same killer. So where will he strike next?
“Dance of Death” is the fifth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2015. Marmion and Keedy are confronted with their most baffling case.
Simon Wilder, in the small hours of the morning, slips out of some house and walks jauntily toward his own home. It takes him just a few seconds to realize that there’s a Zeppelin raid happening and that several people have come out of their houses in order to look up at the sky. Wilder, hearing the drone overhead, looks upward. When this Zeppelin bursts into flame suddenly, having been shot down by a British plane, there’s this concerted cheer from people that then break into patriotic song. Except Wilder is not able to join in because he’s just been stabbed to death.
Marmion and Keedy get assigned the case, and learn that Wilder was this brilliant dancer that ran a well-attended Dance Studio. Women formed the majority of those that had private lessons from the guy, making jealous husbands potential suspects. There are many others. Seems Wilder had this knack for creating enemies. The detectives must trawl through a giant number of them, and face grave danger in the process, before they’re able to start tracking the killer down, and they’re hampered at each stage by severe friction on the domestic front. This dance of death proves to be a hazardous one.
“The Enemy Within” is the sixth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2016. Pentonville Prison. Wally Hubbard is serving a rather long sentence for committing arson. However after he befriended and tricked one officer, he makes his audacious escape. Inspector Marmion, the detective that originally arrested Hubbard, has been warned to watch his back, however it seems that Hubbard has got another target in his murderous sights.
But the investigation is mired in confusion, as the identities of victim and killer become increasingly ambiguous. One inmate at this internment camp that may be a spy sending out intelligence to the Germans just complicates matters even further, and the multiplying manhunts, along with Marmion’s concerns for Paul (his withdrawn and injured son), leave this detective desperate and possibly with too many threads to untangle.
1. “A Bespoke Murder”
May 1915. As zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German hysteria reaches fever pitch and attacks on German immigrants surge. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein’s bespoke tailoring business comes under brutal attack, leaving his safe ransacked, his daughter, Ruth, raped and Jacob dead.
Inspector Harvey Marmion is detailed to the case and faces an uphill struggle to track down the perpetrators, even up to the chaos of the Front Line. But was the murder as opportunistic as it first appears, or did someone with a deadly grudge plan the attack?
2. “Deeds of Darkness”
January 1916. Britain is on the brink of enforcing conscription. Eligible young men who have not yet signed up to fight are despised as ‘conchies’ and ’shirkers’, subjected to hatred and verbal abuse. Cyril Ablatt, leader of Shoreditch’s group of conscientious objectors, makes a rousing speech at a meeting of the No-Conscription Fellowship, refusing to be ‘an instrument of slaughter in a khaki uniform’.
When Cyril is brutally bludgeoned to death, Scotland Yard detectives Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are assigned to the case. As the pair build up a portrait of Cyril, they unearth an intriguing private life behind the man’s saintly facade. It soon becomes clear there are plenty of suspicious characters with motives for the killing.
Meanwhile, public sympathy is lukewarm. Some people even claim that a conchie deserves to die if he won’t fight for King and Country. And in the wake of the murder, three close friends of Ablatt fear that they may also be under threat. Marmion and
Keedy will have to work fast to find the killer before any more deaths occur . . .
3. “Dance of Death”
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.
4. “Instrument of Slaughter”
In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvery 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.
5. “Dance of Death”
London, Autumn 1916. When he slips out of a house in the early hours of the morning, Simon Wilder is too preoccupied to realise that he is being stalked. As he walks along the street, lights begin to dim as a warning that there’s another Zeppelin attack. Guns begin to pound away as British aeroplanes attack the Zeppelin. Suddenly, it bursts into flame and lights up the whole sky. The crowds cheer as the great fireball drops slowly down and crashes in a field but the one person unable to watch is Simon Wilder. While he is staring up at the sky, he is stabbed to death and left in an alleyway. It will prove to be a very puzzling case for Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy…
6. “The Enemy Within”
Pentonville Prison. Wally Hubbard is serving a long sentence for arson. But after befriending and tricking one of the officers, Hubbard makes an audacious escape. Inspector Marmion, the detective who arrested Hubbard, is warned to watch his back, but it seems that Hubbard has another target in his murderous sights.
However, the investigation is mired in confusion, the identities of killer and victim become increasingly ambiguous. An inmate at an internment camp who might be a spy sending intelligence to the Germans complicates matters further, and the multiplying manhunts, as well as Marmion’s concern for his injured and withdrawn son Paul, leave the detective desperate and perhaps with too many threads to untangle.
7. “Under Attack”
June, 1917. While German Gotha bombers raid London from above, a man’s body is fished from the Thames below. The man had been garrotted and his tongue cut out before he was left to his watery grave, and as the killer has taken care to remove identifying items and even labels, Detective Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy struggle to name the victim before they can begin properly with their investigation.
As family and business associates are found, the list of suspects grows ever longer, and as Marmion wrangles with the case, he and his family must also contend with their anxieties for his now-missing son Paul. The interminable presence of war and, closer to home, pitched battles in the East End between rival adolescent gangs, suggest the Home Front is more insecure than ever before. With great care, Marmion must pick his way along a twisting path that will lead him towards the killer.
8. “The Unseen Hand”
1917. The Lotus Hotel offers sanctuary for its exclusively female clientele, attracting the cream of London’s society. But a dead body found in one of its rooms is hardly good for business, and when it is discovered that the woman was neither a guest nor a member of staff, the Lotus’s reputation as a safe haven is cast in doubt.
Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are dispatched to look into the events at the hotel and soon suspect foul play. Tangling with a forgetful widower, a wily competitor and the haughty hotel owner, the pair will have to delve into the past to solve this crime in the present.
9. “Orders to Kill”
December 1917. Ada Hobbes arrives on a frosty morning to clean the house owned by Dr Tindall, a surgeon at the Edmonton Military Hospital. She is shocked to find the blood-covered body of her employer sprawled across the floor. He has been hacked to death.
Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy arrive to a horrific scene. Someone enjoyed killing him, without a doubt. Their investigation takes them far out of London and on the trail of a very different Dr Tindall, one who was not the respectable local doctor everyone thought he was. Marmion and Keedy will need to sift through a number of likely suspects to find the killer behind this gruesome murder.
10. “Danger of Defeat”
London, February 1918. A burglary in Limehouse in the small hours of the morning has escalated into a sinister siege between a band of thieves and the authorities, and a police constable lies dead. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hasten to the scene where attempts at talking the men into surrendering have been met with stony silence. When the door is eventually battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. Then a gunshot is heard: Keedy has been hit.
While his partner is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the burglars. Keedy, however, remains in the sights of the murderous thieves and the clock is ticking as Marmion delves into the secrets that lie behind this fatal incident…
11. “Spring Offensive”
London, March 1918. British newspapers carry the dire news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Against this sombre backdrop, further mayhem strikes in the capital when a fire provides the diversion needed for an audacious bank robbery which leaves a police officer dead in its wake.
For Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion, the investigation has a personal connection. However, the task of bringing the culprits to justice will be an uphill battle without Detective Sergeant Keedy, who is anxious to be released from hospital, at his side. And nothing in this case is quite what it seems.
Written by Edward Marston Read by Ryan Bateman Format: MP3 Bitrate: 48 Kbps Unabridged
Ebooks included.
The “Home Front Detective” series of historical mystery novels. The series stars Inspector Harvey Marmion, who is usually partnered with Sergeant Keedy on his cases, with the books being set around 1915, 1916, and 1917. World War I features prominently in some fashion in these books.
“A Bespoke Murder” is the first novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2011. May of 1915. While zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the Lusitania’s sinking, anti-German hysteria reaches a fever pitch and there is a surge on attacks against German immigrants. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein’s bespoke tailoring business comes under a brutal attack, leaving his daughter (Ruth) raped, Jacob himself dead, and his safe ransacked.
Inspector Marmion is detailed to the case and he faces quite the uphill struggle to track down the perpetrators, even up to the chaos of the Front Line. However was the murder exactly as opportunistic as it first seemed, or did somebody with a deadly grudge plan this attack?
Once more Edward has created a credible atmosphere inside of an intriguing story.
“An Instrument of Slaughter” is the second novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2012. January of 1916. The second novel features a young conscientious objector, named Cyril Ablatt, who is refusing to join the army. After he makes a rousing speech at this mass meeting, he gets bludgeoned to death.
Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy get assigned the case. The crime arouses very little public sympathy and Ablatt’s buddies fear that they are also in danger. When there is another murderous attack in the exact same part of London, the press is harshly critical of Scotland Yard.
Marmion’s not convinced that both attacks of the same person. Nor does he believe Ablatt was the saint described by his friends and family.
Brimming with tenderness, heroism, suspense and chicanery, as it crisply evokes a vivid picture of this era.
“Five Dead Canaries” is the third novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2013. 1916. While thousands of Brits are out fighting on the Front Line, there’s a new breed of woman that emerges to hold the Home Front together. Fiery spirited and fiercely independent, the munitionettes, or ‘canaries’, are easily recognizable with their chemically stained yellow faces.
Among the raucous group of women is Florrie Duncan, who’s planning on celebrating her birthday in style at the Golden Goose pub. However the celebrations get cut short when all but one of them, a pretty young Irish girl named Maureen Quinn, are murdered in a brutal explosion.
Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy take the investigation over and it leads them into a series of unforeseen dangers.
“Deeds of Darkness” is the fourth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2014. This fourth installment of the series confronts Sergeant Joe Keedy and Inspector Harvey Marmion with a case that tests every single one of their abilities.
June, 1916. A young woman is strangled to death in a cinema during a Charlie Chaplin film. It is revealed that her husband is away in the army. The detectives wonder why the killer would risk committing a murder in a public place such as this. They make slow progress at first and then the crime gets pushed off of the front pages of the papers by the beginning of the battle of the Somme.
Marmion, because his son’s involved, has got a special interest in some events in France however his attention is soon brought back to London when another murder occurs. One young art student is discovered dead in a public park and there are some clear indications that she is the victim of the exact same killer. So where will he strike next?
“Dance of Death” is the fifth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2015. Marmion and Keedy are confronted with their most baffling case.
Simon Wilder, in the small hours of the morning, slips out of some house and walks jauntily toward his own home. It takes him just a few seconds to realize that there’s a Zeppelin raid happening and that several people have come out of their houses in order to look up at the sky. Wilder, hearing the drone overhead, looks upward. When this Zeppelin bursts into flame suddenly, having been shot down by a British plane, there’s this concerted cheer from people that then break into patriotic song. Except Wilder is not able to join in because he’s just been stabbed to death.
Marmion and Keedy get assigned the case, and learn that Wilder was this brilliant dancer that ran a well-attended Dance Studio. Women formed the majority of those that had private lessons from the guy, making jealous husbands potential suspects. There are many others. Seems Wilder had this knack for creating enemies. The detectives must trawl through a giant number of them, and face grave danger in the process, before they’re able to start tracking the killer down, and they’re hampered at each stage by severe friction on the domestic front. This dance of death proves to be a hazardous one.
“The Enemy Within” is the sixth novel in the “Home Front Detective” series and was released in 2016. Pentonville Prison. Wally Hubbard is serving a rather long sentence for committing arson. However after he befriended and tricked one officer, he makes his audacious escape. Inspector Marmion, the detective that originally arrested Hubbard, has been warned to watch his back, however it seems that Hubbard has got another target in his murderous sights.
But the investigation is mired in confusion, as the identities of victim and killer become increasingly ambiguous. One inmate at this internment camp that may be a spy sending out intelligence to the Germans just complicates matters even further, and the multiplying manhunts, along with Marmion’s concerns for Paul (his withdrawn and injured son), leave this detective desperate and possibly with too many threads to untangle. 1. “A Bespoke Murder” May 1915. As zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German hysteria reaches fever pitch and attacks on German immigrants surge. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein’s bespoke tailoring business comes under brutal attack, leaving his safe ransacked, his daughter, Ruth, raped and Jacob dead. Inspector Harvey Marmion is detailed to the case and faces an uphill struggle to track down the perpetrators, even up to the chaos of the Front Line. But was the murder as opportunistic as it first appears, or did someone with a deadly grudge plan the attack?
2. “Deeds of Darkness” January 1916. Britain is on the brink of enforcing conscription. Eligible young men who have not yet signed up to fight are despised as ‘conchies’ and ’shirkers’, subjected to hatred and verbal abuse. Cyril Ablatt, leader of Shoreditch’s group of conscientious objectors, makes a rousing speech at a meeting of the No-Conscription Fellowship, refusing to be ‘an instrument of slaughter in a khaki uniform’. When Cyril is brutally bludgeoned to death, Scotland Yard detectives Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are assigned to the case. As the pair build up a portrait of Cyril, they unearth an intriguing private life behind the man’s saintly facade. It soon becomes clear there are plenty of suspicious characters with motives for the killing. Meanwhile, public sympathy is lukewarm. Some people even claim that a conchie deserves to die if he won’t fight for King and Country. And in the wake of the murder, three close friends of Ablatt fear that they may also be under threat. Marmion and Keedy will have to work fast to find the killer before any more deaths occur . . .
3. “Dance of Death” 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.
4. “Instrument of Slaughter” In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvery 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.
5. “Dance of Death” London, Autumn 1916. When he slips out of a house in the early hours of the morning, Simon Wilder is too preoccupied to realise that he is being stalked. As he walks along the street, lights begin to dim as a warning that there’s another Zeppelin attack. Guns begin to pound away as British aeroplanes attack the Zeppelin. Suddenly, it bursts into flame and lights up the whole sky. The crowds cheer as the great fireball drops slowly down and crashes in a field but the one person unable to watch is Simon Wilder. While he is staring up at the sky, he is stabbed to death and left in an alleyway. It will prove to be a very puzzling case for Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy…
6. “The Enemy Within” Pentonville Prison. Wally Hubbard is serving a long sentence for arson. But after befriending and tricking one of the officers, Hubbard makes an audacious escape. Inspector Marmion, the detective who arrested Hubbard, is warned to watch his back, but it seems that Hubbard has another target in his murderous sights. However, the investigation is mired in confusion, the identities of killer and victim become increasingly ambiguous. An inmate at an internment camp who might be a spy sending intelligence to the Germans complicates matters further, and the multiplying manhunts, as well as Marmion’s concern for his injured and withdrawn son Paul, leave the detective desperate and perhaps with too many threads to untangle.
7. “Under Attack” June, 1917. While German Gotha bombers raid London from above, a man’s body is fished from the Thames below. The man had been garrotted and his tongue cut out before he was left to his watery grave, and as the killer has taken care to remove identifying items and even labels, Detective Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy struggle to name the victim before they can begin properly with their investigation. As family and business associates are found, the list of suspects grows ever longer, and as Marmion wrangles with the case, he and his family must also contend with their anxieties for his now-missing son Paul. The interminable presence of war and, closer to home, pitched battles in the East End between rival adolescent gangs, suggest the Home Front is more insecure than ever before. With great care, Marmion must pick his way along a twisting path that will lead him towards the killer.
8. “The Unseen Hand” 1917. The Lotus Hotel offers sanctuary for its exclusively female clientele, attracting the cream of London’s society. But a dead body found in one of its rooms is hardly good for business, and when it is discovered that the woman was neither a guest nor a member of staff, the Lotus’s reputation as a safe haven is cast in doubt. Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are dispatched to look into the events at the hotel and soon suspect foul play. Tangling with a forgetful widower, a wily competitor and the haughty hotel owner, the pair will have to delve into the past to solve this crime in the present.
9. “Orders to Kill” December 1917. Ada Hobbes arrives on a frosty morning to clean the house owned by Dr Tindall, a surgeon at the Edmonton Military Hospital. She is shocked to find the blood-covered body of her employer sprawled across the floor. He has been hacked to death. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy arrive to a horrific scene. Someone enjoyed killing him, without a doubt. Their investigation takes them far out of London and on the trail of a very different Dr Tindall, one who was not the respectable local doctor everyone thought he was. Marmion and Keedy will need to sift through a number of likely suspects to find the killer behind this gruesome murder.
10. “Danger of Defeat” London, February 1918. A burglary in Limehouse in the small hours of the morning has escalated into a sinister siege between a band of thieves and the authorities, and a police constable lies dead. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hasten to the scene where attempts at talking the men into surrendering have been met with stony silence. When the door is eventually battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. Then a gunshot is heard: Keedy has been hit.
While his partner is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the burglars. Keedy, however, remains in the sights of the murderous thieves and the clock is ticking as Marmion delves into the secrets that lie behind this fatal incident…
11. “Spring Offensive” London, March 1918. British newspapers carry the dire news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Against this sombre backdrop, further mayhem strikes in the capital when a fire provides the diversion needed for an audacious bank robbery which leaves a police officer dead in its wake.
For Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion, the investigation has a personal connection. However, the task of bringing the culprits to justice will be an uphill battle without Detective Sergeant Keedy, who is anxious to be released from hospital, at his side. And nothing in this case is quite what it seems.