Peter Zander-Howell
ALLi Author Member
Location: United Kingdom
Genres: Crime
Peter Zander-Howell (a pen name) lives with his wife in East Anglia, U.K. They have three children and four grandchildren. Deciding to get out of the rat-race, Peter took very early retirement from his management role in a very large company. Then, far too young to retire completely and wanting to keep his mind occupied, he started a small and successful business. Twenty years later he sold that business, and has now embarked on a third career as an author. During his first two careers, Peter served as a magistrate for thirty-four years. All his stories are set in England between 1936 and 1952, and are written in homage to the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction”. Most are also available in audiobook form through Amazon's Virtual Voice beta program. There are two series, and five books which are not part of a series: The Philip Bryce series set in the 1940s and 1950s. 16 books (each book stands alone) The David Adair series set in the 1930s and 1940s. 6 books (each stands alone) Five other books, all set in the 1930s.
Peter Zander-Howell's books
Genres: Crime
1952. In a very upmarket London brothel, two people - a patron and a prostitute - are found dead. The establishment is frequented by some of the most influential figures in the country - MPs, senior civil servants, military officers, businessmen, members of the peerage, etc. Some thirty years earlier, an attempt to close the place down had ended in ignominious failure. Whether this is a double murder or a murder and suicide is unclear. But whichever it might be, the deaths have occurred in a place with very sensitive connections (and a history which has become a legend in the Metropolitan Police). The head of the local police division immediately calls in Scotland Yard, and Detective Chief Superintendent Bryce is appointed to investigate. The first problem to be sorted out concerns the victims. Which one was the intended target? Various people have some sort of motive for killing one...
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
In 1950, Philip Bryce is suddenly given two pieces of unexpected but welcome news - one domestic, the other work-related. He is also given a new case to tackle. It’s a change from the murder cases he spends a lot of time on, but it’s tricky. This is one involving ‘demands with menaces’ – the offence commonly known as blackmail. And the first three victims are very high-ranking people. Bryce investigates, with the newly-promoted Inspector Haig alongside him. But who is the blackmailer? From where does he or she acquire the information? And just how innocent are the ‘victims’?
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
1938. A man alights from a train at London’s Liverpool Street station, and takes a taxi to Scotland Yard. On arrival there, the cabbie finds that his fare is dead, and it is soon realised that the man has been shot. The victim worked for the intelligence services. This killing is clearly associated with a much larger investigation into other matters, including treason. Chief Inspector Adair and Inspector Davison are seconded to Special Branch to deal with the murder. The two detectives help to uncover a web of intrigue involving thugs, murderers – and traitors in high places.
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
In April 1937, the body of a vagrant is found in the middle of a little-used country lane in Somerset. He was evidently run over by a motor vehicle. Who is the man? Who killed him? The autopsy suggests that all is not what it first seemed, and Detective Inspector Leo Paget is assigned to investigate. He finds that the matter is linked to a major fraud in Suffolk, and also to a case of false imprisonment in Bristol. In the second mystery, a boy is found battered to death in the bicycle shed of his prestigious boarding school. Who is responsible? And why was the boy killed? DI Paget investigates a very unpleasant murder
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
A number of anonymous letters, all typed, are sent to various residents in a Sussex village. Each contains allegations of misbehaviour. Some are described by the writer as "sins against the laws of God", and others as "sins against the laws of the land". Each of the letters is sent separately to three different people - but none go directly to the persons named. Some of the accusations are serious, and the police begin to investigate. Then, a villager is found battered to death...
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
1939, two days after the declaration of war, tens of thousands of children are being evacuated from areas in London, Liverpool, and other British cities, where heavy enemy bombing is expected. Daisy Beck gets on a bus with the other children from her school, to be taken to Cannon Street railway station. There she will board a train to take her to relative safety in a Kent village. She is seen off by her parents. The eighty other children from the East End school arrive at Borough Green, and walk in a crocodile to the local school, where they are to be allocated new homes. The little girl never arrives at the station. Detective Chief Inspector Adair is given the job of finding out what happened. In the second story, a man is spending the night in his London Club. He is killed in his bedroom - struck on the...
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
Two fourteen-year-old girls go missing from an exclusive boarding school. Did they abscond, or have they been kidnapped? The girls’ parents - and indeed the parents of many other pupils – have considerable influence in very high places. Pressure is quickly brought to bear to get Scotland Yard involved. Concern for the girls’ safety is paramount. Detective Chief Inspector Adair and three of his officers are assigned to help the local police. Initially there is little to go on, but Adair soon determines that the children didn’t leave voluntarily. The first step – to ascertain how the girls were abducted – takes time. To find out who was responsible takes longer.
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Large print
Age Groups: 18+
There are at least two reasons why Robin Whitaker wants to eliminate his wife, Dulcie. He is not allowed to drink any alcohol, nor to gamble. Dulcie controls his life to an extent that he finds intolerable. But she is also wealthy, so merely leaving her is not an acceptable option. In most circumstances Dr Whitaker thinks and acts like the very intelligent and highly-educated man he is. However, he has somehow convinced himself that the action of killing his wife is justified. He is also certain that his innate brainpower will give him a significant edge over any police detectives, and allow him to outwit them with ease. What are his thoughts? How does he make his decisions? What does he do? Will he get away with murder?
Genres: Crime
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
It is 1949. Sir Francis Sherwood - WW1 hero, landowner, magistrate - is shot dead while standing at an open bedroom window in his country house. A rifle is found in the grounds. The county police seek help from Scotland Yard. Detective Chief Inspector Bryce and Detective Sergeant Haig are assigned to the case. The first difficulty for the Yard men is that nobody with even a mild dislike of Sherwood can be found. But before that problem can be resolved, others arise...... Philip Bryce is an unusual policeman. A Cambridge-educated barrister, he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1937 under Lord Trenchard's accelerated promotion scheme. After distinguished army service in WW2, by 1949 he has become Scotland Yard's youngest DCI. A very private individual, he remains a bachelor, his fiancee having been killed during the war. Bryce is something of a polymath, and has a number of outside interests -...