Dorothy Simpson Books In Order

Inspector Thanet Books In Publication Order

  1. The Night She Died (1980)
  2. Six Feet Under (1982)
  3. Puppet For A Corpse (1982)
  4. Close Her Eyes (1984)
  5. Last Seen Alive (1985)
  6. Dead on Arrival (1986)
  7. Element of Doubt (1987)
  8. Suspicious Death (1988)
  9. Dead By Morning (1989)
  10. Doomed To Die (1991)
  11. Wake the Dead (1992)
  12. No Laughing Matter (1993)
  13. Day for Dying (1995)
  14. Once Too Often (1998)
  15. Dead and Gone (1999)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Harbingers of Fear (1992)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. Valiant Doctors in the Frontier West (2020)

Inspector Thanet Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Dorothy Simpson Books Overview

The Night She Died

Inspector Thanet is called to investigate the death of a young housewife. His clues are a painting, a disc jockey, a mermaid, an estate agent, a recurring nightmare and an unsolved murder. Delving into the past he realizes he is hunting a murderer who has gone unpunished for twenty years.

Six Feet Under

Curiousity killed the cat. Did it also kill Carrie? Inspector Thanet is called in to investigate the murder of a singularly unprepossessing middle aged spinster in a peaceful Kentish garden. The author is a winner of the Silver Daggar Award.

Close Her Eyes

Inspector Thanet is on the case of Charity Pritchard, a young girl who has been missing for some time now. But his concern deepens when her family, religious fundamentalists, leaves the matter in God’s hands. Thanet doesn’t pay much heed to first impressions, but it will be a good while after he finds Charity’s poor broken body before he realizes just how wrong his preconceptions can be…

Doomed To Die

Detective Inspector Luke Thanet investigates the murder of diminuitive artist Perdita Master and discovers that Perdita’s secret life could have cost her her life. PW.

Wake the Dead

The shocking murder of the ailing, elderly mother of a British M.P. provokes a number of suppositions about the killer’s motives including the woman’s imperious personality, the threat she might change her will, and possibly even revenge.

No Laughing Matter

The 12th crime novel featuring the Kent policemen, Inspector Thanet and Sergeant Lineham. This time they are investigating the murder of a ruthless, promiscuous local vineyard owner. This novel won the Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger Award.

Day for Dying

A title in a series featuring Inspector Thanet. When Max Jeopard, a charismatic writer is found dead, Thanet discovers he had several enemies, including his father in law and members of his own family. He uncovers jealousies which lay beneath Max’s seemingly perfect life.

Once Too Often

In Simpson’s most skillful and fascinating novel yet, Inspector Thanet is called away from his daughter’s wedding preparations to investigate the suspicious and untimely death of a journalist who is found with a broken neck at the foot of her staircase. As Thanet methodically explores the woman’s past, he realizes that a number of people including the victim’s own husband had reasons for wanting her dead .

Dead and Gone

Serious crime isn’t supposed to happen in elegant English country homes, especially not in such families as that of Queen’s counsel Ralph Mintar, a prominent barrister who’s destined to become a high court judge. So it’s particularly shocking when Mintar’s attractive wife, Virginia, goes missing just after a small dinner party. Her disappearance is eerily reminiscent of the day four years before, when the Mintars’ adult daughter Caroline left the house, never to return. Caroline seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, but Virginia’s body is soon found at the bottom of a garden well, and Inspector Luke Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Mike Lineham, who are called in to investigate, quickly discard any idea of accidental death. Virginia was the perfect murder victim. Her outrageous flirting made her many enemies, several of whom were there on the night of her death. They had both reason and opportunity to kill her, but which one took the final, fatal step? Who wanted Virginia Dead and Gone? Who was Virginia’s latest lover? What does her mother in law have to hide? What about Caroline’s younger sister and her womanizing fianc ? Thanet and Lineham wonder how they can even begin to unravel the morass of family secrets that complicate this case. Distracted by his own daughter Bridget’s dangerous pregnancy and pushed by his boss to find hard evidence in this high profile homicide, Luke Thanet feels pressured as never before as he probes into the life and death of one of the most poignant and, finally, shocking cases of his career. Always a skilled mistress of the classic British crime novel, award winning author Dorothy Simpson is at the top of her form in this powerful novel of family love gone tragically wrong.

Harbingers of Fear

Crime story featuring Inspector Thanet. Winner of the Silver Dagger Award.

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