books in order

Paul Charles Books In Order

Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy Books In Order

  1. I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (1997)
  2. Last Boat to Camden Town (1998)
  3. Fountain of Sorrow (1998)
  4. The Ballad of Sean and Wilko (2000)
  5. The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room (2001)
  6. I’ve Heard the Banshee Sing (2002)
  7. Justice Factory (2003)
  8. Sweetwater (2006)
  9. The Beautiful Sound of Silence (2008)
  10. A Pleasure to Do Death with You (2012)
  11. Departing Shadows (2019)

Inspector Starrett Mystery Books In Order

  1. The Dust of Death (2007)
  2. Family Life (2009)
  3. St Ernan’s Blues (2016)

Brendy McCusker Books In Order

  1. Down on Cyprus Avenue (2014)
  2. A Day in the Life of Louis Bloom (2018)

Novels

  1. The Lonesome Heart is Angry (2014)

Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy Book Covers

Inspector Starrett Mystery Book Covers

Brendy McCusker Book Covers

Novels Book Covers

Paul Charles Books Overview

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

When Peter O’Browne, managing director of Camden Town Records disappears, a fire ravages his north London home and his credit card is used in Dorset, DI Christy Kennedy is called in to investigate. As well as investigating a possible murder, the DI and his team find themselves turning up chart rigging scams and blackmail.

Last Boat to Camden Town

Paul Charles brings north London alive as he describes the routines and eccentricities of Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy. Kennedy’s intimate knowledge of his patch of London, Camden Town, is needed when a body is discovered at the bottom of Regent’s Canal. Doctor Edmund Godfrey Berry is a young, successful doctor with a thriving career and a beautiful wife and child. Suicide seems unlikely but he seems to have no enemies. The only blotch on his otherwise sparkling career is the mysterious death of one of his former patients, a schoolteacher named Susanne Collins. Could these two things possibly be linked? Beneath the surface of comfortable respectability, lies a shocking secret that pulls all of the pieces together. Obsessed with the quality of his beloved cups of tea, Kennedy is an orderly, civilized man who believes that crimes are best solved in well organized, carefully though out ways. His life, however, is turned around when he becomes involved with a sexy, vivacious journalist, ann rea. Maybe absolute order isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

The Ballad of Sean and Wilko

Much like the novels of Ross MacDonald.” Publishers Weekly. ”A strong, well done series.” Library Journal. Take two musicians: Sean Green, a gifted Irish songwriter and musician, but without a good voice, and Wilko Robertson, about as soulful a singer as a Scotsman can be. They worked together in the 70s and are back together for a gig in Camden Town, meant to be the start of a successful comeback tour. But, after taking a break from the show, Wilko is found dead in his locked dressing room. Then, another body shows up, in another locked from the inside room. Camden Town’s Christy Kennedy is faced with two locked room mysteries and a host of suspects. When he’s elbow deep in bodies, his partner, ann rea, springs for a few surprises of her own.

The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room

Should move Charles’s series into the top rank of British police procedurals.” Publishers Weekly. ”In The Hissing of the Lonely Room the musical tonalities of the writing harmonize with the moody themes of the story.” The New York Times Book Review. The Camden Town detective finds himself investigating a case heavy with sudden death and intrigue and innumerable twists and turns. Part whodunit, part howdunnit, part love story.

I’ve Heard the Banshee Sing

A strong, well done series.” Library Journal. When the butchered and dismembered body of an elderly man is discovered in Camden Town’s famous Black Cat Building, Christy Kennedy soon realizes that it was no ordinary murder. Initial investigation produces not a single clue but an article by Kennedy’s some time lover, ”ann rea,” reveals a couple of potential leads in Kennedy’s Northern Ireland birthplace. They head over to Portrush and assisted by Ulster Detective McCusker, Kennedy’s investigation takes him through the Irish countryside and back in time to World War II.

Sweetwater

Christy Kennedy is an Ulsterman living in leafy Primrose Hill and working in vibrant Camden Town. He loves the art of detection, he’s addicted to the puzzle of the crime. Now, while recuperating from an injury, he is working on a Missing Person case when an acquaintance of his, Harry Ford, is murdered. The investigation uncovers the lives, loves and disappointments of four university friends, one of whom, a Father Vincent O’Connor, may also be involved in the Missing Person case. However, the suspect list goes beyond this group of friends, when Kennedy discovers just how ambitious one of Ford’s work colleagues was. ”Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy, the transplanted Irishman working in London’s Camden Town, returns for his eighth assignment. Still on the mend from an injury, he is working what appears to be a typical missing persons case when a friend is murdered, and the trail turns personal. Unlike many series leads, Kennedy is a remarkably well adjusted fellow, with a comfortable personal life and no major neuroses. It’s his pure, unadulterated love for solving crimes that makes him so appealing. The novels are an interesting change from the ever more plentiful London noir stories here its character, not atmosphere, that sells the story.” Booklist. ”The series about Christy Kennedy is a unique one that should be better known to American readers.” Ellery Queen

The Beautiful Sound of Silence

An annual Halloween Bonfire goes horribly wrong when a body is spotted in the middle of the fire’s glowing timbers. Identifiable only through his dental records, the victim is retired police Superintendent David Peters, an ex colleague of DI Christy Kennedy. As Kennedy and his team settle down to a painstaking search through Peters’ cases, they soon discover that for the superintendent the means justified the end in solving them, and each case they review throws up another suspect. Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy muses on life, love and murder suspects.” Kirkus Reviews ”One of the strongest in an impressive series…
Veterans and newcomers alike will appreciate the smart writing and ingenious planting of clues.” Publishers Weekly ”Shows a more serious side of Kennedy…
a good change of pace for a consistently storng series.” Booklist ”Paul Charles ranks up there with Peter Robinson, Stuart Pawson and Stephen Booth. Highly recommended.” I Love A Mystery

The Dust of Death

Inspector Starrett is in his mid forties, dresses well, likes a pint of Guinness and is a decade into his third career. The locals say he may have a sixth sense: he’s not so sure but has been eternally grateful when that special something or other has kept him out of trouble and come to his aid on a few of his cases. Now the bloodied body of a crucified man is discovered in a Church in an Irish Heritage Town on the first Friday of summer and Starrett and the rest of the Serious Crime Unit are investigating. The team soon realizes that town is not nearly as righteous as its many churches might suggest.

Family Life

Inspector Starrett is in his mid forties, dresses well, likes a pint of Guinness and is a decade into his third career. The locals say he may have a sixth sense: he’s not so sure but has been eternally grateful when that special something or other has kept him out of trouble and come to his aid on a few of his cases. Now the bloodied body of a crucified man is discovered in a Church in an Irish Heritage Town on the first Friday of summer and Starrett and the rest of the Serious Crime Unit are investigating. The team soon realizes that town is not nearly as righteous as its many churches might suggest.

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