INSPECTOR PURBRIGHT: FIVE BBC RADIO 4 FULL-CAST CRIME DRAMATISATIONS FROM THE FLAXBOROUGH CHRONICLES

BLUE MURDER

Fearless journalist Clive Grail is bent on uncovering a scandal of blue films and blackmail in respectable Flaxborough. But when he publishes his revelations of the town's murky past he finds himself at the hub of a much more chilling and sinister crime...

BROOMSTICKS OVER FLAXBOROUGH

Inspector Purbright tackles another mystery in the respectable market town of Flaxborough: a ritual killing is being linked to Satanism and black magic, but could it be a smokescreen for the real motive?

BUMP IN THE NIGHT

One of Flaxborough’s neighbouring towns, Chalmsbury, has been experiencing a series of explosions, which have destroyed several monuments. Inspector Purbright is seconded to the Chalmsbury police force to help try and discover who is responsible.

COFFIN SCARCELY USED

This is the first of a series of novels set in Flaxborough and featuring the intellectual Inspector Purbright. Six months after the funeral of Councillor Carobelat one of the mourners dies in unusual circumstances. Whilst local gossips incline towards suicide or an accident, Purbright is yet to be convinced!

THE FLAXBOROUGH CRAB

An elderly sex-pest is at large in DI Purbright's home town. Leaping out from behind bushes at unsuspecting females, making lewd suggestions and, when challenged, scuttling away with odd off-balance leaps, he soon earns the nickname of the Flaxborough. No one can identify him, and it turns out that quite a few older gentlemen have begun exhibiting over-familiar behaviour around the opposite sex. Suave Dr Meadow knows more than he is letting on, yet how can Purbright, aided once again by the fragrant but dodgy Miss Lucy Teatime, get him to talk? Events take a darker turn before the ill-assorted pair succeed in catching their crab.

HOPJOY WAS HERE

In Flaxborough a secret agent has been horrifically murdered, and Inspector Purbright starts to investigate. Soon two more operatives arrive, amazed that their colleague has been mudered in such a bland town, also looking for answers. Purbright has to use all his skills to get to the truth.

LONELYHEART 4122

The only connection between the disappearance of two women in Flaxborough, seems to be the Handclasp House Marriage Bureau. As Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love investigate, a vulnerable-seeming lady with the charming title of Lucy Teatime signs up for a romantic rendezvous, so the detectives try extra hard to look out for her. But Miss Teatime has a few surprises of her own up her dainty sleeve!

THE NAKED NUNS

Inspector Purbright receives a very strange telegram, which leads to the discovery of strange passions lurking under the surface of respectable Flaxborough.

ONE MAN'S MEAT

For lovely Julia Harton, unhappily married to a brutally successful pet food executive, a dramatic death in the fairground seems to provide a deliciously easy means of escape. But for Inspector Purbright, it is the harbinger of a bizarre and increasingly nasty case. Mysteries abound, including the precise truth behind the initials RIP, the role of Happy Endings Inc, and, not least, the exact contents of certain tins of dog food.

PLASTER SINNERS

The appreciation of antique objects is not perhaps Detective Sergeant Sidney Love's forte, yet the sale of Lot Thirty-Four at the handsome price of £400 at an antiques auction, together with further curious developments, leads Inspector Purbright to the heart of a chilling but decidedly genteel murder mystery…

SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE: ENGLISH CRIME STORIES AND THEIR AUDIENCE

In this book Colin Watson explores the social attitudes depicted in the detective story and the thriller.