The Calleshire Chronicles Are A Hidden Gem for Mystery Lovers

First published in 1966, The Religious Body kicked off the Calleshire Chronicles with a bang – introducing a dizzying murder mystery set in a convent. 

When a nun goes missing and is later found at the bottom of a steep set of stairs with her head crushed, it seems that the murderer may be among the sisters themselves. It’s up to Detective Inspector Sloan, his eager sidekick Detective Constable Crosby, and the rest of Aird’s cast of memorable recurring characters to solve the mystery in this debut from the Diamond Dagger-winning author.

Named one of the best books of 1968 by the New York Times, the second book in Catherine Aird’s Calleshire Chronicles is among her best loved. When a woman is found dead in the road, seemingly the victim of a hit and run, her daughter must cope with more than the expected grief when an autopsy reveals that not only was her mother murdered—she also never had a child. 

So, who was poor Henrietta’s actual mother? That’s one of the mysteries that Detective Inspector Sloan will have to get to the bottom of in this “well-bred, well written and genuinely superior” yarn (Kirkus Reviews).

Times are tough for the Earl of Ornum, which has compelled him to do the unthinkable and open his stately home up to nosy tourists. One such group, however, discovers something more unthinkable still: a dead man in a suit of armor. 

Who is he, how did he get there, and who is responsible for his current state? These are all questions for Detective Inspector Sloan in this third book in the Sloan & Crosby series that is sometimes also known as The Complete Steel.

The Second World War has been over for nearly a quarter of a century, but its scars still run deep throughout England, including in the small hamlet of Berebury, which was nearly wiped from the map by Nazi bombs during the Blitz. 

As the town tries to rebuild decades later, they find a body that dates back to the time of the war, but one that wasn’t killed by any bomb. Instead, the pregnant girl was the victim of cold-blooded murder, and Detective Inspector Sloan will have one of his hardest cases ahead of him if he wishes to solve a whodunit from some two-plus decades ago.

There are many ways to die, but few people find themselves crushed to death beneath the marble and iron of an old Saxon church tower. That’s the fate of Richard Mallory Tindall, however, and it’s up to Detective Inspector Sloan to find out how he got there in this riveting mystery from the author that the New York Times called “a most ingenious writer.” 

As if the situation weren’t vexing enough, shortly another body turns up, and as files go missing from Sloan’s office, it seems that the culprit may be closer to him than he imagines.

The mystery novel has enjoyed many forms throughout the years, and few are as diverting as the parlor mystery, a setup where the suspects are all people who were in the same place at the same time. In this case, that’s a dinner party to celebrate the nuptials of Dr. and Mrs. Washby, an affair hosted by William Fent. 

Unfortunately, poor Mr. Fent doesn’t survive the night, and the person who dosed him with enough barbiturates to kill a horse has to have been one of the eleven other people at the party—and it’s up to Detective Inspector Sloan to find out which one.

The ‘70s are a turbulent time, and the campus of the University of Calleshire is no exception. However, when the police are called over a break-in to a dorm room, no one realizes that the events will end in murder. 

Who killed the student who is found slumped against one of the cloisters, covered in blood? And what is the meaning of his last words, which he whispers just before he dies: “twenty-six minutes?” To find the answers, readers will have to follow Detective Inspector Sloan into his latest mystery in this seventh book in the Calleshire Chronicles.

Detective Inspector Sloan is about to become a father but, unfortunately for him, murder doesn’t take a holiday, and he finds himself called away from his family duties to attend to the death of Miss Beatrice Wansdyke. 

Her death itself isn’t so odd. A longtime sufferer of diabetes, she had nevertheless lived to a ripe old age. No, what is strange is that she seems to have died in possession of a fortune, despite being a simple grammar school teacher. Where did the money come from—and who is willing to commit murder to get it?

When a body is found floating in the river, the cause of death is usually drowning. Not so with Detective Inspector Sloan’s latest case. 

What’s more, this strange death won’t be the last, as Detective Inspector Sloan and his well-meaning sidekick Constable Crosby attempt to get to the bottom of a mystery that involves municipal building codes, an unusual antiquarian, a fisherman who is perhaps a bit too helpful, and plenty of other red herrings and odd characters to keep mystery readers turning pages until the final revelation!

There are many things that can spoil a walk in the country. A sudden rainstorm, a bit of food poisoning. What isn’t a usual suspect is a severed human finger. Yet that’s exactly what a pair of avid hikers find on their walk in the Great Rooden’s farming country. 

Who did the finger belong to? That’s a question for Detective Inspector Sloan to solve—and the list of possibilities is surprisingly long, as a suspicious number of people seem to go missing in the region. Where there’s a finger, though, there’s bound to be a body, and there hasn’t been a murder yet that Detective Inspector Sloan hasn’t been able to get to the bottom of. Of course, there’s a first time for everything…

Cases that appear to be open-and-shut don’t often end up on Detective Inspector Sloan’s desk, but that seems to be what happens when Lucy Durmast’s file falls to him after the primary detective on the case runs afoul of a burglar and suffers permanent brain damage. 

With the prime suspect awaiting trial while refusing to speak a single word, it quickly becomes apparent that there’s more to the case than meets the eye—especially when more bodies begin to pile up, and the son of an African king who may be connected to the crime goes missing. This open-and-shut case has become something much different, and it will take all of Detective Inspector Sloan’s skill to untangle the web.

A mining company employee finds himself embroiled in an international incident with a country on the “sunny side of the iron curtain”—and then finds himself mysteriously and conveniently dead. 

Detective Inspector Sloan is on the case, but it seems like just about everyone else would rather forget anything ever happened. After all, there’s a lucrative mining contract on the line. Perhaps that’s why someone keeps showing up dressed like the Grim Reaper and sending live scorpions in the mail. Sloan will have to get to the bottom of it all… or else wind up the next victim.

Why did Octavia Garamond leave explicit instructions in her will that the police be present for her funeral? The answers will surprise almost everyone in this “literate, surprising treat” that is an “intricate, witty, and thoroughly delightful” mystery (Publishers Weekly). As Detective Inspector Sloan finds himself involved in the case, the old woman’s death threatens to expose a long-hidden secret, and may stir up even more murder if Sloan can’t crack the case in time.

Something seems fishy when several elderly heart patients are “gently pushed” into a double-blind drug trial from a major pharmaceutical company. Is it something worse than medical malpractice, though? 

That’s what Detective Inspector Sloan has to find out, in an investigation that will reveal a string of eerily similar deaths, a missing doctor, and more questions than answers. Foul play is afoot, and if Detective Inspector Sloan can’t figure it out, there will be more bodies before all is said and done in this devilish mystery.

Most of the books in Catherine Aird’s Calleshire Chronicles are novels – but not all of the escapades of Detective Inspector Sloan and Constable Crosby are so lengthy. In Injury Time, Aird collects sixteen short mysteries, all dealing with the familiar figures and environs of Calleshire, to puzzle readers and her own fictional detectives alike. 

From high-tech alarm systems and seemingly self-driving cars to priceless pearls and a sinister sauna, these short, sharp tales pack all of Aird’s Diamond Dagger-winning ingenuity into delightfully bite-sized packages.

For those who can’t get enough of Catherine Aird’s short stories, Chapter and Hearse introduces some doozies, including a murder where a cat is the only witness, and a thief who attempts to press charges against those he burgles. 

With tales featuring not only Detective Inspector Sloan but also some of Aird’s other recurring characters, including Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and a sheriff from 16th century Scotland, this collection of 22 short mysteries is a perfect place to branch out from the Calleshire Chronicles and explore some of Catherine Aird’s other tales.