Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an academic who has written medical textbooks and medical research papers, but I also have an enduring passion for murder mysteries. As Hugh Greene I have written the bestselling Dr. Power mystery series which follows forensic psychiatrist Dr. Power and Detective Lynch solving murders and exploring the minds that executed these crimes.


I wrote

Murder and Malice

By Hugh Greene,

Book cover of Murder and Malice

What is my book about?

It is 2004 and the start of Michaelmas' term. You are invited to join Professor Power and Andrew Lynch at…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Documents in the Case

Hugh Greene Why did I love this book?

Dorothy L. Sayers was one of the founding crime writers of the Detection Club, and this book of hers was written in the classic era of detective fiction, when such works followed the Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction, devised by Ronald Knox, a fellow author.

These various constraints allowed the reader a fair chance of solving the puzzle inside a murder mystery. For instance a supernatural solution is not allowed and the criminal should be one of the several characters mentioned reasonably early on in the novel. This permutation of the classic puzzle is disseminated in various documents presented to the reader.

It’s a tribute to the author that this device is so engaging and enrapturing. Every clue is there for the reader to solve. There’s a remote and glorious Devon setting to explore, and tension in every mushroom encountered!

By Dorothy L. Sayers,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Documents in the Case as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An epistolary crime novel from Dorothy L Sayers, creator of the classic Lord Peter Wimsey series - a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot and Margery Allingham's Campion Mysteries, and introduced by author and journalist Libby Purves.

The bed was broken and tilted grotesquely sideways. Harrison was sprawled over in a huddle of soiled blankets. His mouth was twisted . . .

Harrison had been an expert on deadly mushrooms. How was it then that he had eaten a large quantity of death-dealing muscarine? Was it an accident? Suicide? Or murder?

The documents in the case seemed to be…


Book cover of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Hugh Greene Why did I love this book?

An atmospheric, taut, and stylish novel – it was first published in 2009 in Poland and written by a clinical psychologist who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2018.

It has an atmospheric setting in rural Silesia. You can feel the glistening dampness of the forest where the main character, Janina, has a shack. This intriguing woman, a virtual hermit, places value only on poetry, astrology, and animal welfare. The forest is all around; claustrophobic and threatening.

In the few homes near the shack, people are being killed. Janina’s response is to immerse herself even deeper in the works of William Blake. The novel’s title is a line from Blake’s poem, "Proverbs of Hell”.

From a technical perspective the mystery doesn’t quite adhere to the rules of the Whodunnit, but it is a compelling read imbued with poetic lucidity and taut imagery. 

By Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator),

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Olga Tokarczuk returns with a subversive, entertaining noir novel. In a remote Polish village, Janina Duszejko, an eccentric woman in her sixties, recounts the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs. She is reclusive, preferring the company of animals to people; she's unconventional, believing in the stars; and she is fond of the poetry of William Blake, from whose work the title of the book is taken. When members of a local hunting club are found murdered, Duszejko becomes involved in the investigation. By…


Book cover of The Lighthouse

Hugh Greene Why did I love this book?

For the clarity and precision of her prose and its perfectly chosen words, I always enjoy PD James.

James started writing to help support herself and her children after her doctor husband returned from the war, and was disabled by mental illness and consigned to a series of psychiatric institutions. The Lighthouse is the penultimate installment of her Adam Dalgleish series.

Dalgliesh is a somewhat aloof, poetic, and intellectual Commander of the Metropolitan Police, whose first outing was in 1962. The setting of The Lighthouse is vital to the structure, pace, and engineering of the novel. 
The action takes place on an island off the coast of Cornwall. I like this idea as it encloses the suspects and detective in a closed environment where suspense can build, rather as if it were a pressure cooker.

The island device was also employed by Agatha Christie in her 1939 work And Then There Were None, which features an island presumably not far away, just off the Devon coast.

By P. D. James,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Lighthouse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major Channel 5 series

'The Queen of Crime.' New York Times

Combe Island off the Cornish coast is a restful retreat for the rich and the powerful. But the peace of the island is violated when one of its distinguished visitors is murdered.

Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Hardly have the team begun to unravel the complicated motives of the suspects that there is a second brutal killing and the whole investigation is jeopardised when Dalgliesh is faced with a…


Book cover of The Hound of the Baskervilles

Hugh Greene Why did I love this book?

I love the supernatural element to this much-loved murder mystery.

This mystery pushes against the constraints of Knox’s Ten Commandments for detective fiction by involving the supernatural, but the Commandments are never wholly transgressed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle drew on the folklore of Devon where the book is set.

He drew on the legend of the cursed squire of Buckfastleigh and a hellhound, a variant of the local Yeth hound, a spectral black dog. The folklore infuses the mystery with a ghostly and altogether wonderful hinterland. Dartmoor becomes a liminal space where the living and the dead are mingled. Conan Doyle used this otherworldly backstory to return his classic detective Sherlock Holmes to the living.

Conan Doyle’s many readers had recently mourned the death of Holmes in The Final Problem. Conan Doyle chooses to set this novel in 1899, preceding events in The Final Problem. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of only four Sherlock Holmes novels, but there are fifty-six glorious Holmes short stories to explore.

By Arthur Conan Doyle,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Hound of the Baskervilles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead, his face distorted with shock and horror, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are faced with a sinister and difficult puzzle. A fearsome creature stalks the wild and barren hills of Dartmoor. Is it a demon from the spirit world? Will it defeat their skill and courage? Who is the tall, mysterious figure seen lurking on the moor at night? Can Holmes save Sir Henry, the new owner of Baskerville Hall, from the ancient family curse? Or will the terrifying hound claim yet another victim?


Book cover of The Master Key

Hugh Greene Why did I love this book?

I love the mosaic of characters and the feeling that time has stood still in this 1962 novel, set in a female-only apartment block, the K Apartment for Ladies, in 1950s Tokyo.

It’s a world away from the settings of the last few books in places like Devon and Cornwall. I love Masako Togawa’s vignettes of the denizens of the 150 rooms; they are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – separate but interacting with each other in surprising ways.

Only by considering all the multiple portraits of the puzzle – the compelling secret lives of the widows, teachers, eccentrics, professors, violinists, and receptionists who people the apartment block – can the reader assemble a coherent picture of what has been going on.

It’s a unique and stylish accomplishment by an author who also mastered the entertainment world as a chanteuse, TV star, and nightclub owner, drawing on her experience of the Ikebukuro, Tokyo’s commercial and entertainment district.

By Masako Togawa, Simon Grove (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Master Key as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A building full of secrets. A key that will unleash them all
The K Apartments for Ladies in Tokyo conceals a sinister past behind each door; a woman who has buried a child; a scavenger driven mad by ill-health; a wife mysteriously guarding her late husband's manuscripts; a talented violinist tortured by her own guilt. The master key, which opens the door to all 150 rooms, links their tangled stories. But now it has been stolen, and dirty tricks are afoot.
For a deadly secret lies buried beneath the building. And when it is revealed, there will be murder.


Explore my book 😀

Murder and Malice

By Hugh Greene,

Book cover of Murder and Malice

What is my book about?

It is 2004 and the start of Michaelmas' term. You are invited to join Professor Power and Andrew Lynch at the University of Allminster as they start unraveling a brand new mystery.

A body in a gothic Cathedral, a hanging in shadowy academic cloisters. There’s a killer with a twisted mind on the prowl at Allminster University and though they don’t know it, the gauntlet has been thrown down to Dr Carl Power and Detective Lynch, but how do you play the game if you don’t know the rules. And what is the connection to an international crime ring wielding frightening new weapon technology in the sun-drenched Mediterranean island of Malta with its historic golden buildings and gourmet restaurants?

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Book cover of Glimmer of the Other

Heather G. Harris Author Of Protection of the Pack

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about fierce female protagonists in fiction because I believe that fiction is a great way to highlight real-life issues. Before becoming an author, I was a lawyer. It was tough navigating the challenges of maternity leave and trying to have a career whilst being a mum to a young family. The reality is that there’s still plenty of gender inequality remaining in the world at large, so I made sure that I always write strong, competent female main characters to lead by example. As you can imagine, my reading tastes are the same as my writing ones, making me an excellent curator of strong female fiction. 

Heather's book list on fierce female protagonists in urban fantasy

What is my book about?

Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone. Stone…

By Heather G. Harris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Glimmer of the Other as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.

I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.

When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish…


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Interested in Tokyo, Sherlock Holmes, and murder?

Tokyo 92 books
Sherlock Holmes 109 books
Murder 1,060 books