British Book Bargains + the UK Crime Writer Inspired by a Real Case

August 28, 2025

In partnership with

Not everyone takes their crime reading seriously. Some of us love books where the sleuths are amateurs, the number of murders is highly improbable, and the police never solve the crime first.

Then there are the readers who know their way around a Blackstone’s Police Manual—the ones who catch every slip in procedure or professional judgment.

For those readers, we recommend checking out Clare Mackintosh. Before becoming a bestselling author, she spent more than a decade as a police officer, and her debut novel I Let You Go draws on both that experience and personal tragedy. The book was inspired by a real Oxford hit-and-run case she worked early in her career, when a nine-year-old boy was killed by a driver who never came forward. Years later, after losing her own child, Mackintosh channeled those haunting questions into the story of a woman fleeing from grief and secrets she can’t escape.

Since then, she’s completed a number of books, including her popular DC Morgan series. If you enjoy thoughtful crime and thriller novels with a high level of professional accuracy, she’s one to check out.

REMINDER: If you’ve been waiting for the Thursday Murder Club film, your wait is over! It premiered on Netflix today - and in about a month, the fifth book in the series, The Impossible Fortune, will be released.

Looking for unbiased, fact-based news? Join 1440 today.

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

British eBooks on Sale: August 28th

As always, a short disclaimer on the sale listings - the overwhelming majority of our readers are US-based, so sale availability may vary outside of the US (it’s up to the publisher/author if they wish to coordinate sales internationally). Deals can disappear at any time, but all e-books were $2.99 or less at time of writing - and today, we found an abnormally large number of great selections at just 99 cents.

  • Murder at Ardraig Castle by Daniel Sellers - At a remote wellness retreat in the Scottish Highlands, Detective Lola Harris finds herself trapped by a storm with wealthy guests, unsettling threats, and a killer hidden among them.

  • Duke it Out by Bella James - After a one-night stand in New York, struggling writer Edie Jones is shocked to find her fling is now the grumpy Scottish duke whose castle she’s living in while ghostwriting his father’s memoirs.

  • The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth - As famine grips Russia, British agent Adam Munro uncovers power struggles within the USSR just as hijackings and violent uprisings push East–West tensions toward nuclear war.

  • Read Between the Lines by Emily Kerr - In Oxford, librarian Kat Fisher clashes with ex-police officer Leo Taylor over his messy library habits, only to discover that love may be closer than either expected.

  • The Corset Factory by Valerie Anne Hudson - In Victorian London, impoverished Lottie Crawford and wealthy Elizabeth Gilbert find their lives entangled at a corset factory, where family secrets, betrayal, and ambition threaten to change both their destinies.

  • The Evening & the Morning by Ken Follett - Set in 997 CE England, this prequel to The Pillars of the Earth follows a boatbuilder, a Norman noblewoman, and an ambitious monk as their lives collide under the ruthless schemes of a power-hungry bishop.

  • The Killings at Badger’s Drift by Caroline Graham - In the English village of Badger’s Drift, the sudden death of a local spinster draws Inspector Barnaby into a web of secrets and scandals in the novel that inspired the TV series Midsomer Murders.

  • Written in Bone by Simon Beckett - On the remote Scottish island of Runa, forensic pathologist Dr. David Hunter identifies a burned body as murder just as a storm cuts off the community—and the killer strikes again.

  • The Lake House by Kate Morton - In Cornwall in 1933, baby Theo Edevane vanished during a midsummer party, a mystery that decades later draws a London detective to the abandoned estate and back into the life of his sister, now a celebrated novelist.

  • (FREE) Knock Knock by Chris Merritt - In London, Detective Dan Lockhart and psychologist Dr. Lexi Green investigate a series of murders marked by identical, chilling signatures, racing to stop a serial killer before he strikes again.

  • (BOX SET) The Complete Detective Joanna Piercy by Priscilla Masters - This fifteen-book box set follows Detective Joanna Piercy as she investigates murders, disappearances, and dark secrets across the rugged Staffordshire Moorlands.

A Few Print Book Deals…

Print books aren’t sold as cheaply as ebooks (and Amazon has recently announced plans to take larger fees on books priced under $9.99, causing publishers/authors to increase prices), so for these we look for books priced at $10-12 or less at time of writing.

  • Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell - While on holiday in Venice, barrister Julia Larwood becomes the prime suspect in a murder, prompting her friends and Oxford professor Hilary Tamar to uncover the truth behind the crime.

  • The Rookery by Emily Organ - In 1884 London, reporter Penny Green joins forces with Scotland Yard after her father’s stolen diaries lead her into a slum murder scene that leaves her fighting to clear her name.

  • Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler - When a present-day bombing kills elderly detective Arthur Bryant, his partner John May revisits their first case in Blitz-era London, where a faceless killer targeted theater performers and forged the beginning of their lifelong partnership.

  • A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - In Victorian London, gentleman detective Charles Lenox investigates the suspicious death of a servant by rare poison, uncovering secrets and rivalries that lead to another murder in high society.

  • Queens of London by Heather Webb - In 1925 London, Alice “Diamond Annie” Diamond leads the all-female Forty Elephants gang to new heights of crime, while pioneering Scotland Yard detective Lilian Wyles vows to bring her down.

“It’s dangerous to make a cult of your own unhappiness. Hard to get out, once you’ve been in there too long. You forget how.”

Robert Galbraith, The Running Grave

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. When referencing products, we use affiliate links where possible to help offset the time and costs of running this newsletter.