Set in Regency London, 1824-1830
Fatal Forgery – published in 2013 – was meant to be a standalone book. It was also meant to focus mainly on Henry Fauntleroy, the real-life banker at the heart of the story, but my narrator – a well-meaning, slightly crusty, deeply honourable magistrates’ constable called Sam Plank – just wouldn’t leave me alone. A few months later he popped back into my brain with another story to tell, and quickly let me know that he was in it for the long haul. And over nine years I wrote seven Sam Plank books, finishing the series with number seven – Notes of Change – in April 2022.
In case you’re wondering just what a magistrates’ constable might be, they existed in that interesting period between the Bow Street Runners and the Metropolitan Police. Their specific role was to execute the arrest warrants issued by magistrates, but Sam Plank’s curiosity is such that he soon starts looking more closely at the people he is arresting, and questioning why they do what they are accused of doing.
Fatal Forgery – Sam Plank Mysteries book one
It is 1824, and trust in the virtual money of the day – new paper financial instruments – is so fragile that anyone forging them is sent to the scaffold. So why would one of London’s most respected bankers start forging his clients’ signatures? Sent to arrest Henry Fauntleroy, Constable Samuel Plank is determined to find out why the banker has risked his reputation, his banking house and his neck – and why he is so determined to plead guilty. As the case makes its way through the Regency justice system, exercising the finest legal minds of their generation and dividing London society into the banker’s supporters and detractors, Plank races against time to find the answers that can save Fauntleroy’s life.
The Man in the Canary Waistcoat – Sam Plank Mysteries book two
In this book, Constable Sam Plank suspects there may be a link between a suicide, an embezzler, an arsonist, and a thief. No corner of Regency London is untouched by these crimes, as he travels from the mansions of St James’s back to his own childhood haunts among the dank alleyways of Wapping.
As his steadfast wife becomes involved in his investigations, and with a keen young police officer now under his command, Sam finds himself leading them all into a confrontation with some ruthless and brutal adversaries – one of whom he had hoped never to see again.
Worm in the Blossom – Sam Plank Mysteries book three
In the stifling summer of 1826, the death of a young man in Hyde Park uncovers a web of blackmail and corruption so far-reaching that even the redoubtable Constable Sam Plank is shocked. A Quaker charity hides a terrible secret, a dangerous enmity is growing between London’s hackney carriage drivers and its watermen, and fraternal loyalty is tested to its limits.
The third Sam Plank novel plunges the magistrates’ constable, his determined wife Martha and his protégé William Wilson into a dark and desperate world.
Portraits of Pretence – Sam Plank Mysteries book four
Awarded BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 by influential book review website Discovering Diamonds
An elderly French artist is found dead in his rooms in London clutching a miniature portrait of a little girl. Intrigued, Constable Sam Plank delves into the world of art dealing and finds himself navigating the fragile post-war relationship between England and France. What is the link between this and the recent attacks on customs officers in London Docks? And will a beautiful mademoiselle put paid to Martha Plank’s matchmaking?
In this fourth novel in the Sam Plank series, set in the chilly spring of 1827, Plank and his junior constable William Wilson meet Frenchmen in London and daring blockademen in Kent to uncover smuggling and even more dangerous ambitions.
Faith, Hope and Trickery – Sam Plank Mysteries book five
Shortlisted for the SELFIES AWARD 2019
Rose Welford, the wife of a bootmaker, is smothered in her bed in the summer of 1828. Her husband quickly confesses to the crime, claiming that a message from beyond the grave told him to do it. At ever more popular gatherings in fields, factories and fine houses, a charismatic preacher with a history of religious offences seems to be at the heart of it all – but who, and what, can be believed when fortunes are at stake?
In this fifth novel in the series, Constable Sam Plank is drawn into matters beyond his understanding when his wife Martha hears a message of her own and his junior constable Wilson makes a momentous choice.
Heir Apparent – Sam Plank Mysteries book six
A young man returns to London from the family plantation in the Caribbean after an absence of six years to be at his father’s deathbed – and to inherit his estate. But is the new arrival who he says he is, or an impostor? Anyone who doubts his identity seems to meet an untimely end, but his sister swears that he is her beloved brother.
With their investigations leading them into the complicated world of inheritance law and due process after death, Constable Sam Plank and his loyal lieutenant William Wilson come face to face with the death trade and those who profit from it – legally or otherwise. Among them is an old enemy who has used his cunning and ruthlessness to rise through the ranks of London’s criminal world. And, in this sixth novel in the series, it’s now 1829: as plans progress for a new police force for the metropolis, Sam and his wife Martha look to the future.
Notes of Change – Sam Plank Mysteries book seven
In the autumn of 1829, the body of a wealthy young man is found dumped in a dust-pit behind one of London’s most exciting new venues. Constable Sam Plank’s enquiries lead him from horse auctions to houses of correction, and from the rarefied atmosphere of the Bank of England to the German-speaking streets of Whitechapel. And when he comes face to face with an old foe, he finds himself considering shocking compromises…
The new and highly organised Metropolitan Police are taking to the streets, calling into question the future of the magistrates’ constables. Sam’s junior constable, William Wilson, is keen, but what is an old campaigner like Sam to do when faced with the new force and its little black book of instructions?
