Michael Underwood

He braced his shoulders against the back of James Geddy's swivel chair and stretched out his arms luxuriously. It was the same chair that he was found in the next morning, though now pinned in a stiff, ungainly pose of violent death ... The setting is a barristers' chambers in Temple, London. And the barristers, their clerks, their pupils and their instructing solicitors all form part of the cast of suspects for a very bloody murder ...

'Roger waited but nothing further came. Dayne's expression, however, told its story. A story of fear and cunning ...'Tony Dayne's predicament presents a problem. The English police had promised him escape and immunity for feeding them all he knew about his partners in an international counterfeiting ring. But an accident and an over-zealous policeman gets Tony pulled during the raid. The best the police can do for him is appoint a young lawyer, Roger Elwin, who does some detecting that takes him as far afield as Vienna and the violent end of yet another conspirator.

When Mrs Sophie Easterberg is found dead on her bedroom floor in the picturesque village of Five Meadows, it is apparent she has been murdered. The obvious suspect is Dave Lucas, an ex-borstal boy recently employed by her, who has since disappeared. Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton of Scotland Yard is despatched to take charge of the case. He soon tracks Lucas down. But is he guilty? And, even if he is, would a jury convict him?

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die ... It's the carnival motto for Trinidad's most colourful celebrations of the year. But, while thousands enjoy themselves in uninhibited eating, drinking and love-making, Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton is on the hunt for a dangerous killer. He has struck twice, and he will strike again. For one unlucky person the carnival motto is about to become a sinister reality.

A whodunnit in the best blood-tingling tradition, which keeps the reader gasping and guessing till the last page. Although Julian Prentice is a small-time crook, his theft of a car hardly seems to warrant someone's very deliberate attempt to kill him on the day he is released from prison. The final roll-call of suspects comes to six, with six apparently foolproof alibis. Yet someone is lying. It falls to Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton to work out who ...

It is unfortunate that Jeremy Harper was the one to stumble upon the victim of an armed robbery. A young barrister, he is more used to holding court than being a witness. He also finds himself curiously linked to the man in the dock. It is a trial with deep undercurrents, and one that dramatically comes to a head when a strangled body is found in the town hall. Enter Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton of Scotland Yard, who will not rest until the final clue falls into place ...

A crime-thriller that strikes the heart of the legal world. QC Christopher Henham is poisoned during the hearing of a divorce case. His wife, her son and ex-husband, not to mention a High Court judge, his wife and a secretary all come under suspicion. Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton takes charge of the investigation. What is the truth behind Mrs Henham's motor accident? Who doctored her husband's cough sweets? But, before he can solve the case, another murder is committed.

'Her name is Maisie Jenks and that's her father with her. They live up in St. John's Wood way, and she knows who the murderer is ...'William Tarrant is on trial for the murder of a police constable. Before he can give evidence in his own defence, however, he is shot in Court 1 of the Old Bailey. In his debut case, Detective-Inspector Simon Manton has to solve the puzzle of a missing juror, a nervous warder, and a girl, Maisie, who screams just before the deadly shot is fired ...

Adam Cape - a young barrister - prosecutes a case of assault at the Old Bailey. On the face of it, it's a straightforward trial but its aftermath brings him uncomfortably close to death and Adam is unable to free himself from a murder that results. With the best of motives, and the most unprofessional behavior, he becomes a bane to police; lands in hospital; is on hand when a bank robbery is averted - and, remarkably, bumbles into the truth of the case.

'We have an agent in East Germany whom we wish to get out ...'There was nothing unusual about these words to the urbane British Intelligence chief who spoke them. He might have been discussing the weather. But to Martin Ainsworth it was the beginning of a nightmare journey from Munich to Istanbul. They had picked Martin for the job. They had planned everything. They had made it all very simple. But they hadn't counted on everything going wrong ...

The crime is murder - cold blooded, pre-meditated and motivated by sheer greed. Colin Wise, a television repair man, is a well-mannered youngster. Among the homes he visits is that of Geoffrey Goodwin, whom he befriends. And while Goodwin is preparing for an extended business trip to Australia, Colin Wise is also making plans: plans to ensure Goodwin will not be seen again, and will never be missed ...

Six men have failed to appear in a West End court, so it's time for Scotland Yard to make a few undercover enquiries. They enlist the help of Detective-Constable Cordari, who leads them to a mysterious organisation smuggling criminals out of the country. There ensues a relentless chase that moves to Algeria and back to London. In the meantime, Cordari has vanished in the same horribly mysterious way as others before him.'A plot that grows to grim and sinister proportions. An ingenious story with plenty of excitement' Manchester Evening News

'Her scarf had been knotted tightly around her neck and it was obvious she had been killed with great determination ...'Susan Andrews has been murdered and her body found near a disused airfield. The case is now in the hands of Detective-Superintendent Simon Manton, but Susan's father, a former detective-inspector, decides to investigate himself. Important questions soon emerge - what part has a philandering salesman with a scratched cheek, or the dreamy undergraduate son of the local gentry played in Susan's final hours? And, how much evidence must you have against a suspect before you can charge them with murder?

For the police it was an open and shut case: Stephen Lumley was guilty of taking part in the robbery at his uncle's jewellery shop. All the evidence was against him - he was unemployed and in debt, he'd made threats in the past against his uncle, Bernard Hammond, and he'd tried to escape when the other thieves fled the scene. Yet Lumley maintains his innocence, and the only person who believes him - apart from his wife - is his lawyer, the intuitive Rosa Epton. Rosa's efforts to learn the truth are frustrated by the elusiveness of a possible lead, so Lumley must stand trial at the Old Bailey. Undeterred, Rosa carries on her private enquiries with little success, until, that is, her lead turns up - dead.

Solicitor Rosa Epton has vowed never again to work on a case with Malcolm Palfrey. For two years she's managed to keep that promise - but when Palfrey journeys from distant Nettleford personally to request her assistance in one final case, Rosa finds herself reluctantly agreeing. Initially the job seems routine enough: the two lawyers are to defend a young couple charged with malicious damage following a night of reckless drinking. While Rosa doggedly prepares the defence, Palfrey's participation is almost nonexistent, and on the day of the trial he fails to turn up. What Rosa doesn't know is that he is slumped over a park bench with a bullet in his brain and gun in his hand ...

A chance sighting in a café in Amsterdam gives solicitor Rosa Epton an unwelcome shock. At a nearby table sits an ex-client who should be behind bars, having recently been sentenced to five years in prison. So what is Eddie Ruding doing in Amsterdam a few weeks later? On her return to England, Rosa makes a few discreet enquiries, only to draw a blank. But just as she has decided to try to put the matter out of her mind, a newspaper report shocks her into action. Eddie Ruding has been found dead, his crumpled body lying at the foot of the walls of Wandsworth Prison.

When schoolboy Jason Cutler is killed late one night in a hit-and-run, the police are puzzled by the presence of a letter in his locker, to which is attached a five-pound note. They are unable to identify its author, nor can they ascertain why the boy was out so late at night. Solicitor Rosa Epton has followed the case with interest, but when a client she has recently defended on a drugs charge turns up dead in the grounds of the school, her involvement becomes professional. It seems unlikely that the two cases are connected, but why does Jason's brother deny having seen him in the days leading up to his death? And who was the girl seated opposite Rosa on the train and behaving erratically on the day news of the accident came out?

Her Honour Judge Celia Kilby does not suffer fools gladly. Criminals, counsel and clerks all feel the lash of her tongue, and all know her bark is as vicious as her bite. So when she receives an anonymous letter threatening her life, no one is particularly surprised. But the police investigation fails to substantiate the threat; and then Judge Kilby is found murdered in her own garden and surprising aspects of her private life come to light, including an illegitimate son. Suspects and motives abound, but means and opportunity remains elusive - until Rosa Epton accepts a client who confesses to being the anonymous letter writer. But is her client the killer?

On New Year's Eve, solicitor Rosa Epton spends a pleasant evening talking to a man who seems to be finding the date he has brought with him less than satisfactory company. The next morning she receives a call from the police. Toby Nash has been charged with raping the woman with whom he attended the party, and has asked for Rosa. Unfortunately for Nash and Rosa, the detective inspector in charge of the case is determined to get a conviction by any means.

Not much was known about Arthur Kedby in the West End Club that he frequented. 'He doesn't look much like a secret agent,' remarked one member, but in general that was what he was believed to be. But Kedby is a blackmailer, and not even a very successful one; his great success lies in the fact that he has never been caught. Then he recognises the face of a club guest - a face he has seen before. And all at once Kedby has an opportunity to practise his skills at a level that might just furnish him with a pension ...