books in order

Barry Maitland Books In Order

Brock And Kolla/Kathy and Brock Books In Publication Order

  1. The Marx Sisters (1994)
  2. The Malcontenta (1995)
  3. All My Enemies (1996)
  4. The Chalon Heads (1998)
  5. Silvermeadow (2000)
  6. Babel (2002)
  7. The Verge Practice (2003)
  8. No Trace (2004)
  9. Spider Trap (2006)
  10. Dark Mirror (2009)
  11. Chelsea Mansions (2011)
  12. The Raven’s Eye (2013)
  13. The Promised Land (2019)

The Belltree Trilogy Books In Publication Order

  1. Crucifixion Creek (2014)
  2. Ash Island (2015)
  3. Slaughter Park (2017)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Bright Air (2008)

Brock And Kolla/Kathy and Brock Book Covers

The Belltree Trilogy Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Barry Maitland Books Overview

The Marx Sisters

Detective Kathy Kolla’s first case is one for the books. Meredith Winterbottom, a resident of Jerusalem Lane a quaint section of London inhabited by Eastern European immigrants and a great granddaughter of Karl Marx, is found dead. Was she the victim of greedy real estate developers, or was she killed for the politics of another age? When a second Marx sister is killed, David Brock, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, is brought in to help. As Kathy and Brock delve into the Lane’s eccentric melting pot, they find unpublished letters from Marx to Engels; a possible fourth volume of Das Kapital; an endless list of shady suspects; and a plot to end Kathy’s investigating days for good. Can they unravel the mystery before Kathy’s first case is her last?The Marx Sisters is a classic British whodunit, one that adds an unforgettable team to the ranks of great fictional detectives.’Cleverly devious, sagaciously cunning…
Maitland’s first mystery is a pleasure to read.’ Los Angeles Times’Intelligently devised and subtly plotted…
A traditional crime novel with memorable and enjoyable detectives, suspects and victims.’. The Dallas Morning News’A fine morsel…
There is no lack of suspense and no lack of skill in their presentation. More please, Mr. Maitland.’ The Washington Times

The Malcontenta

‘ Barry Maitland’s first mystery, The Marx Sisters, introduced American readers to an exciting new duo in crime fiction, Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla and Detective Chief Inspector David Brock of Scotland Yard. Now, in The Malcontenta, Kathy and Brock make their eagerly awaited return in a complex, nuanced new thriller. Kathy is on temporary assignment away from London with Family and Juvenile Crime and is desperate to escape the second rate duties assigned her. So she jumps at the chance to investigate the unnatural death of a young physiotherapist at an exclusive local naturopathic spa. Very soon it becomes clear that the apparent suicide is fraught with complications. Is a cover up taking place to protect the reputations of wealthy clients? Or was the cause of death really murder? Taken off the case with alarming speed before she has the chance to discover the truth, Kathy turns to Brock for help. But when Brock checks himself in as a patient, they both learn that spas are not always good for your health especially if you’re a target for murder. Set against a background of natural remedies and with a suspicion of not entirely natural practices, The Malcontenta is a fast paced, suspenseful, and satisfying new novel from a writer whose skills, already remarkable in his debut, continue to grow. Published originally in England and Australia, The Malcontenta won the Ned Kelly Prize for Crime Fiction, Australia’s equivalent to the Edgar Award.’

All My Enemies

In one of the finest and most pivotal books in this critically acclaimed series, never before published in the U.S., D.S. Kathy Kolla reports to New Scotland Yard and to D.C.I. David Brock’s Serious Crime Division.
Just before Kolla is to start her new job, a young woman is found viscously murdered in a leafy, well heeled suburb, and the grotesque details of the slaughter appear to be well rehearsed, even theatrical. Assigned to the case, Kolla’s only improbable lead draws her to a local amateur drama group. Once in their orbit, she is lured into a piece of theatre over which, increasingly, she has little control. In All My Enemies, Brock and Kolla find themselves in a tangled web of deceptions in a case wherein a corpus of plays becomes a template for murder.

The Chalon Heads

When Scotland Yard detectives David Brock and Kathy Kolla are summoned to Cabot’s, a venerable dealer of rare stamps, they expect a simple case of theft and a pleasant digression from the usual sort of wrongdoing encountered in the Serious Crime Branch. Instead, they find themselves on the trail of an extortionist when they learn that the wife of Sammy China, an unsavory figure from Brock’s past, has been kidnapped. The only clue is a ransom note decorated with rare and valuable Chalon Head stamps of the young Queen Victoria, to whom Sammy’s wife bears an uncanny resemblance. ‘The third and finest case so far for this underrated pair of coppers, and the most satisfyingly twisty mystery of the year.’ Kirkus Reviews, starred

Silvermeadow

When his longtime nemesis, the amphetamine juiced killer known as ‘Upper’ North, is spotted in England, Detective Chief Inspector Brock is on the trail. His manhunt centers on Silvermeadow, a huge and glittery new shopping mall on the outskirts of London, where North was seen. Lying in wait, he and Kathy Kolla take on a seemingly unrelated case as camouflage, that of a missing girl who had worked in the mall. But what to make of the rumor of other girls gone missing? Coming up against dead ends, Kathy sets off to follow some leads of her own and finds out that going solo can be very dangerous.

Babel

Scotland Yard’s brilliant crime solving duo, Kathy Kolla and David Brock, take on an unsettling new case that touches on the timeliest of issues, Arab fundamentalism, genetic engineering, and murder. Scotland Yard’s brilliant crime solving duo, Kathy Kolla and David Brock, take on an unsettling new case that touches on the timeliest of issues, Arab fundamentalism, genetic engineering, and murder. Following her ordeal at the end of Silvermeadow, Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla is on leave at the start of Babel, so burned out she is tempted to quit the force for good. But nothing can keep her from the hunt in this puzzling new case. Professor Max Springer, one of Britain’s leading academics, has been brutally murdered on the steps of a London university. Springer was notorious for his stand against Islamic extremism, but was that motive enough to kill him? While Kathy and Brock start looking for answers in London’s Arab community, rivalries within the university point in another direction. Springer’s colleague, a professor of medical genetics, becomes involved. Is he as dangerous and unethical as he seems? Meanwhile, why would someone leak information about this sensitive investigation to the media, risking an explosion in the streets? In this taut and satisfying mystery, Barry Maitland proves once again that he is one of the masters of the police procedural writing today.

No Trace

Cited as one of the top ten crime novels of 2006 Kirkus Reviews, No Trace is the finest novel yet by one of best crime novelists of our time. In a London neighborhood known for its artists and bohemian style, six year old Tracey Rudd is abducted from her home without any warning, or sign of violence. She is the third child abucted under similar circumstances in recent weeks. But this case is different. She is the daughter of notorious contemporary artist Gabriel Rudd, best known for the grotesque ‘Dead Puppies,’ a work centered around his wife’s suicide five years earlier. While Rudd exploits Tracey’s abduction as an inspiration for a major new work in his upcoming exhibit, D.C.I. David Brock and Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla hunt for the missing girls’ kidnapper, who is suspiciously connected to the eccentric community of artists, dealers, and collectors in the neighborhood.

Spider Trap

When human bones are discovered in Co*ckpit Lane, a poor area of inner south London, D.C.I. David Brock and D.S. Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard are called in to investigate. The first twist in the case comes when Brock and Kolla learn that the victims died over twenty years ago, during the Brixton riots, information that leads the two of them on a dangerous journey into the heart of the West Indian community in London. Making matters worse, a formidable old antagonist, Spider Roach, returns, weaving together past and present in an intricate web of deception and intrigue. Now the two have to uncover the truth of those long ago deaths, and be able to prove it with a crucial piece of evidence, in order to prevent the violence of the past from revisiting itself on them.

Dark Mirror

Newly promoted to Detective Inspector, Kathy Kolla of the Serious Crimes Unit is called in by the forensic pathologist regarding the recent sudden death of a London student from what he’s determined to be arsenic poisoning. Marion Summers had no reason to be in contact with arsenic and, though once common, arsenic is now very hard to get hold of. The more Kolla investigates, the more she discovers that certain other things about Summers are also unusual. She moved three octobers ago without leaving a forwarding address or informing her relatives. And her step father has a disquieting past and, after attacking a constable in a pub, a not so savory present. With each turn in the investigation, it becomes increasingly clear that behind what really happened and why lies the most difficult to crack case the team has ever faced.

Chelsea Mansions

‘Brock and Kolla’s meticulous, psychologically astute sleuthing fascinates.’ Entertainment Weekly on No TraceThe annual Chelsea Flower Show is one of the tourist highlights of London. But this year, the event is tainted by the murder of an American tourist in a random act of violence. But when DCI David Brock’s Serious Crime division of Scotland Yard investigates, they quickly discover that the killer somehow avoided having both his face and his escape captured on any of the many closed circuit cameras in the area. The conclusion is inescapable what seemed a senseless, but random, event was in fact a carefully planned murder. But how could the victim a retired widow traveling with a long time family friend be worth the trouble and expense of such an elaborate killing? When a very wealthy Russian oligarch is killed in the garden of his palatial estate not far from the hotel where the murdered tourist was staying, Brock and Kolla suspect that something more complicated is going on and that the two killings are somehow related. In a case that takes Brock and his team all the way to the States and back, secrets from a long forgotten past are the key to a string of bloody murders that are just beginning…

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