Simon Mason

'The very definition of unputdownable' David Peace'Mason packs more into 200 pages than many writers do at twice the length' Sunday TimesIn the first months of 2020 there was a spate of murders of Black sex workers in northern cities. One of them was Ella Bailey, last seen talking to a punter in an alley in Sheffield city centre, and although no trace of her was ever found, the punter, Michael Godley, soon confessed to all three murders. Five years later, as another sex worker is murdered in the same district, the bag Ella had been carrying with her reappears, hanging on the door handles of a café, and a local vagrant claims to have seen Ella sitting on a bench in a churchyard near the site of the murder. South Yorkshire Police call in the Finder. So begins a search that takes him back to the strange days of the pandemic, to talk to those who knew Ella best, such as her wayward girlfriend 'Loz', abusive boyfriend Caine Poynton-Smith and respectable foster-parents still struggling to come to terms with Ella's life. How did their intelligent, strong-willed daughter - bright student and national schoolgirl athletics champion - end up in that alle? s fear grips the city, our Finder must court danger to discover the truth.

'This is absolutely first class' Stephen Fry'Simon Mason has created crime fiction's most entertaining double act in decades' Mick Herron'Move over Morse' Val McDermid'My favourite UK series' M W CravenOn a warm and pleasant evening in Oxford, gentle city of poets and scholars, rioters outside a hotel full of asylum seekers set a young refugee on fire. The city - the country - convulses in shock. Is this who we are? It's international news of the very worst kind, and the Chief Constable demands immediate and exemplary action in bringing the perpetrators to justice. The detectives leading the investigation fill him with misgivings, however: DIs Ryan and Ray Wilkins (no relation), Thames Valley's detective pantomime horse, one Oxford-educated, the other Oxford-trailer park. He doesn't understand why they work together. 'Do they even get on?' 'Somehow that doesn't seem necessary,' their Superintendent replies. Who burned the boy alive? Was it a far-right extremist? Was it an ordinary person who had simply gone along to watch and got caught up in the emotion? Could it even be one of the children who were there? Deploying a range of investigative skills, some standard, some unconventional and some frankly nuts, the Wilkinses do what they do: results with chaos. But when they discover that the victim was not an asylum seeker after all, or even a resident of the hotel, the whole investigation kicks into a completely different configuration. READERS ARE LOVING RYAN AND RAY:'Loved it, what a wonderful read' ?'Really, really enjoyed and was sorry to finish it' ?'Have really enjoyed the whole series' ?'If you like Slow Horses, either the books or the Apple series, this book is for you' ?'Set in present day Oxford, England, it is Morse times two' ?'Can't put these books down' ?'A real un-putdownable page turner . . . A tremendous read' ?

''As great a contribution to the noble British genre of detective fiction as any writer for decades'' Stephen Fry''Simon Mason has created crime fiction''s most entertaining double act in decades'' Mick HerronA SHOCKING DISAPPEARANCEA four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area, her mother only a stones-throw away.A TRIGGERING RESPONSERyan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.A DARK WEBRay begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray''s investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force.Follow on with Lost and Never Found, the next book in the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries, which The Times described as ''Inspector Morse for the 2020s.''What readers are saying about The Broken Afternoon5* ''A thoroughly engrossing crime fiction romp with Ryan Wilkins continuing to be a wonderful creation by the author''5* ''A relentlessly paced police procedural that kept me guessing until near the end''5* ''Super''5* ''Ray and Ryan win again''

''Mason has been mainlining Simenon for a while, and it shows'' Mick Herron''The very definition of unputdownable'' David Peace''It''s like the provincial British version of Maigret'' Clare ChambersBournemouth 2008, the height of the financial crash. Don Bayliss, a timid and well-mannered accountant, vanishes after leaving his office before a scheduled meeting. His wife is both perplexed and distraught. His clothes are found discarded at the mouth of Poole Harbour.After seven years of searching with no firm leads, the investigation is closed, and Don is presumed dead.Until, sorting through his possessions, his wife finds a garish business card of one Dwight Fricker and decides it must be of some importance. Now more than eight years after his disappearance Dorset Police call in the Finder and the cold case is reopened.The Finder begins with the last sightings of Don on the day he went missing, hearing how he seemed in a hurry, somewhat distracted? He unearths a string of overlooked clues that lead him to face the unlikely friendships that Don had made, the somewhat overbearing nature of Mrs Bayliss, the secrets that haunted him in his home life and the mistakes that led to him being investigated at work.The Case of the Lonely Accountant is a dark and rich mystery that centres upon one lonely man and reveals the distance between those who are missing and those who are lost.

'Excellently lean and tense crime novel with a touch of the nouveau roman about it' Ian Rankin'Mason has been mainlining Simenon for a while, and it shows' Mick Herron'The very definition of unputdownable' David Peace'It's like the provincial British version of Maigret' Clare ChambersThe people I work with call me 'Finder'. I'm a specialist, a finder of missing people. July 2015, Sevenoaks. 12-year-old schoolgirl Alice Johnson went missing while doing her paper round, her bag found discarded on the pavement. At 08.00, she was spotted standing in heavy rain at the side of the busy by-pass. At 11.00, she was seen talking to the driver of a black car in Tonbridge. After that, nothing. Alice was never found. Nine years later the body of another schoolgirl, Joleen Price, is pulled from a nearby lake and a local man named Vince Burns detained. Convinced that Burns is guilty in both cases, SIO Dave Armstrong calls in the Finder to investigate the earlier disappearance. Interviewing those who thought they knew her, the Finder gradually reveals a hidden Alice, a girl of surprising contradictions. Seeking answers from her divorced parents - an over-protective mother, a negligent father - the Finder is forced to consider violently opposing narratives. Was the timid 12-year-old a victim of the predator Burns, as he himself hints? Or was she carrying out a plan of her own?The Case of the Lonely Accountant, book two in the Finder Mysteries, is OUT NOW!

DEEP DECEPTION. TWISTED FATE.''Move over morse'' Val McDermid ''A superb series'' Sunday TimesThames Valley has a new Superintendent - DCS Wainwright - young, charismatic and ruthless, charged with pushing through big reforms. Her in-tray is full of problems - and at the top of the pile is the problem of Wilkins and Wilkins.Trailer park boy DI Ryan Wilkins, interesting looking in baggy trackies and over-large lime-green puffa. In his personnel file is a handwritten note scribbled by the outgoing Super: ''Do not, repeat not, give him responsibility.'' And posh boy DI Ray Wilkins, improbably handsome in navy blazer and tan chinos: ''Thinks too highly of himself. More experience needed at the wet end.'' Their previous investigations - though somehow successful - were models of disorder and dysfunction. The new Super needs to take action.There''s been a shocking murder in the heart of Oxford, the stabbing of a security guard during an attempted armed robbery. Meanwhile, an elderly professor of linguistics goes missing from his home in cosy Iffley Village.The high-profile murder investigation can be safely handled by reliable detective DI Hare. The entry-level enquiry into the wandering academic can be given to the problem duo, with instructions to keep it simple. But when the body of the professor is found, still dressed in his pyjamas and dripping wet, spreadeagled on a hotel lawn miles from home, things get a little unexpected for the Wilkinses. Will Ray keep on top of the brief? Will Ryan keep it together?PRAISE FOR SIMON MASON ''Terrific'' Mick Herron''This moody, atmospheric novel is full of surprises'' Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month)''[W]ell plotted and very funny'' Sun''This has a TV series written all over it'' Daily Mail

''The very definition of unputdownable'' David Peace''Mason packs more into 200 pages than many writers do at twice the length'' Sunday TimesIn the first months of 2020 there was a spate of murders of Black sex workers in northern cities. One of them was Ella Bailey, last seen talking to a punter in an alley in Sheffield city centre, and although no trace of her was ever found, the punter, Michael Godley, soon confessed to all three murders.Five years later, as another sex worker is murdered in the same district, the bag Ella had been carrying with her reappears, hanging on the door handles of a café, and a local vagrant claims to have seen Ella sitting on a bench in a churchyard near the site of the murder. South Yorkshire Police call in the Finder.So begins a search that takes him back to the strange days of the pandemic, to talk to those who knew Ella best, such as her wayward girlfriend ''Loz'', abusive boyfriend Caine Poynton-Smith and respectable foster-parents still struggling to come to terms with Ella''s life. How did their intelligent, strong-willed daughter - bright student and national schoolgirl athletics champion - end up in that alley?As fear grips the city, our Finder must court danger to discover the truth.