I have an obsession with British police procedurals and detective fiction. Since the days of Agatha Christie, British authors seem to have dominated this particular brand of genre fiction. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting some of my personal favorites.
The Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid.
Tony Hill knows that even the most meticulous serial killers leave their identities behind in every crime scene. As a criminologist, Dr. Hill can identify a killer’s habits and psychological profile, but it’s up to Carol Jordan of the Bradfield police to actually catch the killer. The first book of the series The Mermaids Singing introduces us to Hill and Jordan as they try to catch serial killer who leaves behind the bodies of young men, each with his throat slashed, each who had been tortured in a different and disturbing way.
McDermid’s series was turned into a television series in Britain with Robson Green starring as Dr. Tony Hill. The series Wire in the Blood is available on DVD. Her latest Hill and Jordan book The Retribution was published in 2011.
