The Locked Library
Book One of The Sudbury Murders Richard “Dicky” Sudbury thought his days of telling stories were behind him. Once a […]
The Sudbury Murders
The Sudbury Murders
A gripping crime series set in Cornwall
Richard “Dicky” Sudbury thought his days of writing crime fiction were behind him. Once a modestly successful mystery novelist, he now owns a dusty second-hand bookshop in the Cornish seaside village of St. Justan-by-Sea, accompanied only by his imperious Maine Coon cat, Smoky, and helped by Nancy Lacey, a crime-obsessed teenager with a passion for Golden Age detection.
But when a local historian is found murdered in the village library—killed in a locked room exactly like the one in Dicky’s debut novel—the retired author finds himself reluctantly drawn into a real mystery that mirrors his own forgotten fiction with terrifying precision.
As more bodies surface, each death staged to recreate the plots of Dicky’s nine published novels, it becomes clear that someone has been studying his work with deadly intent. With the help of Nancy’s methodical approach to detection and the grudging cooperation of DS Mark Penhaligon, Dicky must confront an uncomfortable truth: his stories aren’t just being copied—they’re being used as blueprints for murder.
Set against the atmospheric backdrop of coastal Cornwall, The Sudbury Murders combines the puzzle-solving satisfaction of classic British mysteries with the psychological complexity of modern crime fiction. As the series unfolds across ten interconnected novels, a larger conspiracy emerges, one rooted in Dicky’s forgotten past with his old publisher, Red String Publishing.
“A love letter to Golden Age mysteries with a thoroughly modern sensibility. Atmospheric, intelligent, and utterly compelling.”
Perfect for fans of: Louise Penny, Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders series, and Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club mysteries.
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The Series So Far:
Book 1: The Locked Library (Available Soon)
A historian dies in an impossible locked room—just like in Dicky’s first novel.
Book 2: The Pier Stabbing
The summer festival turns deadly when fiction becomes reality once again.
Books 3-10
The mystery deepens as each new murder reveals another piece of a decades-old conspiracy that will transform everything Dicky thought he knew about his own past.
Join the growing community of readers unravelling the mystery alongside Dicky, Nancy, and Smoky in the charming but increasingly dangerous village of St. Justan-by-Sea.