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This page lists novels and short story collections by Andrew Taylor. Some of the novels for children were published using the name John Robert Taylor - these are included in the main list of novels.

Books published using the pen name Andrew Saville are also included but in a separate section.

Cover images are of an early UK edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.

By Andrew Taylor:
- novels & short story collections
- omnibus editions
- Andrew Saville novels

Caroline Minuscule

Andrew Taylor

1982

A William Dougal novel.

"William Dougal, a post-graduate expert in the medieval script of Caroline Minuscule, stumbles on the garroted corpse of his tutor - and finds himself embroiled in a hunt for a cache of diamonds, a deadly fairy story in which no one obeys the rules, least of all Dougal's girlfriend Amanda. As the body count rises, the couple pursue both the diamonds and their doom from London, to an East Anglian cathedral close, from Cambridge to a wintry Suffolk estuary."

Waiting For The End Of The World

Andrew Taylor

1984

A William Dougal novel.

"William Dougal is blackmailed into doing a job for his old adversary James Hanbury. All he has to do is keep an eye on Dr Vertag, the leader of a lunatic fringe survival group. But he has hardly started when the barman who tried to warn him off is murdered. Suddenly, Zelda appears from Dougal's murky past, just as suddenly she is kidnapped from his flat. His natural desire to rescue her plunges him into a maelstrom of criminal activities. The shadow of James Hanbury hangs over everything. Like truth itself, Hanbury is rarely pure and never simple."

Our Fathers' Lies

Andrew Taylor

1985

A William Dougal novel.

"There's unfinished business between William Dougal and his widowed father. Part of it has to do with Celia Prentisse, William's ex-girlfriend. When her historian father is found drowned, it's declared suicide, but Celia remains unconvinced - not least because his abandoned clothes were found with a bottle of the wrong brand of gin and a slim volume of Schopenhauer's essays. It's not much evidence, but it's enough to send her godfather, retired British intelligence officer Major Ted Dougal, and his son William off on a trail that leads to a 1930s arsenic poisoning and a still-classified World War I court martial."

An Old School Tie

Andrew Taylor

1986

A William Dougal novel.

"James Hanbury is a reformed character. Or he would like to be. He plans to marry into respectability: his bride Molly is both rich and of good family. But alas, on the very day of their return from honeymoon, Molly is electrocuted. Accident or murder? The villagers of Charleston Parva believe that it's murder, and accuse her husband of having expeditiously dispatched her as soon as he had his hands on her money. Local feelings grow tense. Hanbury appeals for help to his old friend and adversary, Dougal, who is himself far from convinced of Hanbury's innocence. After all, he knows better than anyone that Hanbury is capable of murder."

Freelance Death

Andrew Taylor

1987

A William Dougal novel.

"Rod Lorton wants revenge. After his wife's death, he discovers unsavoury truths about her and her former employer, PR chief Ivor Newley. Called in to investigate Lorton's new-found enemy, private detective William Dougal uncovers a weakness to exploit: Newley's rare collection of coins, coins that would leave Newley susceptible to blackmail if the collection were to disappear . . . That was the plan. But the outcome throws up something far more sinister and infinitely more dangerous than Dougal could have expected. For instead of being met with a bundle of cash when he arrives to seal the deal, the only payment Dougal is faced with is a corpse."

The Second Midnight

Andrew Taylor

1988

Book one of the Blaines trilogy.

"As war looms in Europe, Hugh Kendall is a troubled young boy. When his hated father offers him the chance to visit Prague, however, Hugh feels that this may be a turning point in their relationship. Hugh could hardly have been more mistaken. His father had taken him as cover for his minor mission on behalf of the Intelligence Services, and has no second thoughts when he has to leave Hugh in the hands of the growing Czech Communist Resistance to allow him to return to England. Hugh is left without a family, without a home, and has to remake his life in a country which has just been over-run by the Nazis and where he does not even speak the language. But Hugh begins to find himself, especially when he is taken under the wing of a Wehrmacht colonel, Helmut Scholl - a 'good' Nazi - and discovers the joys of friendship with Scholl's daughter Magda. Hugh's alien status as foreigner and potential enemy, however, is never forgotten by Scholl's son Heinz, who mistrusts and dislikes Hugh. As a shattered Europe edges towards an uneasy peace and an intensifying Cold War, Hugh and Magda are separated without any obvious hope of ever finding each other, and Hugh and Heinz are set on a course that will bring them into ultimate confrontation."

Blacklist

Andrew Taylor

1988

Book two of the Blaines trilogy.

"During the bleak closing decade of the Cold War, there is no sign of a thaw between the opposing powers of East and West. But what if there is a common threat, which can only be faced with a common response? Unless, of course, the common threat itself is an illusion created by one of the players in the intelligence game. But someone, for some reason, is blackmailing key members of the intelligence community on both sides of the Iron Curtain. And people are dying - in violent circumstances. Coincidence? If not, what is the common link uniting the different cases? Eric Blaines, the dyspeptic trouble-shooter from the Ministry of Defence, is the only man who can find the answer. But to do so he must confront the ghosts in his own past."

Hairline Cracks

John Robert Taylor

1988

A novel for young adults.

"When Sam and a friend begin to investigate his mother's disappearance, they put themselves in danger as they learn about hairline cracks in the silos of a nuclear plant and the ruthlessness of men who want this kept secret."

Private Nose

Andrew Taylor

1989

A children's book.

"Saturday Holmes and Jack Watson form a detective partnership and become involved in three mysteries, as they investigate the theft of Jack's teddy bear, outsmart a ghost, and use their sleuthing skills to solve a baffling problem."

Snapshot

John Robert Taylor

1989

A novel for young adults.

"This is a thriller with a complex plot and fast-paced style. The events take place over a Bank Holiday weekend and involve two teenagers - an English boy and an American girl, in a dangerous hunt for evidence to save her father from a charge of espionage."

Toyshop

Andrew Taylor

1990

Book three of the Blaines trilogy.

"Wolfgang is dead. He had been stationed in the UK, a high-flying senior export executive for East Germany's toy manufacturing industry. Now his bosses want his brother Gerhard to replace him in London. It makes little sense to Gerhard, but at least the job offers an opportunity to escape life behind the Iron Curtain. Working in London under the watchful eyes of the Stasi, Gerhard suspects that his brother was murdered. He digs deeper and joins forces with a young American, Elizabeth Allanton. They seem to share a common desire for the truth about Wolfgang. But their search for the facts behind his death leads them into the clutches of both the East German and British intelligence services. Once you are caught, can you ever escape?"

Blood Relation

Andrew Taylor

1990

A William Dougal novel.

"William Dougal's life seems to be running smoothly. Now working with his old rival, Hanbury, his reputation is gaining him cases from every corner. But with every climb, there has to come a fall . . . When Dougal agrees to investigate the disappearance and suspected murder of publisher Oswald Finwood, he is faced with an array of suspects, all with the means and motive - from Finwood's estranged wife to an elusive author who had an appointment with Finwood on the day he disappeared. As Dougal probes deeper, he finds himself tangled in a complex web of greed, deceit and deadly family revenge."

Double Exposure

Andrew Taylor

1990

The Raven On The Water

Andrew Taylor

1991

"Back in 1964, Peter Redburn and his best friend Richard had spent a golden summer holiday playing out their special game – a private world of secret rituals and oaths of loyalty sworn for eternity. It was all very innocent - until James and Kate joined in . . . And then, one night, their childish game turned to tragedy . . . Now an adult, Peter has never been able to escape his own feelings of guilt about the events that summer. So when he stumbles across a hoard of childhood memories, he knows he must search out the truth. And with a funeral bringing all participants together again, bitter rivalries and sordid secrets are about to be unearthed."

The Sleeping Policeman

Andrew Taylor

1992

A William Dougal novel.

"When William Dougal is invited to the cottage of a young doctor to look into a case of blackmail, he soon discovers that the village community is not as quaint as it seems. For hostility and deception brew beneath the surface . . . As a network of corruption is gradually exposed, the village is shaken by a series of chilling incidents: from a sweep of thefts to a ruthless hit-and-run. And when tensions escalate into murder, it's up to Dougal to piece the puzzle together - before another body turns up."

Negative Image

Andrew Taylor

1992

Odd Man Out

Andrew Taylor

1993

A William Dougal novel.

"William Dougal is a respectable private detective, a hardworking citizen and a responsible father - and now he's also a killer. After a violent squabble takes a dangerous turn, Dougal decides to shun the police and instead take things into his own hands. He accepts the assistance of his old rival and current employer, Hanbury, to dispose of the corpse. But Dougal quickly finds that help doesn't come cheap. In fact, it's often more trouble - and danger - than it's worth."

The Barred Window

Andrew Taylor

1993

"It is 1993 and Thomas Penmarsh has lived in Finisterre, the house by the sea, all his life, sleeping each night in the room with the barred window. He's only 48 but has been an old man since one evening in 1967 when he lost everything he valued. With the death of his controlling mother, Thomas finally becomes master of his own house. When Esmond, his cousin and childhood confidante, comes to live with him Thomas is overjoyed - Esmond always looks after him . . . But is Esmond all that he seems? And why is he so concerned that Alice wants to come home too? Darling Alice, whom neither have seen since that fateful night twenty-six years ago."

An Air That Kills

Andrew Taylor

1994

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"Workmen in the small market town of Lydmouth are demolishing an old cottage. A sledgehammer smashes into what looks like a solid wall. Instead, layers of wallpaper conceal the door of a locked cupboard which holds a box - and in the box is the skeleton of a young baby. Items within the box suggest that the baby was entombed early in the nineteenth century, but when another man is also found dead, the evidence suggests that the baby's death is more recent and that a killer is on the loose. For Journalist Jill Francis, newly arrived from London, this looks like her first story to chase."

The Invader

Andrew Taylor

1994

A novel for young adults.

"Who is Elvira Bladon? All Adam knows is that she's blonde, American, and stunning - with a gift for making him look foolish. She has been snooping around at The Sanctuary, the centre for birds of prey where Adam works. He knows he has to find out more about her before she can cause even more trouble there. But then Adam's boss is hospitalised after a mysterious attack, and Adam unexpectedly has to take Carson's place on a trip to Turkey and the United States. But violence and blackmail plague his progress, and Adam's life is soon threatened."

The Mortal Sickness

Andrew Taylor

1995

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"When a spinster of the parish is found bludgeoned to death in St John's, and the church's most valuable possession, the Lydmouth chalice, is missing, the finger of suspicion points at the new vicar, who is already beset with problems. The glare of the police investigation reveals shabby secrets and private griefs. Jill Francis, struggling to find her feet in her new life, stumbles into the case at the beginning. But even a journalist cannot always watch from the sidelines. Soon she is inextricably involved in the Suttons' affairs. Despite the electric antagonism between her and Inspector Richard Thornhill, she has instincts that she can't ignore."

The Four Last Things

Andrew Taylor

1997

Book one of the Roth trilogy.

"Little Lucy Appleyard is snatched from her child minder’s on a cold winter afternoon, and the nightmare begins. When Eddie takes her home to beautiful, child-loving Angel, he knows he’s done the right thing. But Lucy’s not like their other visitors, and unwittingly she strikes through Angel’s defences to something both vulnerable and volatile at the core. To the outside world Lucy has disappeared into a black hole with no clues to her whereabouts…until the first grisly discovery in a London graveyard. More such finds are to follow, all at religious sites, and, in a city haunted by religion, what do these offerings signify? All that stands now between Lucy and the final sacrifice are a CID sergeant on the verge of disgrace and a woman cleric – Lucy’s parents – but how can they hope to halt the evil forces that are gathering around their innocent daughter?"

The Lover Of The Grave

Andrew Taylor

1997

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"After the coldest night of the year, they find the man's body. He is dangling from the Hanging Tree on the outskirts of a village near Lydmouth, with his trousers round his ankles. Is it suicide, murder, or accidental death resulting from some bizarre sexual practice? Journalist Jill Francis and Detective Inspector Thornhill become involved in the case in separate ways. Jill is also drawn unwillingly into the affairs of the small public school where the dead man taught. Meanwhile a Peeping Tom is preying upon Lydmouth; Jill has just moved into her own house and is afraid she is being watched. And there are more distractions, on a personal level, for policeman and reporter."

The Judgement Of Strangers

Andrew Taylor

1998

Book two of the Roth trilogy.

"It is 1970. David Byfield, a widowed parish priest with a dark past and a darker future, brings home a new wife to Roth. Throughout the summer, the consequences of the marriage reverberate through a village now submerged in a sprawling London suburb. Blinded by lust, Byfield is oblivious to the dangers that lie all about him: the menopausal churchwarden with a hopeless passion for her priest; his beautiful, neglected teenage daughter Rosemary; and the sinister presence of Frances Youlgreave - poet, opium addict and suicide – whose power stretches beyond the grave. Soon the murders and blasphemies begin. But does the responsibility lie in the present or the past? And can Byfield, a prisoner of his own passion, break through to the truth before the final tragedy destroys what he most cherishes?"

The Suffocating Night

Andrew Taylor

1998

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"The Korean war rumbles in the background throughout this novel as a reporter is found murdered at the Bathurst Arms, squatters are evicted from a military camp and there are new developments in the three-year-old hunt for a missing teenager. And in spite of all that's going on, Jill Francis, a local journalist, and DI Richard Thornhill find they can no longer resist their feelings for each other."

The Office Of The Dead

Andrew Taylor

2000

Book three of the Roth trilogy.

"Janet Byfield has everything Wendy Appleyard lacks: she’s beautiful; she has a handsome husband, a clergyman on the verge of promotion; and most of all she has an adorable little daughter, Rosie. So when Wendy’s life falls apart, it’s to her oldest friend, Janet, that she turns. At first it seems as to Wendy as though nothing can touch the Byfields’s perfect existence in 1950s Cathedral Close, Rosington, but old sins gradually come back to haunt the present, and new sins are bred in their place. The shadow of death seeps through the Close, and only Wendy, the outsider looking in, is able to glimpse the truth. But can she grasp it’s twisted logic in time to prevent a tragedy whose roots lie buried deep in the past?"

Where Roses Fade

Andrew Taylor

2000

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"When Mattie Harris's body is found drowned in the river, everyone in Lydmouth knows something is wrong. Mattie wasn't a swimmer - it can't have been a simple accident. She was drunk on the last night of her life - could she have fallen in? Or was she pushed? Mattie was a waitress, of no importance at all, so when Lydmouth's most prominent citizens become very anxious to establish that her death was accidental, Jill Francis's suspicions become roused. In the meantime she is becoming ever closer to Inspector Richard Thornhill, and discovering that the living have as many secrets as the dead."

Death's Own Door

Andrew Taylor

2001

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"When the body of Rufus Moorcroft, a middle-aged widower with a distinguished war record, is found in his summerhouse, the verdict is suicide. But both reporter Jill Francis and her lover, Detective Richard Thornhill, approaching the case from different angles, discover there's more to it than that. The key to the mystery stretches back to a highly-charged summer before the war, and back to another death. A local asylum plays a part, as do a moderately famous artist and his wife; Superintendent Williamson, now retired and loathing it; Councillor Bernie Broadbent - a man with more pies than fingers to put in them; a Cambridge don; an aristocratic unmarried mother, now gleefully drawing her old-age pension; and - to Thornhill's surprise and growing horror - his own wife, Edith."

The American Boy

Andrew Taylor

2003

Published in the USA as An Unpardonable Crime.

"England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the child’s sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Helplessly drawn to Frant’s beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes entwined in their family’s affairs. When a brutal murder takes place in London’s seedy backstreets, it is not certain who either the victim or the killer is. But all clues seem to lead back to the Frant household, and Shield is tangled in a web of lies, money, sex and death that threatens to tear his new life apart. And what of the strange American boy at the heart of these macabre events – what is the dark secret of young Edgar Allan Poe?"

Call The Dying

Andrew Taylor

2004

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"Love and need make unexpected bedfellows, and both are blind. As the grip of a long hard winter tightens on Lydmouth, a dead woman calls the dying in a seance behind net curtains. Two provincial newspapers are in the throes of a bitter circulation war. A lorry-driver broods, and an office boy loses his heart. Britain is basking in the warm glow of post-war tranquillity, but in the quiet town of Lydmouth, darker forces are at play. The rats are fed on bread and milk, a gentleman's yellow kid glove is mislaid on a train, and something disgusting is happening at Mr Prout's toyshop. Returning to a town shrouded in intrigue and suspicion, Jill Francis becomes acting editor of the Gazette. Meanwhile, there's no pleasure left in the life of Detective Chief Inspector Richard Thornhill. Only a corpse, a television set and the promise of trouble to come."

Naked To The Hangman

Andrew Taylor

2006

A Lydmouth novel featuring Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill.

"As a young police officer in Palestine during the closing months of the Mandate - the cradle of Middle Eastern terrorism - Richard Thornhill saw and did things which still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Is he himself a killer? Now, when a retired police officer is found dead in the ruins of Lydmouth Castle, the past has come back to claim Detective Inspector Thornhill, and he is under suspicion of another murder. His wife Edith and former lover Jill Francis join forces in an uneasy alliance to try to help him. "

A Stain On The Silence

Andrew Taylor

2006

"James wasn't much more than a child when he had an affair with Lily. And now, twenty-four years later, Lily confesses to James that their affair led to a daughter, Kate. And Kate desperately needs her father's help: she's wanted for murder. But there is no room for murder in James's life. He has a wife, a good job, a nice house in the country . . . As Kate comes crashing into his world, so she lights the fuse under his ordered life. Because James has also been keeping a secret - a very dark and deadly one."

Bleeding Heart Square

Andrew Taylor

2008

"Into the decaying cul-de-sac of Bleeding Heart Square steps aristocratic Lydia Langstone fleeing an abusive marriage. However, unknown to Lydia, a dark mystery haunts Bleeding Heart Square. What happened to Miss Penhow, the middle-aged spinster who owns the house and who vanished four years earlier? Why is a seedy plain-clothes policeman obsessively watching the square? What is making struggling journalist Rory Wentwood so desperate to contact Miss Penhow? And why are parcels of rotting hearts being sent to Joseph Serridge, the last person to see Miss Penhow alive?"

The Anatomy Of Ghosts

Andrew Taylor

2010

"1786, Jerusalem College, Cambridge. The ghost of murdered Sylvia Whichcote is sighted prowling the grounds by commoner Frank Oldershaw. Worried her son is descending into madness, Frank's anxious mother employs rationalist John Holdsworth to investigate the sighting, throwing the uneasy status quo at the college into chaos. For the sinister Holy Ghost Club governs the privileged life at Jerusalem. Pursued by the ghost of his dead wife, Maria, and Elinor, the very-much-alive Master's wife, Holdsworth must unravel the circumstances surrounding Sylvia's death or succumb to the hauntings himself."

Waiting For Mr Right And Other Sinister Stories

Andrew Taylor

2012

A digital publication of three short stories. The contents are:

• Waiting For Mr Right
• Nibble-Nibble
• Keeping My Head

The Scent Of Death

Andrew Taylor

2013

"August, 1778. British-controlled Manhattan is a melting pot of soldiers, traitors and refugees, surrounded by rebel forces as the American War of Independence rages on. Into this simmering tension sails Edward Savill, a London clerk tasked with assessing the claims of loyalists who have lost out during the war. Savill lodges with the ageing Judge Wintour, his ailing wife, and their enigmatic daughter-in-law Arabella. However, as Savill soon learns, what the Wintours have lost in wealth, they have gained in secrets. The murder of a gentleman in the slums pulls Savill into the city’s underbelly. But when life is so cheap, why does one death matter? Because making a nation is a lucrative business, and some people cannot afford to miss out, whatever the price."

The Silent Boy

Andrew Taylor

2014

"Paris, 1792. The city is gripped by revolution and the gutters run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine. Edward Savill, a London merchant, receives word that his estranged wife has been killed in France. Her ten-year-old son, Charles, has been taken by émigré refugees to Charnwood Court, deep in the English countryside. Savill is sent to fetch Charles, only to discover the child is mute. The boy has witnessed unimaginable horrors, but a terrible secret keeps him from saying a word. Locked in a prison of his own mind, his silence is the only thing that will keep him safe. Or so he thinks."

Fireside Gothic

Andrew Taylor

2016

Three dark tales to read by the fireside in the cold winter months. The contents are:

• Broken Voices
• The Leper House
• The Scratch

The Ashes Of London

Andrew Taylor

2016

"London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral – stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back. The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city’s devastated streets. There he encounters a determined young woman who will stop at nothing to secure her freedom. When a second murder victim is discovered in the Fleet Ditch, Marwood is drawn into the political and religious intrigue of Westminster – and across the path of a killer with nothing to lose."

The Fire Court

Andrew Taylor

2018

"The Great Fire has ravaged London, wreaking destruction and devastation wherever its flames spread. Now, guided by the incorruptible Fire Court, the city is slowly rebuilding, but times are volatile and danger is only ever a heartbeat away. James Marwood, son of a traitor, is thrust into this treacherous environment when his ailing father claims to have stumbled upon a murdered woman in the very place where the Fire Court sits. Then his father is run down and killed. Accident? Or another murder? Determined to uncover the truth, Marwood turns to the one person he can trust – Cat Lovett, the daughter of a despised regicide. Marwood has helped her in the past. Now it’s her turn to help him. But then comes a third death… and Marwood and Cat are forced to confront a vicious and increasingly desperate killer whose actions threaten the future of the city itself."

Requiem for an Angel

Andrew Taylor

2002

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels of the Roth trilogy: The Four Last Things; The Judgement of Strangers; and The Office of the Dead.

Fallen Angel

Andrew Taylor

2007

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels of the Roth trilogy: The Four Last Things; The Judgement of Strangers; and The Office of the Dead.

Eh Brian It's A Whopper

Andrew Saville

1984

Bergerac: Crimes of the Season

Andrew Saville

1985

A Jim Bergerac novel.

Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness

Andrew Saville

1988

A Jim Bergerac novel.

Bergerac and the Traitor's Child

Andrew Saville

1988

A Jim Bergerac novel.

Bergerac and the Jersey Rose

Andrew Saville

1988

A Jim Bergerac novel.

Bergerac and the Moving Fever

Andrew Saville

1988

A Jim Bergerac novel.