On this page

This page lists novels, short story collections, and non-fiction books by Kel Richards.

In addition to the books listed here Kel Richards has written a number of children's and theological books. These fall outside the scope of this page.

Cover images are, when possible, of the first Australian edition and a more recent paperback or digital edition.

Written by Kel Richards:
- novels, story collections
- non-fiction

The Case of the Vanishing Corpse

Kel Richards

1990

A Ben Bartholomew novel.

"The world of Ben Bartholomew. It is a world of standover gangs and armed terrorists, a world in which a P.I. for hire must carry a gun if he wants to live beyond lunchtime. It is a world of religious fanatics, petty tyrants, spies and nightmares, which explodes with intrigue and danger when a corpse disappears from a sealed tomb."

The Second Death

Kel Richards

1993

A Mark Roman novel.

"On Mark Roman's late night talk show, the hour creeps towards midnight. He argues with callers, amuses them, berates them, comforts them - and gets involved in their private lives... An urgent plea for help from a caller named Liz takes him one step further. This is when Roman discovers the body! After the police question him for many hours, he sets out to solve a murder."

The Case of the Damascus Dagger

Kel Richards

1994

A Ben Bartholomew novel.

Moonlight Shadows

Kel Richards

1994

The Case of the Dead Certainty

Kel Richards

1995

A Ben Bartholomew novel.

The Case of the Secret Assassin

Kel Richards

1995?

A Ben Bartholomew novel.

The Third Bloodstain

Kel Richards

1995

1993

A Mark Roman novel.

Death in Egypt: A Murder Mystery

Kel Richards

1996

Probably the the same book that was published as Murder in the Mummy's Tomb in 2002.

An Outbreak Of Darkness

Kel Richards

1996

"On a remote uninhabited island an ancient stone monument to evil is myseriously rebuilding itself. Creatures from their worst nightmares attack the small team investigating the island. It is as if the gates of hell themselves have been opened."

Sherlock Holmes Tales of Terror: The Curse of the Pharaohs

Kel Richards

1997

"Something strange is walking in the darkness. Professor Sloane Coffin has spent his life studying the secrets of ancient Egypt-and now he lies, dying, in his dark old mansion in Scotland. He believes the old magic of the Pharaohs will bring him back to life. Soon, the creature who is the Walking Dead is stalking the living. And everyone is trying to find the diamond called The Eye of Osiris. When the creature kidnaps Laura Coffin, there is only one man who can save her life-and find the diamond . . . Sherlock Holmes-the world's greatest detective."

Sherlock Holmes Tales of Terror: The Headless Monk

Kel Richards

1997

"The ghost is after the gold. Look across the dark waves at the mysterious island: what can you see? The legend from the Dark Ages that has come to life-the ghost of the monk that has no head! The lighthouse keeper and his family are terrified, and turn to Sherlock Holmes-the world's greatest detective-to rescue them from deadly danger. And what about the missing treasure of 40,000 gold coins? Where has that disappeared to? Sherlock Holmes will find out."

Sherlock Holmes Tales of Terror: The Vampire Serpent

Kel Richards

1997

"The legend of the vampire has come to life . . . and is stalking the streets of London. Another body has been found that has been drained of every last drop of blood. Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard is baffled. Only Sherlock Holmes-the world's greatest detective-can solve this case. But Holmes himself has been attacked by the vampire creature and is lying close to death. If Holmes dies there will be no one who can stop the world's greatest criminal mastermind - Dr Grimsby Defoe."

Sherlock Holmes: Footsteps In The Fog And Other Stories

Kel Richards

1999

A collection of three stories.

"The Waters of Death Something ancient and mysterious lurks beneath the inky waters of Loch Ness - where the top secret Bruce-Partington submarine is being tested. What has Sherlock Holmes been called in to investigate? Sabotage by spies? Or something far stranger? Footsteps in the Fog The evil Colonel Sebastian Moran has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane and is hunting Sherlock Holmes - hunting to kill! At the same time Holmes has joined forces with Professor Challenger to solve the mysterious Fog Murders on Baker Street. The Wolfman of Dartmoor Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson return to the treacherous mines and bogs of Dartmoor (where they had encountered the Hound of the Baskervilles). This time they are hunting a local superstition--a man who can become a wolf!"

Murder in the Mummy's Tomb: A G.K. Chesterton Mystery

Kel Richards

2002

Possibly originally published in 1996 with the title Death In Egypt.

"Murder in the Mummy's Tomb takes readers down the Nile River to an archaeological dig in the valley of Deir el-Bahri in 1919. Mystery, suspense and romance await in this desert region."

Dark Storm

Kel Richards

2004

"Nick Hamilton is an Australian journalist assigned to accompany an archaeology expedition to Cavendish Island—a long-deserted prison off of the east coast of Australia. But Nick has no idea what he's in for. The island has a long history of Satanism, and a group of Satanists have joined the exploration party with the intention of reviving the island's ancient powers. And the Satanists aren't the only ones interested in the island's mystical powers, as a secret military group is on the way to recover evidence on the island. Natural and spiritual forces collide as a massive hurricane hits! Through it all, Nick discovers more than he ever anticipated."

Aussie Yarns

Kel Richards

2005

"Provides a chance to match wits with Constable Clancy Paterson, sole policeman in the tiny outback town of Yallambee, in some of its puzzling cases. Between the adventures of Clancy and his unflappable wife Matty, this book spins other yarns about everything from the Birdsville and giant dogs, to magic wheat fields."

The Aussie Bible: Well, Bits of It Anyway!

Kel Richards

2006?

"This time those stories are retold in real, fair dinkum, Aussie English. With its own Australian take on In the beginning..., The Aussie Bible starts off with its worldknow and disarmingly friendly, Gday! Then sets out retelling tales in a manner and style that will have you reading, and sometimes laughing, out loud."

Aussie Pilgrim's Progress

Kel Richards

2006

"John Bunyan's immortal story retold by Kel Richards."

An Aussie Christmas Carol

Kel Richards

2007

Charles Dickens Christmas Carol retold by Kel Richards.

More Aussie Bible

Kel Richards

2007

"Kel Richards narrates some of the best known bible stories in a manner and style that will have you reading, and sometimes laughing, out loud."

C.S. Lewis And The Body In The Basement

Kel Richards

2013

Published in the UK in 2015 as The Corpse In The Cellar.

"It’s the summer of 1933, and Oxford don C.S. Lewis, better known to his friends as Jack, is on a walking holiday with his brother Warnie and young friend Tom Morris. When Jack’s wallet is accidentally destroyed, they visit a bank to replenish their funds – and walk straight into the scene of an impossible murder. The victim is in the vault of the bank alone, cut off by brick and steel from the rest of the world. Yet he has been stabbed from behind and the murder weapon has vanished. A ‘locked room’ mystery – which would have baffled the cleverest sleuths of the Golden Age of detective stories – is tackled by the brilliant mind and larger-than-life personality of ‘Jack’ Lewis, beloved creator of Narnia and formidable defender of the Christian faith."

C.S. Lewis And The Country House Murders

Kel Richards

2014

Published in the UK in 2015 as The Country House Murders.

"Tom Morris, busy cataloguing the library of Plumwood Hall, is in a fix. Three days before, a member of the family had keeled over at afternoon tea after eating a slice of fruit cake laced with poison. And Tom has been fingered by the weasel-like Inspector Hyde as chief suspect. The young scholar turns to the only person who can help: his old Oxford tutor, C. S. ('Jack') Lewis. As they investigate, mystery piles on mystery. Why did the victim's husband disappear twelve months before? Why is a strange tattooed foreigner living in a cottage on the moors? Who is the wild man of the woods? And most puzzling of all: how did a massive dose of cyanide get into just one slice of cake? This mind-twisting case has all the hallmarks of a classic Country House Mystery. Woven throughout the story is an engaging conversation about Lewis's Christian worldview."

The Floating Corpse

Kel Richards

2015

Published in the UK in 2016 as The Floating Body.

"The year is 1935. C.S. Lewis (known to his friends as ‘Jack’) and his brother Warren (‘Warnie’) are visiting their young friend Tom Morris at Nesfield Cathedral School. Jack is to be the guest speaker at the school’s speech night. They become eyewitnesses to a murder, an impossible murder. A man is stabbed to death by an unseen assailant, and Tom and Jack see his body fall from the rooftop . . . but the body doesn’t hit the ground until the following day! An entertaining homage to the beloved creator of Narnia – and a celebration of the hugely popular school stories of the early twentieth century – The Floating Body reveals how Jack’s nimble brain again proves invaluable to the police in their attempts to explain the seemingly impossible."

The Sinister Student

Kel Richards

2016

"It’s a Thursday evening in 1936. C.S. Lewis (known to all his friends as Jack) is hosting a gathering of that well-known literary group, The Inklings. Among the regulars are his brother Warnie, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neville Coghill, Hugo Dyson and Adam Fox. Two visitors are also attending – Jack’s old pupil Tom Morris and an undergraduate named Auberon Willesden. The following morning Willesden is found murdered in his room in Magdalen, though both the door and the windows were locked from the inside. And not only has he been murdered: he has been beheaded – and the head is missing! Who killed the student? And why? And, more baffling still – how was it done? It’s a puzzle that will tax the brilliant ingenuity of Jack and his fellow Inklings to the limit."

ABC Classic FM's Word of the Day

Kel Richards with interruptions by Clive Robertson

2004

"At 7.30 am each weekday morning, Classic FM listeners around Australia join Clive Robertson and Kel Richards in the national obsession with words and language. ….. However, the listeners do have one small complaint. When each day's Word of the Day is complete, it vanishes into the ether and is gone forever. Where, they plaintively ask, is the Word of the Day repository in which these verbal treasures are stored? Well, it's here, in your hands right now - to be enjoyed again, to be shared with friends, to be argued or pondered over in the long watches of the night. the Words of the Day are no longer ephemeral, they are here."

Word Map: What words are Used Where in Australia

Kel Richards

2005

"In conjunction with the Macquarie Library, ABC Online conducted a poll amongst the ABC audience - is our use of idiom, slang and euphemism the same Australia-wide? Is the word for swimming costume the same in Perth as it is in Brisbane? Is the word 'bogan' used across the nation? What are 'bingo wings' and are they called that in Hobart or in Cairns? The WordMap defines and charts the highly idiosyncratic language that Aussies love best, to discover whether we do have a common language after all."

Word Of The Day 2: Wordwatching: a Wonderful Look Into the World of Words

Kel Richards

2006

"The world of words is a fascinating one. Aficionados of the English language pore over dictionaries, thumb through thesauruses and can be sent into a positive swoon with books such as Word of the Day: Wordwatching. It introduces more rare and obscure words to baffle and impress your friends, and explains the strange stories behind many of our common and familiar words. Why are Americans called 'Yankees'? If you buy 'a pig in a poke' what do you end up with? Why is pink associated with being tickled but blue with being murdered? Is 'runcible' a real word? And how did a building style come to name the wattle tree? Filled with such compelling and compulsively interesting information, and the odd 'terse verse', Word of the Day: Wordwatchingis a book for dipping into, to be savoured in small slices, to be quoted until you send your friends nuts. Welcome to a small but wonderful corner of the world of words."

Kel Richards' Dictionary of Australian Phrase and Fable

Kel Richards

2013

"Covering many unique—and sometimes peculiar—Australian slang phrases and words, this lighthearted guide shares the etymological history of almost 1,000 items from Australian-English lingo. The book includes how 'bloody' became an all-purpose swear word, why 'bludger' means a lazy person, the origin of 'stone the crows,' and what exactly defines 'dangle the dunlops,' 'possum knockers,' and 'molly-dooker,' among other colorful words and phrases. Entertaining and informative, this offbeat book will expand knowledge and ensure laughs."

The Story of Australian English

Kel Richards

2015

"The English language arrived in Australia with the first motley bunch of European settlers on 26 January 1788. Today there is clearly a distinctive Australian regional dialect with its own place among the global family of ‘Englishes’. How did this come about? Where did the distinctive pattern, accent, and verbal inventions that make up Aussie English come from? A lively narrative, this book tells the story of the birth, rise and triumphant progress of the colourful dingo lingo that we know today as Aussie English."