Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club

Members of the Detection Club, the most prestigious group of crime writers in the world, celebrate the eightieth birthday of their former president – the original king of cozy crime, Simon Brett – with this stunning collection of all-new short stories.

A long-married crime-writing couple plot murder most horrid, with a jaw-dropping twist . . . A group of school friends dig up a long-buried dark secret . . . A widower joins a local amdram society, with surprisingly dramatic results . . . A deranged fan stalks a celebrated TV personality . . . An online romance turns sour . . . and much, much more.

From police procedurals to the sharpest satire, from historical mystery to dark and twisted chillers, these twenty-two original tales, written by some of Britain’s most remarkable bestselling authors, are essential reading for crime and mystery fans.

With stories by Abir Mukherjee, Aline Templeton, Alison Joseph, Andrew Taylor, Ann Cleeves, Catherine Aird, Christopher Fowler, David Stuart Davies, Elly Griffiths, Frances Brody, John Harvey, Kate Ellis, L.C. Tyler, Liza Cody, Lynne Truss, Martin Edwards, Michael Jecks, Michael Ridpath, Michael Z. Lewin, Peter Lovesey, Ruth Dudley Edwards – and last, but very much not least, Simon Brett, who’s brought back his much-loved amateur sleuth, washed-up actor Charles Paris, to tread the boards once again.

Simon Brett worked as a producer in radio and television before taking up writing full-time. He is the author of more than 100 books, including the much-loved Fethering mysteries, the Mrs Pargeter novels and the Charles Paris detective series, as well as the Decluttering mysteries. In 2014, he was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence and contribution to crime writing, and in the 2016 New Year’s Honours he was awarded an OBE ‘for services to literature’.

Married with three grown-up children, six grandchildren and a ginger cat called Douglas, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village on the South Downs.