#1. Simeon's Bride [1995] 12 hours 30 mins, read by Steve Hodson.
Set in north Wales, this first novel of the series describes the murder
investigation of a woman hanged in the woods, her decaying body found 18 months
after her death. Chief inspector Michael McKenna directs the police work, and when
his pathologist unearths near Gallows Cottage the 1793 remains of another hanged
woman, the locals recall the centuries-old story of Simeon, the mad avenger of his
wife's wrongful execution. Based in a coastal city in northern Wales, Detective
Chief Inspector Michael McKenna tries to solve this years-old murder, while coping
with the disintegration of his marriage. Successful at the former, McKenna finds
the latter a losing proposition. Steve Hodson's low, gravelly voice and measured
pacing convey the depth of emotion of the taciturn detective with grace and
subtlety. The many other characters in the story also come to life, inspiring
frustration, fury, humour, or compassion. Particularly skilled at the local dialect,
Hodson imparts a delightful realism to the novel's more provincial players, allowing
us to see, as well as hear them.

#2. In Guilty Night [1996] 12 hours 32 mins, read by Christopher Kay (thanks to
Telpointer) On a freezing November night, 14-year-old Arwel Thomas, turns up dead
in a railway tunnel outside Bangor, an apparent victim of sexual abuse and a runaway
from the local children's home. DCI Michael McKenna and his colleagues are slowly
drawn in to the web of relationships and power struggles surrounding Arwel and his
peers in the claustrophobic world of childcare institution, where nothing and no one
can be taken at face value and ethical structures bow to expediency and greed.
McKenna must probe the underbelly of this seamy culture in order to get at the truth,
however destructive it may be.

#3. The House of Women [1998] 12 hours 20 mins, read by Steve Hodson.
When old Ned Jones is found dead in his room, the police visit is merely routine.
Detective Inspector McKenna, his day already soured by the loss of a promotion, is
more interested in the extraordinary house of women Ned inhabited: Edith, hooked on
tranquillisers, floating through life; Phoebe, her overweight, acutely intelligent
teenage daughter; Mina, Phoebe's beautiful, blank faced older sister. But when the
post-mortem comes in, it's clear that it's not a natural death. Ned has died from
a very rare allergy, an allergy he was aware of. As McKenna struggles with the
politics of the police force, the long awaited repainting of the offices, and the
attempts of his officers to get to grips with the high incidence of local car theft,
he finds himself increasingly drawn to the circumstances surrounding Ned's death.
The investigation leads him back into the past, into the family's history, weaving
scholarship and promises of genius with themes of isolation and retribution.

#4. Unsafe Convictions [1999] 12 hours 52 mins, read by Steve Hodson.
When someone in the town of Haughton batters Trisha Stanton Smith into oblivion,
drenches her house in petrol, and drops a match, the obvious suspect is her ex-
husband, who abused her mercilessly throughout the marriage. Despite his unproven
claim of an alibi, Stanton Smith goes to prison for life. Detective Inspector Barry
Dugdale, who investigated Trisha's murder, had his own reasons for wanting Stanton
Smith in prison. Two years later, when the alibi evidence is unexpectedly confirmed
and Stanton Smith's conviction quashed, Dugdale and two colleagues are accused of
corruption, and suspended from duty. Superintendent Michael McKenna, charged with
investigating whether or not Dugdale deliberately suppressed vital evidence, moves
with his team from North Wales to the bleak Pennine landscape around Haughton.
He is pursued by a journalist on the make who took up Stanton Smith's cause; haunted
by Trisha's sister, father and friends; feared by the police; eluded by Julie
Broadbent, the daughter of Haughton's most notorious prostitute; and tormented the
Roman Catholic parish priest. Unravelling lies, mischief and the patterns of love
and hatred, and facing personal danger, McKenna finally sees the truth behind its
cloak of shameful secrets.

#5. Child's Play [2001] 13 hours 52 mins, read by Christopher Kay.
Surrounded by dense, dark woodland, The Hermitage is an exclusive girls' school on
the shores of Menai Strait. On a balmy summer night, someone lures Sukie Melville
into those woods. The following day her body is pulled from the hungry water of the
Strait. Superintendent Michael McKenna and his team, struggling to find the killer,
are caught in the turbulent undercurrents of school life, and the silent conspiracies
fostered by the headmistress, charismatic Freya Scott. The Hermitage girls appear to
have everything, but the aura of wealth and privilege they wear hides bitter memories,
especially amongst Sukie's old friends in the elite sixth form. As McKenna scratches
the glossy surface, he unearths the vicious hidden agenda underpinning the school's
ethos. Nothing in that dangerous hot bed of passionate, brooding resentments is what
it seems, and no one can be trusted, least of all Freya Scott, to whom McKenna is
recklessly attracted.

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