British Police Procedurals

“British” – The story takes place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain with British law enforcement officers (LEOs). It can be written by writers that live inside or outside of the UK.

“Police Procedural” – It is a sub-genre of crime fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as private investigators, lawyers, victims, or amateur sleuths.

Police procedurals can vary greatly in other respects:

• Some are filled with action; others may emphasize use of logic, people skills, or intuition. In reality, this is on a continuum, not an either/or distinction between books.
• Some are filled with suspense and danger; others not so much — but again, a continuum of possibilities.
• Some have very graphic descriptions of murder and crime scenes, others save the reader from the details by alluding briefly to what took place. In reality, this, too, is on a continuum.
• Some have extensive inclusion of procedures used by police, others de-emphasize the procedural details and elevate the personal life of the LEO, or elevate action and/or suspense. This may be a reflection of what an author brings to the writing: Some bring the experiences from a previous LEO career or work as a crime news journalist. Others rely on research and/or imagination.
• Typically, they are mysteries (we learn the identity of the perpetrator near the end of the book), but some few are thrillers (we learn the identity of the perpetrator early in the book and it is a battle of wits).
• They can be historical (Charles Todd), or contemporary (Peter Robinson).

Below is a list of popular British Police Procedurals. Popular – based on what? Not much, just my recognizing their name. And there is nothing like a radio or TV show or a movie to help name recognition, to boost book sales, and to make an author “popular.” If, in the middle column of the chart you see a LINK (blue clickable font), that means the character is portrayed in radio, TV, movies, or streaming shows. That’s eight out of 13 authors. The other five are familiar to me from promotional materials, particularly mentioning their participation at crime fiction conventions/conferences.

Clicking on the author’s name takes you to their list of publications at Stop You’re Killing Me dot com. Clicking on a character name takes you to a Wikipedia page that will give you basic information about what shows were produced, by what media company, and when.

As you can see, they are listed in chronological order of the publication of the first book in their series. That possibly shows who was in the vanguard of who.

AUTHOR	MAIN SERIES CHARACTER	PUB. DATE OF 1ST BOOK IN SERIES
(Edith) Ngaio Marsh*	Insp. Roderick Alleyn	1934
P. D. James	Scot Yard Supt. Adam Dalgliesh	1962
Colin Dexter	DCI Endeavor Morse [Oxford]	1975
Peter Robinson**	DCI Alan Banks	1987
Ian Rankin	Det. Sgt. John Rebus	1987
Elizabeth George***	Insp. Thomas Lynley	1988
Caroline Graham	DCI Tom Barnaby [Midsomer]	1988
Ann Cleeves	Insp. Stephen Ramsey Det. Insp. Vera Stanhope Det. Insp. Jimmy Perez [Shetland] Det. Insp. Matthew Venn	1990 1998 2006 2019
Deborah Crombie***	Scot Yard Supt. Duncan Kincaid	1993
Charles Todd	Scot Yard Insp. Ian Rutledge	1996
Mo Hayder	Det. Jack Caffery	2000
Mark Billingham	Det. Insp. Tom Thorn	2001
Martin Edwards	DCI Hannah Scarlett	2004
Elly Griffiths	Forensic Archeologist Ruth Galloway w/DCI Harry Nelson	2009

* New Zealand Author
** Canadian Author
*** American Author

Honestly, I have personally read very few of the listed authors. I have watched far more shows about the above characters (and enjoyed most of them) than I have read books about the characters. Of the few I have read, I found the writing style tedious. I do love a well-written police procedural, however, and I can’t wait to start one sitting on my shelf, the latest by Michael Connelly.

As I try out some of the other authors listed above, I’ll be sure to let you know if they are authors I would recommend.

Our Mystery Book Club will be road-testing Peter Robinson this month – December, 2023. Fingers-Crossed!

If more of the above authors can really interest me, then I might be inclined to check a few of the hundreds of other British police procedurals less known to me. Yes, the list above is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg.