So many people asked the author: 'But what does a policewoman do?'

Six years policing London's West End in the 1950s provided plenty of answers. In this book, Joan Lock gives them with honesty and humour. She takes us behind the scenes, into the life of an ordinary police officer - not the familiar CID crime buster. We accompany her 'on the beat' for early, late and night shifts, and experience the public's friendly, curious or downright rude reactions to a woman in authority.

The lady policeman makes mistakes, is less than efficient at times, and even breaks some of the...

When Phoebe Threapleton is found dead on a four-poster bed in Bainbridge's department store with six long-stemmed white roses next to her, Inspector Best is baffled...

How does the death in Newcastle of this young woman fit in with the other missing-girl cases in the area, and was Phoebe really as snow-white as her reputation, and the roses, might imply?

Best's initial investigations point him towards the shadowy world of spiritualism, but this proves as difficult to penetrate as the potential motives of the dozens of suspects - from Phoebe's maid to the Bainbridges...

'The characters are believable but even more so is the setting.' - "Historical Novels Review"

A real murder occurs on the stage of the London theatre where Detective Inspector Best and his wife are enjoying a night out. The Victorian theatre is only just emerging into respectability, which is threatened when another death follows - a murder which could be a reaction against one of the Victorian theatres most traditional practices.

The evocative array of suspects includes an all powerful actor-manager, the resentful Super and Property Masters, a crusading journalist turned...

It is 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, and London is in turmoil - particularly at the dead centre, Trafalgar Square. Here, the angry unemployed gather daily to protest and nightly to sleep.

The police are worn out by endless duty and bitter about the accusations of brutality from the protesters and blame from others for not doing more to prevent the disorder.

Adding fuel to the fire, a prominent member of one of the new socialist organisations leading the protests is found dead at the foot of Nelson's column and Detective Inspector Earnest Best catches a...

It is 1884 and London is gripped by fear after Fenian bombs explode on the underground railway and more are threatened. Detective Inspector Best is sent to Paris where these Irish Americans are plotting their next 'outrage' and obtaining arms for an uprising.

'Intriguing, meticulously researched description of nineteenth-century London; it is difficult to miss the chilling parallels between the Irish bombings in the 1880s and the London terrorist attack of 2005. A solid and very readable addition to the Inspector Best series.' Booklist (American Library Association)