Judy Ford

A body in the river is all in a day's work for Detective Inspector Peter Johns and his sergeant, Paul Godwin. But things start to become more personal when Paul recognizes their key witness as a close childhood friend and Peter's son is detained for suspected child abduction....

The police are reluctant to believe young Lucy Paige when she tells them that she saw two men chasing a woman across a field. They suspect her of inventing a mysterious stranger, who hit her, and then ran away, in order to protect her friend Martin, from accusations of child abuse and assault...

Bernie’s Aunty Dot is worried that her favorite member of staff at the care home where she lives is being unfairly suspected of murdering another resident. She calls on their good friend DCI Jonah Porter to investigate....

Three young mothers take their infants to an Oxford park, but only two of the babies return home. When six-week-old Abigail goes missing from her pram, the race is on to find her before she comes to harm. Who would want to steal a baby girl? And why? Are other children in danger? Is Abigail's...

When the bursar of Lichfield College is found strangled in an Oxford hotel, detective chief inspector Jonah Porter concludes that the killer is one of the nine college staff there....

Exiled Liverpudlian, Bernie Fazakerley, makes a sentimental journey back to her home city to visit relatives and to take her daughter, Lucy, back to their roots. Before long, events take a sinister turn when they are witnesses to a murder aboard the famous Mersey Ferry. Then the killer strikes...

Three young Muslim students are attacked in the street by an assailant on a motorbike who sprays them with acid. What is the motive for this unprovoked assault? Is it a religious hate crime or something more personal....

The police are called when a young man is found dead in the garden of his family home. It looks like an all-too-familiar story of depression and despair, but when DCI Anna Davenport starts asking questions, a few things don’t quite add up....

Newly promoted Detective Inspector Andy Lepage is in charge of a murder investigation for the first time. It looks like a routine street crime, but how did it come about on the doorstep of one of Oxford’s ancient colleges? Then an unexpected twist makes it a more personal affair....

When Detective Superintendent Richard Paige is killed while pursuing a suspect, his pregnant wife, Bernie, is determined to find out more about his background for the sake of their unborn child. His mother, Eleanor, is strangely reluctant to speak about Richard's early life and Bernie becomes...

Six months on from the murders of Kenny Hughes and Harry Whittle, their families are still waiting to hear when the killers will be brought to trial....

It’s been more than four months since young PC Kenny Hughes was run down and killed while trying to arrest a suspect, but his parents, Gavin and Chrissie, are still reeling from the shock....

Veteran Detective DCI Jonah Porter is frustrated at being sent home from work to sit out the COVID-19 lockdown at home. To occupy his mind, his friend, Bernie, suggests that he writes his memoirs. So Jonah delves deep into the past to revisit his very first murder investigation....