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From England, retired District
Police Commander, James Hawkins, weaves more than thirty years of police and private investigation experience into his novels
and plays. While he was born in rural southern England James has spent much of his life traveling, and today he splits his
time between Vancouver Island in the Pacific, Ontario, England and France. In addition to being a senior police officer, James is also an experienced actor, television
presenter and educator and, before taking up writing full-time in 1996, James was Director of Education at the Institute for
Environmental Investigations in Toronto.
According to the book description
of Deadly Sin, “Emotions run high when Queen Elizabeth II attempts to heal the schism between
Christians and Muslims by attending a London mosque for Friday prayers. David Bliss, newly returned to duty while he tries
to find a publisher for his novel, has the task of protecting the royal couple, but is caught off guard when an attack comes
from an unexpected quarter. Meanwhile,
Bliss's aging friend Daphne Lovelace needs help. Her elderly neighbours have died and apparently left their house to the
family from hell. While Bliss desperately tries to protect the queen, Daphne puts on her oldest coat and takes up residence
in a seniorsí home as she tries to discover what really happened to her neighbours. Age apparently catches up with
her, and in no time she appears as senile as the other inhabitants, but Trina Button in far-off Canada smells a rat and forces
Bliss to take action. Is someone playing God? And what role does Jack the Ripper play?”
According to the book description of
Crazy Lady, “The seventh 'and perhaps last' novel in the popular "Inspector Bliss"
series is another action packed mystery, filled with nail-biting adventures involving religious sects, criminal conspiracies,
and the world trade in cocoa. When an RCMP officer is murdered in Vancouver, suspicion falls upon Janet Thurgood, a woman
in her sixties who appears to everyone, apart from Trina Button, to be completely mad. Trina is quick to embroil Daphne Lovelace
in her efforts to discover the truth about Janet. David Bliss, meanwhile, tries to stay out of the way in the south of France,
where he encounters problems of his own when, to his utter amazement, he rediscovers his one true love. Can he finally pull
the trigger and make a commitment?”
According to the book description of
The Fish Kisser: An Inspector Bliss Mystery, “In The Fish Kisser, a megalomaniac becomes determined
to exact revenge on the Western world through a devious plot of global cyber-warfare. He enlists his own agents to track down
and kidnap the experts and educated elite that can help him accomplish the unthinkable. With a series of staged deaths and
disappearances, he sets his plan in motion. When
the hired henchmen target Roger LeClarc, an English computer expert with a dark secret of his own, the hunters become the
hunted. English detective David Bliss, who chased and was chased around the English countryside in Missing: Presumed Dead,
teams up with Dutch detective Yolanda Pieters to solve this improbable affair. Fighting internal politics, stumbling upon
government cover-ups, and even battling Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, together they chase a trail of blood, intrigue,
and romance across Europe to Iraq in a desperate search for the kidnapped specialists. Fans of the David Bliss character will
not be disappointed as James Hawkins turns the action up several notches.”
According to the book description of
No Cherubs for Melanie: An Inspector Bliss Mystery, “Melanie Gordonstone, a cherubic six year
old, was Daddy's favourite in every way. So Margaret, her jealous twelve-year-old sister, drowned her in a backyard pool.
Inexperience led young Detective Bliss to attribute the girl's death to accident, but Melanie's mother drives herself
mad believing her husband to be the killer. Margaret taunts her deranged mother for ten years before putting her out of her
misery, hanging her from a chandelier in a faked suicide. Now, frightened for his own safety, Margaret's father sends
her to live in a remote Canadian community where he believes she can do no further damage - big mistake!”
According to the book description of
Missing: Presumed Dead, “Detective Inspector David Bliss has been transferred from London,
England to Hampshire in what appears to his new subordinates and superiors as a move down the career ladder. His first day
on the job begins with a murder: Jonathan Dauntsey, son of the Major, willingly confesses to murdering his father. It's
an open and shut case, until the investigation stalls when the police can't find the body. D.I. Bliss follows a trail
of clues that lead him back in time to the point where the central presumption of the case -- a murdered father -- comes into
question. Who did Jonathan Dauntsey murder, if anyone at all? As the mystery of the murder begins to resolve itself, so does
the mystery of Bliss's transfer from the big city to a small town.”
According to the book description of
The Dave Bliss Quintet, “In this, his fifth escapade, Inspector David Bliss goes undercover
once again and heads to St. Juan sur Mer on the Cote d'Azur. His mission is so secret that even Bliss doesn't know
why he is there: he knows only that he is tracking down a man the force wants in custody for an unstated reason. But the winds
of the Mediterranean provide clues that take Bliss off course and lead him to unravel two of the world's best-known unsolved
mysteries: the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask and the location of the stolen Nazi gold.”
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