DI Skelgill Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Inspector Skelgill Investigates Books

DI Skelgill Investigates series by Bruce Beckham
Author Bruce Beckham writes the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series of cozy mystery novels. The series began publication in the year 2012, when “Murder in Adland” was released. These books do stand on their own, but some context informs developments in each successive novel.

Detective Inspector Daniel Skelgill, the star of the series, is addicted to fellwalking and fishing. Not much is known about his back story, as Beckham just writes down the information as he gets it, and doesn’t know much about these people.

“Murder in Adland” is the first novel in the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series, which was released in the year 2012. An ad agency boss is killed brutally at a company weekend in the English Lake District, and Detective Inspector Dan Skelgill finds that he is wrenched from his comfort zone of the rural Cumbrian area.

While the investigation plays out, Skelgill is taken between Edinburgh and London, and faces off with uncooperative suspects. There are lovers and wife, and colleagues of the dead guy, each of whom have the opportunity and motive to kill.

Could this have been a professional hit, a crime of passion, or a calculating murder that was borne out of jealousy and greed? This case will only be solved by piecing each of the clues together, but Skelgill is running short on time. His superiors’ patience is running out, while an anonymous agent provocateur’s actions only serve to advance the time when the killer has to kill again.

Both the fast pace and totally captivating story of murder is an excellent read and it is going to make you want to read more from Beckham and Skelgill. Skelgill and Jones make for a great team, and the pair have some great camaraderie together. Skelgill was well written, and the entire book is filled with tons of humor, as the cops have some witty banter together.

“Murder in School” is the second novel in the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series, which was released in the year 2014. Skelgill gets called to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the leading public schools in England’s long serving master.

It quickly becomes clear that senior staff members are not what they appear to be at all, and Skelgill is beginning to scratch the surface of a power struggle to get control of its money making enterprise. This while the school starts closing ranks.

Another violent suicide promises to send the police off of the scent, and a VIP vanishes all of a sudden and threatens to create a panic inside their ranks. Racing against time, Skelgill has to put together clues, or face some unthinkable consequences of a third tragic death happening on his watch.

Beckham has written another book with that is entirely enjoyable, with a clever mystery as well as a detective that is more than able to take on any tough case handed to him. The book builds to a superb conclusion, one that is just as good as the rest of the book was. Some readers that due to the lack of blood and gore, the story is able to focus much more on the characters and the solving of the mystery, which makes the book that much better.

“Murder on the Edge” is the third novel in the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series, which was released in the year 2014. A guy is found strangled with a climbing rope under the notorious Sharp Edge, in Lake District. Everyone assumes he is the victim of a tragic accident.

Skelgill believes otherwise, and a second corpse is found close to Striding Edge, making his fears real. Quickly it seems that there is a ritualistic serial killer out and stalking Cumbria’s fells.

The body count rises, and Skelgill is put under some pretty intense pressure to figure out the link between all of the apparently random targets. It is the only hope to end the reign of terror and catching the killer.

“Murder on the Lake” is the fourth novel in the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series, which was released in the year 2015. Skelgill is the tenth person to get stranded on the secluded Grisholm (Pigs’ Isle, located in Old Norse) where there is a writers’ retreat happening. Already, a member of the assembled literati is deceased.

Natural causes is certainly one explanation of what happened, but a second supposed accidental death and some inexplicable experiences make Skelgill realize that there is a killer at large. Skelgill and his team push to figure out a mystery that his superior officer thinks might just be his own imagination at work.

With each book, there is something new to enjoy about each of the books. Beckham writes sparsely, and does not overwrite. These stories are complicated and interesting. This is another book that some are going to have late nights with, just trying to figure out who the killer is, right along with DI Skelgill. The entire way, you just wonder who the killer is, and how Skelgill is going to put it all together as well as how he will catch the bad guy in the end.

“Murder by Magic” is the fifth novel in the “DI Skelgill Investigates” series, which was released in the year 2015. A foreign hiker goes missing suddenly, somebody is brutally attacking some prized Herdwick sheep, and the unexplained drowning of a hermit from the woodland. It seems to be a series of unconnected events that pull Skelgill right into the white-knuckle passes and remote dales of Lakeland.

Certain elements start saying this one might involve sorcerery and might have some connection to human traffic. Skelgill, along with his team, are put at risk as they try to figure the entire mystery out, and get inside the secretive ring and bring the evil perpetrators to justice.

This British Detective maverick faces off with his biggest challenge yet. This, as he attempts to get over an error in judgment that could leave both life and career in ruins.

Here is an excellent addition to what is turning out to be a must read series. It puts you right on the edge of your seat quite a few times during the book; this is quite an exciting ride of a novel.