Janie Bolitho Books In Order

Publication Order of Ian Roper Books

Publication Order of Rose Trevelyan Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Janie Bolitho was an English author made famous for her detective crime mystery series. She also wrote under the alias Jodie Sinclair for a variety of freestanding novels. Just like many other authors, Bolitho fits the cliché of following the working life before her career took off. Just like many fellow published writers, earning a living was never a separate pursuit from her writing, as she drew a lot of her stories from her previous working experiences. Before becoming a professional novelist, Janie worked as a bookmaker’s clerk, tour guide, debt collector, and psychiatric nurse. Her big break came with the publishing of the detective Chief Inspector Roper series, which attained much commercial success, allowing her to become a full time writer. Given that Busby and Allison published most of her work, the majority of fans tend to be library borrowers. Readers can obtain most of her Isis published works by Isis in CD and tape format.

Janie was born in 1950 in Cornwall in the West Country, which also doubles up as the setting for most of her novels. Her most important series include the Ian Roper and the Rose Trevelyan series. Set in a landscape that was overly familiar to the author, Janie’s sets seem to come to life in their remarkable attention to detail. While Janie Bolitho’s novels are classified as crime detective mysteries, the argument could be made that they are more of a cozy mystery subgenre. They lack most of the gore and blood that the much of crime detective mysteries typically have, although they have a lot of atmosphere and plenty of fast-paced action. Her first police procedural in the Ian Roper series was Kindness Can Kill, which she published in 1993 to critical acclaim. The Ian Roper series features Chief Detective Inspector Ian Roper as the chief protagonist. Roper has to deal with distressing personal problems while solving complex whodunit murder mysteries. The Rose Trevelyan series feature Rose Trevelyan a painter and photographer based in Cornwall, England as the chief protagonist with a knack for cracking the most intricate of murder mysteries. She published the two series in tandem alternating between them since she published the first of the Rose Trevelyan series, Snapped in Cornwall in 1997.

According to close friends of the author, Janie Bolitho was a writer that believed there was always more she could learn to refine her writing, even after publishing a series of successful detective novels. Attending a weekend workshop in 1996 whose topic was Women Writing for and About Women, she is described as being modest with regard to her achievements and a keen contributor to the discussions. Given that her new series released in 1997 featured Rose Trevelyan a female character as the lead and accidental sleuth, the argument for a feminist slant in the later years of her writing has been made. Fleur in her World in a 2012 review asserted that Bolitho accurately and expertly captured the setting of her hometown, and created an engaging heroine in Rose Trevelyan.

Unfortunately, she was destined to write for only 10 years before she was stricken with breast cancer. She died from the disease in 2002, having written over twenty highly popular novels. Nonetheless, no one can dispute that she was a prolific writer that wrote some of the best detective crime mystery series over her short professional career. In addition to the seven Trevelyan series and the twelve Roper novels, she churned out four free standing romantic thriller novels in her alias of Jodie Sinclair. Upon her death, the grounds of her local football team Plymouth Parkway FC of which she had been sponsor and fan was renamed Bolitho Park in her memory. While not much is known about Janie twelve years after her death, the popularity of her novels has never been higher, thanks to their availability as eBooks and in print all over the world.

One of the best novels by Janie Bolitho is her first of the Ian Roper series, Kindness Can Kill. The novel opens with the scene of the body of a young woman, Julia Henderson lying on the floor between the fireplace and the settee, apparently murdered. Given the brutality evident in her condition, the authorities immediately rule out suicide. Julia was a freelance journalist and a stunningly beautiful woman that raised the pulse of any male that set eyes on her for miles around. The cadaver has tiny pieces of ceramic in its scalp that the police believe could be a hint of the murder weapon. But when Detective Chief Inspector Roper and his lackeys find footprints in the dead journalist’s house, all suspicion now points to her estranged husband. But there are yet more suspects: a jealous cold and calculating wife believes that Julia was sleeping with both her son and her husband and a teacher that has just been recently fired for sleeping with one of his students also makes the list. After several weeks of investigations that go nowhere, the police receive an unexpected confession and proceed to arrest a suspect that nobody ever saw coming. This novel is Janie Bolitho at her very best, spinning a narrative full of vivid characters, convincing psychology, ingenious plots, and thrilling suspense in the archetypal whodunit style.

Ripe for Revenge is another great movie by Janie Bolitho. The novel opens to the body of an eight-year-old Sharon Vickers, who has been brutally murdered in the woods near her hometown of Little Endesley, England. The prime suspect is notorious child molester, Jacko Penhaligon who, despite his reputation has never been one for violence. The community wants him locked up, but no one is forthcoming with any evidence against him. It soon begins to look like an opportunistic killing committed by a traveling stranger, that the police would have no hope of ever apprehending. Other seemingly innocuous crimes are reported in Rickenham Green, a small town nearby. Could these events have anything with the ghastly crime that visited Little Endesley? Janie Bolitho spices up the tale with an exploration of the stresses in the life of DCI Ian Roper and those of his fellow officers. The big question though is, will DCI Roper unravel the series of crimes in these little towns and serve justice to the persons responsible?

4 Responses to “Janie Bolitho”

1. Margaret Perry: 7 months ago

   I have just read my first novel by Janie Bolitho and enjoyed very much..Now in the process of looking up her own personal story and books she has written.I have just ordered two more from my library…Very sad she died so young as has a unique way of writing a great story.

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2. Anne Arnold: 7 months ago

   I discovered Janie Bolitho’s work, and the Rose Trevelyand series by chance. I am half-way through the 7th and last of the series, and heartbroken for the author — and for us readers — that she wasn’t allowed to continue. She improved with every book in the series, making it even more difficult to accept the end. A wonderful legacy indeed. I am now in the process of sourcing the Ian Roper’s series, but it is proving more challenging.. Are they on ebooks? A wonderful author to discover.

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   • Graeme: 7 months ago

     Unfortunately, that series looks to be physical books only.

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3. Valerie Brandon: 1 year ago

   I’m a late comer I guess to Janie Bolitho and the Rose Trevelyan books but really loving her writing, storyline and descriptions of a truly beautiful part of the country. I have lots to keep me busy and excited about my reading future. Sad to learn that she died so young. But what a legacy

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