Sarah J Mason Books In Order

Publication Order of Miss Seeton Books

Publication Order of Trewley & Stone Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sarah J. Mason is a British author from Bishop’s Stortford in England. She was born in 1949 to a former naval officer and schoolteacher Jack, and Margaret Mason an ex naval officer. Growing up as a child, Mason loved Agatha Christie mysteries and asserted that her plotting was among some of the best she ever read. Before she became a professional novelist, Mason worked as office manager, temporary secretary, information officer and librarian, and library assistant. As an adult, she would move on to read the likes of Edmund Crispin’s “The Moving Toyshop”, which convinced her that she could write something similar. Reading “The Moving Toyshop”, novels showed her that entertaining readers was more about alluding to shared experiences even if there was no direct relevance to the plot. Her light bulb moment soon led her to her first idea of a novel that culminated in her debut novel “Lets Talk of Wills”. The novel was some type of whimsy novel written for entertainment that made mention of many of Shakespeare’s characters, without making them fundamental to the overall narrative. However, the novel received stinging criticism from reviewers for not being serious enough, but she never gave up, as she presented herself as a candidate to write the Miss Seeton novels a few years later. She was member of the Crime Writers Association, the leading society for crime authors around the world. She was married to welding engineer and Metallurgist William G. Welland.

Sarah J. Mason made a name for herself for being a prolific write of thriller mysteries in small English village settings. Her first novel in 1985 was about the adventures of a 90-year-old character known as Kape Keepdown. Similar to the theme of crime that is evident in most of her later novels, the novel follows the same format where the lead character always seems to attract crime and ill fortune. The novel received much critical acclaim with “Armchair Detective’s” Myrna Feldman calling it a surprising yet humorous debut, which has just the right amount of red herrings and coincidences. It was also similarly acclaimed in “Kirkus Reviews” where the reviewer found it to be a promising debut with quirky characters, considerable atmosphere. “Publishers Weekly” also reserved high Praise for Sarah Mason asserting the novel to be full of cutesy names, coincidences, characters, and innovative motivations.

After the publication of her debut novel that brought her much critical acclaim and popularity, she would write a series of “Whodunits” as Hamilton Crane. One of her most popular series of novels was the Miss Seeton series that was created by Heron Carvic in the 1960s. After the death of the originator, the series was taken over by Hampton Charles who wrote three titles in 1990, before he passed the buck to Sarah Mason. The mysteries are set in the village of Plummergen of Kent County in England, and feature a 40-year-old retired art teacher, and spinster Emily Dorothea Seeton. The lead in the series is a clairvoyant with the unique talent of accurately drawing sketches of what happened in the past and what will happen in the future, which often leads her to amateur sleuthing. Mason excels in portraying life in the English village while staying true to the ideals of the creator of the series Heron Carvic who ensured that the lead remained the centerpiece of each narrative. In 1993, Sarah once again decided to branch out and write on her own as she launched the Trewley and Stone series under her own name. The lead character in the series is Detective Superintendent Trewley who works alongside Sergeant Stone a highly effective female partner. The sergeant who has a judo black belt, and was once a medical student, is a welcome contrast to the more dyed in the wool conventional English detective.

Sarah J. Mason became Hamilton Crane after she became attached to an editor she met at the Collins Crime Club. The same editor would later recommend her to the Heron Carvic estate agents who were seeking an author that could continue writing the Miss Seeton series of novels after Hampton Charles quit. Given that the agents wanted someone that had the initials HC, she decided to take the pseudonym Hamilton Crane, a name of her former Hall of residence while she was a student at St Andrews. She would later learn that her editor wanted her to become more disciplined, which is why she recommended that she write the Miss Seeton series of novels. After proving her discipline with several bestsellers as Hamilton Crane, she was more than prepared to branch out on her own with the “Trewley & Stone” series. The fifteenth title in the Miss Seeton series was her last as Hamilton Crane as she moved away from mystery fiction to explore other genres.

“Corpse in the Kitchen”, the first novel in the “Trewley & Stone” series introduces Detective Superintendent Trewley, a man with decades of experience in law enforcement. He knows all there is to know about crime in small English villages, but even with his wealth of experience, he needs some help. Teaming up with Stone, he solves a complicated murder mystery in a small village in Kent County England. The Phoenix Group has just taken over the lodge of a long disused manor home, where they intend to set up a camp where its members can try out a live off the land philosophy. But when a member of the group is killed with a lump of bread dough while making bread, the team and the local police detectives are left bewildered. For detective Stone and his partner Trewley who between them have a judo black belt a scientific mind and wealth of experience, cracking the case is not an option.

“In Murder in the Maze” Detective Superintendent Trewley and his sidekick detective Stone are the most unlikely of detectives to be paired up. They could not be any more different with Trewley an old-fashioned detective, while the younger Stone has several skills including medical, scientific and martial arts expertise. The two detectives know that the annual summer fete in Redingote, England where people have a good tie and cut lose may portent danger. However, even as the fete always comes with some misbehavior, murder is not one of the mischievous behavior they had hoped to have to deal with. All is well until the doctor’s young lovely wife turns up dead, and Detective Sergeant Stone and his odd partner Trewley have to put all their differences aside to catch the evasive killer.