Detective Inspector Jack Frost of Denton CID

On a rainy night in Denton, Detective Inspector Jack Frost is called to the site of a macabre discovery in the woods - that of a human foot. Meanwhile a multiple rapist is on the loose, the local supermarket reports poisoned stock, and a man claims to have cut up his wife into little pieces yet can't recall where he hid them.
But it is when two young girls are reported missing in quick succession that the Denton crime wave reaches terrifying heights.
As the exhausted Frost staggers from case to case, pressured from all sides and haunted by memories of his wife, something nasty arrives in the form of Detective Chief Inspector Skinner. The scheming, slippery Skinner clearly has his eye on the Superintendent's office, but his first job is to manipulate the transfer of unorthodox DI Frost to another division. Will Frost find the missing girls before his new nemesis forces him away from Denton once and for all?

A Killing Frost
R.D. Wingfield
ISBN 9780593060476

R.D. Wingfield was born in London within screaming distance of the scenes of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Until 1970 he worked in the sales office of an international oil company, writing crime plays for the radio in his spare time. The success of his radio work meant the day job had to go, and he became a full-time writer.

His plays have been broadcast all over the world and translated into many languages. In addition to thrillers and serials, he has written comedy scripts for the late Kenneth Williams, star of the "Carry On" films.

Mr. Wingfield died July 31 2007.

From "A Touch of Frost"
ISBN 0552139823

1. Frost at Christmas (1984)
2. A Touch of Frost (1987)
3. Night Frost (1992)
4. Hard Frost (1995)
5. Winter Frost (1999)
6. A Killing Frost (2008)

An excited voice. "Inspector!"

The torch beam picked out broken ground ... raw earth mixed with decayed leaves where the top surface had been turned over. A patch about eighteen inches square. The others clustered around to study the discovery.

"Hardly big enough for a grave," ventured the moustached constable.

"It may be small," said Frost, "but it's all we've got."

The man who found it carefully shovelled out loose earth, the torch, like a stage spotlight, following his every movement.

Frost lost interest. "Just our luck it's some camper's rubbish. If so you can have my share." The cold had found its way under the folds of the scarf and was chewing and worrying at his his scar. The wind started to keen softly at the back of its throat and the branches rustled.

"I've hit something!" called the digger. Then, "Sir!"

Frost spun around. The cigarette fell out of his mouth.

The beam of the torch held it fast - yellow, dirt-encrusted, but unmistakable. Poking obscenely through the earth was the skeleton of a human hand.

Frost at Christmas
Frontpiece
ISBN 0553571680
Bantam Books

Detective Inspector Jack Frost, officially on duty, is nevertheless determined to sneak off to a colleague's leaving party. But first the corpse of a well-known local junkie is found blocking the drain of a Denton public lavatory and then, when Frost attempts to join the revels later on, the nubile daughter of a wealthy businessman is reported missing.

Sleepy Denton has never known anything like the crime wave which now threatens to submerge it. A robbery occurs at the town's notorious strip joint, the Coconut Grove, the pampered son of a local MP is suspected of a hit-and-run offense and, to top it all, a multiple rapist is on the loose. Frost is reeling under the strain, his paperwork is still in arrears and now, more than ever, his self-righteous colleagues would love to see him sacked. But the manic Frost manages to assure his superior that all is under control. Now he has only to convince himself ...

A Touch of Frost
Back Cover Blurb
ISBN 0552139823
Corgi Books

"Jack Frost, Denton Division, is not beloved by his superiors. In fact, he's something of a pain in the brass; unkempt and unruly, with a taste for crude humour and a tendency to cut corners. They'd like nothing better than to bounce him from the department. The only problem is, Frost's the one D.I. who, by hook or by crook, always seems to find a way to get the job done."

Night Frost
Back Cover Blurb
ISBN:0553571672
Bantam Books

It's a high price to pay for a pack of smokes when Frost interrupts his vacation to filch some of Commander Mullett's cigarettes and finds himself pressed into emergency duty.

Denton Division is shorthanded after a car crash involving several tipsy high-ranking cops, and on Guy Fawkes night there's more mischief abroad than just a few children making the rounds begging for pennies and lighting firecrackers. In the next few days, Frost will deal with a parade of miscreants, including a blackmailer, a shifty businessman, a not-so-grieving widow, a sexual pervert or two, a crazed housewife, and a cold-blooded kidnapper.

The clock is ticking, and Frost is perilously short of clues ...

Hard Frost
Back Cover Blurb
ISBN 0553571702
Bantam Books

Denton is having more than its fair share of crime. A serial killer is murdering local prostitutes; a man demolishing his garden shed uncovers a long buried skeleton; an armed robbery at a local mini-mart; a ram-raid at a jewellers and a series of burglaries.

But Detective Inspector Jack Frost's main concern is for the safety of a missing schoolgirl. Nine weeks ago, Vicky Stuart, eight years old, didn't return home from school and in spite of exhaustive enquiries and extensive searches, has never been seen since. Another little girl from the same school is reported missing. her body is found ... raped and strangled.

Frost's prime suspect, strongly protesting his innocence, hangs himself in his cell, leaving a note blaming Frost for driving him to suicide. Subsequent events point tot he man's innocence.

Coarse, insubordinate and fearless, DI Frost is in serious trouble.

Winter Frost
Back Cover Blurb
ISBN 0552147788
Corgi Books

Frost hated hospitals, especially the dawn chorus of patients coughing and groaning, weak voices calling out for nurses who never came, the clinical smells. Sheeted, rubber-wheeled trolleys pushed by grim-faced porters swished past him as he trudged the long curving corridor, looking for Ward F3. Most of all, he hated the 'NO SMOKING' signs. What was it about 'NO SMOKING' signs that made him lust for a cigarette? He passed the staircase that led up to the room he had visited every day when his wife was dying. He shuddered. What a bloody awful time that had been.

First paragraph after the Prologue
Page 9
A Killing Frost
ISBN 9780593060476
Bantam Press Harcover

After his success in Hogfather, David Jason is weaving his magic in another Terry Pratchett adaptation.

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