The Inspector Harcourt Mystery Series
worcestershire
In 2018, we left East Anglia to open a sweet shop on Worcester High Street. I encouraged customers to talk about life in Worcestershire, which both inspired stories in my head and a desire to travel throughout the county looking for locations for my Inspector Harcourt series of crime mystery novels.
We found a house in a beautiful village called Church Lench, on top of a hill with view to the Cotswold Hills to the south, and the Malvern Hills to the west. A little further over, we can see the Shropshire Hills in the distance; a perfect spot for daydreaming and sometimes writing!
We found a house in a beautiful village called Church Lench, on top of a hill with view to the Cotswold Hills to the south, and the Malvern Hills to the west. A little further over, we can see the Shropshire Hills in the distance; a perfect spot for daydreaming and sometimes writing!
the inspector harcourt series
This series of crime mystery novels features the West Mercia Police, based in Worcester, and a team led by Inspector Harcourt, formerly of Ely in Cambridgeshire. He is a history lover, but his own past is always on the verge of coming back to haunt him as it does for many of those he comes into contact with. He is also helped by a freelance proofreader called Daniel Reed who, whilst his profession is prosaic, even pedestrian, has a special gift that few others possess.
Character-driven, each of these stories takes place in Worcestershire and the edge of the Cotswolds. As we as readers try to work out what is going on, so does Harcourt and, often, so do many other, seemingly ordinary people, with their own secrets to hide.
Character-driven, each of these stories takes place in Worcestershire and the edge of the Cotswolds. As we as readers try to work out what is going on, so does Harcourt and, often, so do many other, seemingly ordinary people, with their own secrets to hide.
The Proofreader
This story - the first in the series - is based on a village very close to ours, on the edge of the Cotswolds, and a striking copse of trees that always stood out like Broadway Tower on the horizon.
In the spring of 2017, DI Harcourt is called to the village of Castle Upton to investigate the death of Andrew Patch, only to find eerie traces of an unsolved crime from 40 years earlier.
The more he digs, the more personal the case becomes, as the village’s secrets entangle with his own unresolved past.
With his boss - Superintendent Hunter-Wright - embroiled in a mystery of his own, can an unlikely ally help Harcourt untangle the truth before another tragedy strikes?
Who holds the final piece of the puzzle, and why are they staying silent?
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, Italian and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337549101
In the spring of 2017, DI Harcourt is called to the village of Castle Upton to investigate the death of Andrew Patch, only to find eerie traces of an unsolved crime from 40 years earlier.
The more he digs, the more personal the case becomes, as the village’s secrets entangle with his own unresolved past.
With his boss - Superintendent Hunter-Wright - embroiled in a mystery of his own, can an unlikely ally help Harcourt untangle the truth before another tragedy strikes?
Who holds the final piece of the puzzle, and why are they staying silent?
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, Italian and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337549101
Audible
In addition you can listen to this title as an audiobook on Audible, Amazon and Apple Books.
You can listen to a sample here:
You can listen to a sample here:
| sample.mp3 |
Water, Slaughter Everywhere
This is the second book in the Inspector Harcourt series. I wrote this tale during lunchtimes in our sweet shop in Worcester, following long walks down the towpath of the River Severn towards Diglis Basin.
It is the autumn of 2017. When Gary Jones is found dead in the tranquil lake at Pickerton, a quiet village nestled at the foot of the Malvern Hills, it seems like a tragic accident. But the discovery of a second, eerily similar drowning – this time of Zoya Agarwal, who walks into the River Severn and perishes – raises troubling questions. Could these two deaths be connected? And if so, what dark secret ties them together?
With the water seemingly claiming more victims, Inspector Harcourt and proofreader Daniel Reed must work together to untangle the mystery – before it’s too late.
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337642680
It is the autumn of 2017. When Gary Jones is found dead in the tranquil lake at Pickerton, a quiet village nestled at the foot of the Malvern Hills, it seems like a tragic accident. But the discovery of a second, eerily similar drowning – this time of Zoya Agarwal, who walks into the River Severn and perishes – raises troubling questions. Could these two deaths be connected? And if so, what dark secret ties them together?
With the water seemingly claiming more victims, Inspector Harcourt and proofreader Daniel Reed must work together to untangle the mystery – before it’s too late.
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337642680
Audible
In addition you can listen to this title as an audiobook on Audible, Amazon and Apple Books.
You can listen to a sample here:
You can listen to a sample here:
| sample.mp3 |
Family Fiction
A trip to Bromyard between Worcester and Hereford, close to the glorious Malvern Hills, made me feel small and insignificant compared to nature's soaring artistry. This is the third book in the series
In the summer of 2019, the quiet Worcestershire village of Bishop’s Lacy is shaken to its core. As the funeral of Brenda Wilkins, the late wife of the local butcher, takes place, the village is gripped by a chilling question: what is the connection between her death and the brutal murder of her neighbour, Kathleen Hodges?
Detective Inspector Harcourt and his team are on the case, but what they uncover raises even more unsettling possibilities. Could this be the work of a ruthless gang embroiled in county lines drug wars? Or is it something far more personal - tied to old family secrets, bitter rivalries, and the unresolved tensions surrounding Brenda’s will?
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337737485
In the summer of 2019, the quiet Worcestershire village of Bishop’s Lacy is shaken to its core. As the funeral of Brenda Wilkins, the late wife of the local butcher, takes place, the village is gripped by a chilling question: what is the connection between her death and the brutal murder of her neighbour, Kathleen Hodges?
Detective Inspector Harcourt and his team are on the case, but what they uncover raises even more unsettling possibilities. Could this be the work of a ruthless gang embroiled in county lines drug wars? Or is it something far more personal - tied to old family secrets, bitter rivalries, and the unresolved tensions surrounding Brenda’s will?
This title was published in August 2024 in both print and Kindle formats and is available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798337737485
Bread of Heaven
Following various 'research' trips to Worcestershire's stately homes, in particular their kitchens, I was inspired by a bread oven to write book four in the Inspector Harcourt series.
As the world teeters on the edge of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, a brutal attack on a young girl near the quiet Worcestershire hamlet of Salwood shocks the local community—and stirs memories of a haunting disappearance over three decades earlier.
In 1988, teenager Rebecca Jarvis, the baker’s daughter, vanished without a trace. Now, with a new Cold Case Unit under his command, Inspector Harcourt selects her case as their first to reopen. But as his team begins to dig, the past collides violently with the present. Their investigation soon overlaps with the active Major Crimes case involving the once-powerful Copeland family—now a shadow of their former selves. At the centre of it all looms The Tower, a decaying Victorian folly that seems to watch over the village like a silent sentinel.
This title was published in August 2025 in both print and Kindle formats and available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798262641208
As the world teeters on the edge of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, a brutal attack on a young girl near the quiet Worcestershire hamlet of Salwood shocks the local community—and stirs memories of a haunting disappearance over three decades earlier.
In 1988, teenager Rebecca Jarvis, the baker’s daughter, vanished without a trace. Now, with a new Cold Case Unit under his command, Inspector Harcourt selects her case as their first to reopen. But as his team begins to dig, the past collides violently with the present. Their investigation soon overlaps with the active Major Crimes case involving the once-powerful Copeland family—now a shadow of their former selves. At the centre of it all looms The Tower, a decaying Victorian folly that seems to watch over the village like a silent sentinel.
This title was published in August 2025 in both print and Kindle formats and available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9798262641208
As well as on Amazon, the Inspector Harcourt novels can be ordered from any Waterstones store, as well as all good bookshops, worldwide.
I previously published a full-length mystery novel set in Norfolk.
Tales from Waxling Beach
Based on real observations as a child on holiday in North Norfolk and the power of a sea I have always been fascinated with.
Set in the summer of 2007, Tales from Waxling Beach follows a televised archaeological dig near the lost village of Waxling on the North Norfolk coast. Over 19 days, a team of experts unearths something far more elusive than ancient artifacts—a mystery that seems to span generations, linking the present with the area’s haunting past.
As an ominous flood looms, the people of the region are torn between their fear of nature’s wrath and the fragile relationships that could break down once again. For PR executive Nick Golding, this unease is deeply personal. A sense of loss haunts him, one that stretches back to a childhood summer in Norfolk in 1967—the legendary ‘Summer of Love.’
Will Nick uncover the truth behind his unsettling feelings and discover the long-buried secrets of his past? Can he be reconciled to his personal history and save his marriage, or will the investigation into Waxling's mysteries tear it all apart? Set against the backdrop of the technological revolution reshaping the world, Nick’s journey is one of truth, transparency, and self-discovery. As his London agency, Prindle Massey, faces massive changes driven by the rise of social media, Nick must confront not just the past—but his own future.
This title was published in August 2017 in both print and Kindle formats and available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9781975712983
Set in the summer of 2007, Tales from Waxling Beach follows a televised archaeological dig near the lost village of Waxling on the North Norfolk coast. Over 19 days, a team of experts unearths something far more elusive than ancient artifacts—a mystery that seems to span generations, linking the present with the area’s haunting past.
As an ominous flood looms, the people of the region are torn between their fear of nature’s wrath and the fragile relationships that could break down once again. For PR executive Nick Golding, this unease is deeply personal. A sense of loss haunts him, one that stretches back to a childhood summer in Norfolk in 1967—the legendary ‘Summer of Love.’
Will Nick uncover the truth behind his unsettling feelings and discover the long-buried secrets of his past? Can he be reconciled to his personal history and save his marriage, or will the investigation into Waxling's mysteries tear it all apart? Set against the backdrop of the technological revolution reshaping the world, Nick’s journey is one of truth, transparency, and self-discovery. As his London agency, Prindle Massey, faces massive changes driven by the rise of social media, Nick must confront not just the past—but his own future.
This title was published in August 2017 in both print and Kindle formats and available from Amazon. Just search for this title or Mark Rasdall in any Amazon store and the titles will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices.
The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too.
It is also available in French, German and Spanish.
The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.
ISBN: 9781975712983