The Chalon Heads

When the Daily Mirror called The Chalon Heads “one of the best-crafted, best-plotted, and most convincing British thrillers for decades,” you knew it had to be good. David Brock and Kathy Kolla are summoned to Cabot’s, a venerable dealer in rare stamps on the Strand, and at first they expect a simple case of theft and a pleasant digression from the usual sort of murderous wrongdoing they encounter in the Serious Crime Branch of Scotland Yard. But the case they confront is twistier and far more unsettling than they could have imagined.

An unsavory figure from Brock’s past, slippery East-Ender Sammy Starling, aka Sammy China, is in deep trouble and asking for Brock’s help. It seems Sammy’s young wife has been kidnapped; but the strange part is that the ransom notes are decorated with rare and valuable Chalon Head stamps of the young Queen Victoria—to whom Sammy’s wife bears an uncanny resemblance. Sammy is convinced a corrupt cop he once helped put in jail is behind the kidnapping. But Sammy has made a living from fraud and deceit: why should Brock and Kolla trust anything he says?

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Barry Maitland was born in Scotland and raised in London. He was a professor of architecture and dean at the University of Newcastle in Australia, but relinquished the position to become a full-time writer. He has written twelve Brock and Kolla novels. He lives in Australia.

“Superb . . . An ingenious, craftily plotted, well-written, full-bodied procedural. . . . [H]e just keeps getting better and better. . . . The revelations continue and delight until the very last page.” —Providence Journal

“[Barry Maitland] writes what may be the best police procedural today. . . . [A] classy story in a usually unclassy genre.” —Sunday Star-Ledger

“Barry Maitland is a master of mysteries, and The Chalon Heads is a crafty and well-crafted showpiece of the genre.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Riveting . . . Deviously complicated . . . Maitland’s intricate tale never fails to grip.” —Publishers Weekly