DCS Palmer Books

Justin Palmer started off on the beat as a London policeman in the late 1980s and is now Detective Chief Superintendent Palmer running the Serial Murder Squad from New Scotland Yard.
Not one to pull punches, or give a hoot for political correctness if it hinders his inquiries Palmer has gone as far as he will go in the Met. and he knows it. Master of the one line put down and slave to his sciatica he can be as nasty or as nice as he likes.
The early 2000’s was a time of re-awakening for Palmer as the Information Technology revolution turned forensic science, communication and information gathering skills upside down. Realising the value of this revolution to crime solving Palmer co-opted Detective Sergeant Gheeta Singh, a British Asian, onto his team in 2012.
DS Singh has a degree in IT and was given the go ahead to update Palmer’s department with the computer hardware and software she wanted, most of which she wrote herself, and some of which is, shall we say, of a grey area when it comes to privacy laws and accessing certain databases!
Together with their civilian computer clerk called Claire, nicknamed ‘JCB’ by the team because she keeps on digging, they take on the serial killers of the UK. If more help is needed in a case Gheeta calls on a select number of officers in other departments who have worked with Palmer before and can’t wait to do so again.
On the personal front Palmer has been married to his ‘princess’, or Mrs P. as she is known to everybody, for nearly thirty years. The romance blossomed after the young DC Palmer arrested most of her family who were a bunch of South London petty villains in the 90’s. They have four children and eight grandchildren, a nice house in Dulwich Village and a faithful dog called Daisy. His one nemesis is his next door neighbour Benji, real name Benjamin Courtney-Smith, a portly, single, ex-advertising executive in his late fifties who had taken early retirement and now had, in Palmer’s estimation, too much time on his hands and too much money in his pocket. A new car every year plus at least two cruise holidays a year to exotic parts; he wore designer label clothes befitting a much younger man, a fake tan, enough gold jewellery to interest the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Heist gang and all topped off with his thinning hair scooped into a ponytail, also befitting a much younger man. Benji has a habit of bringing calamities into Palmer’s settled home life.
Palmer was also unsure about Benji’s sexuality, as his mincing walk and the very female way of flapping his hands to illustrate every word cast doubts in Palmer’s mind. Not that that worried Palmer, who was quite at ease in the multi-gender world of today. Of course, he would never admit it, but the main grudge he held against Benji was that before his arrival in the quiet suburb of Dulwich village, Palmer had been the favourite amongst the ladies of the Women’s Institute, the Bridge Club, the Church Flower Arrangers and the various other clubs catering for ladies of a certain
age; but now Benji had usurped Palmer’s fan base, and when he stood for and was elected to the local council on a mandate to reopen the library and bring back the free bus pass for pensioners, Benji’s popularity soared and their fluttering eyelashes had turned away from Palmer and settled in his direction.
Gheeta Singh is twenty six and lives in a fourth floor Barbican apartment in London. Her parents having arrived on these shores as refugees fleeing from Idi Amin’s Uganda in the 1970’s. Her father and brothers have built up a good computer parts supply company in which it was assumed Gheeta would take an active role on graduating from University with her IT degrees. However she had other ideas on her career path, and also on the arranged marriage her mother and aunt still try to coerce her into. Gheeta has two loves, police work and technology, and thanks to Palmer she has her dream job.
Combining the old ‘coppers nose’ and ‘gut feelings’ of Palmer with the modern IT skills of DS Singh the two make an unlikely but successful crime solving pair. As the name of the squad suggests, all their cases involve serial killings and twist and turn through red herrings and hidden clues alike keeping the reader in suspense until
the very end.



PALMER BOX SET 1: CASES 1-6 (DCS Palmer and the Serial Murder Squad)

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An e-book box set of the first six DCS Palmer and the Met’s Serial Murder Squad cases. Follow the team as they investigate murders in the Entertainment Industry, City Financial Banks, Naval Weapon of Mass Destruction theft, revenge at the Drama Academy, Nazi Looted Gold and a killer stalking a major rock band. Old school DCS Palmer and his young IT graduate DS Gheeta Singh get to grips with the serial killers and the chase is on through the usual Palmer book twists and turns to each exciting climax. And of course in the background Palmer’s wife continues to try to get him off his favourite toad in the hole and steak and kidney pie to go vegetarian and get a bit ‘modern’ whilst Benji the gay next door neighbour keeps having disasters that affect Palmer’s home life. All the while his faithful springer Daisy just hopes for a tasty treat and maybe a walk now and again though the park. From her Barbican apartment DS Gheeta Singh has to fend off her aunt’s continual efforts to arrange a marriage for her on the internet whilst supporting Palmer in chasing serial killers in the UK and persuading boyfriends that she is very happily married to the job and that’s the deal for any relationship. You’ll laugh and maybe squirm a bit and definitely say ‘ I didn’t see that coming!’. Enjoy!!


Books 1 & 2: Future Riches and The Felt Tip Murders

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ISBN 9781999764013

FUTURE RICHES.    An old school comedian seeing out his time in Summer Shows and Pantos doesn’t know an old financial investment he made is about to go through the roof but others in his circle of agents, writers and friends do. Each one has a reason to keep the news from him and each one has a reason to murder him and the others that stand to gain.  

THE FELT TIP MURDERS. City bankers are being killed. Palmer traces a link back to the 2008 recession and a company brought to its knees by greedy advisors. Are they being killed by a member of the family that owned the business and what is the significance of the felt tip message scrawled on their bodies?  The trail leads Palmer and the team from the elite bankers of the City of London to the back street hookers of Manchester as he unravels a family feud that turned in on itself.


Books 3 & 4: Poetic justice and a killer is calling

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ISBN 9781999764021

POETIC JUSTICE.   Celebrities are meeting their deaths in London Hotel rooms. Palmer’s team find a link to a Drama Academy they all attended in their youth. Not everyone who went there made it to the big time so are old jealousies surfacing or is there something deeper spurring on a serial killer?

A KILLER IS CALLING.  The last thing Palmer wants is a Naval Weapons Scientist going AWOL with a WOMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) that can kill by a sound sent down a mobile telephone signal.  A ransom is demanded and a pretty drastic demonstration of the weapon’s power takes place in the London Mayor’s office.  Palmer moves into the world of spooks and national defence protocols whilst DS Singh gets a personal shock. 


Books 5 & 6: Loot and I’m with the band

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ISBN 9781999764005

LOOT.   Two bodies turn up, one in London and one on the Brighton shore line, both are in the same type of plastic bag. With just this one clue to work with Palmer’s team are led through a series of twists and turns involving a villain from Palmer’s past, a hoard of Nazi gold, dodgy UK Auction houses,  a Member of Parliament and some very feisty females all intent on keeping the gold for themselves.

I’M WITH THE BAND.  70’s rock band, Revolution, are still touring and packing the major venues but one by one the original members are dying in what their manager thinks are very suspicious circumstances. He takes his suspicions to DS Singh who has difficulty persuading Palmer that anything nasty is happening to the band and puts it down to their age, drink and drugs, but a turn of events on a London Tube station changes his mind. The killer starts a personal battle with Palmer played out through social media posts with the killer always one step ahead until the explosive ending at a Status Quo Concert at the NEC.


Books 7 & 8: Burning Ambition and Takeaway Terror

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ISBN 9781916163300

BURNING AMBITION.   What lies behind the incineration of three prisoners in a prison van on their way from being sentenced in court to prison and how comes one of the bodies is not who it should be?  In the background lurks a major organised crime boss planning his last big ‘signature’ heist at the Royal Mint in Wales so why is he ordering hits on petty criminals, or is he? Palmer lets the plan ride to a crescendo at the mint which results in a deadly bust up between the crime boss and his number two. But somebody else has been in the picture all along and could profit when the guns come out and bullets fly.

TAKEAWAY TERROR.    Two London organised crime families are squaring up for a battle over drugs turf and the Takeaway delivery company used to get the drugs to the customers.  Palmer is brought in when delivery scooter riders are mown down. Things are getting heavy and look to be getting heavier when a known explosives expert is seen  with one of the families. Palmer may be too late. The finale at a scrap yard brings DS Singh’s computer skills to a new level as she pilots a drone to try and prevent her boss being shot.


Books 9 & 10: Ministry of murder and the bodybuilder

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ISBN 9781916163351

MINISTRY OF MURDER.   Bodies floating in the Thames lead Palmer to a series of unexplained deaths of middle management people at the Ministry of Health’s Procurement Department. A local restaurant and its Romanian Mafia clients might hold the clue and when the Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on the NHS makes an appearance it looks like Palmer better tread carefully. Is blackmail at work here, is that why the head of the Procurement Department is getting very jittery? More bodies appear and the ending at London City Airport is amazing!

THE BODYBUILDER.    A young female body with a limb missing turns up at the West London Waste Transfer Plant. The Met’s pathologist calls in Palmer as it is the second body missing a limb, but a different limb this time and both have been expertly amputated, but where are they then? There’s not much for Palmer’s team to work with except one small piece of jewellery on the second body. The trail leads Palmer’s team into the world of Consultant Surgeons and the General Medical Council’s Standards Court as a pattern emerges. It’s a gruesome pattern, is somebody building a body? This case is not for the faint hearted with the final chase through foggy Oxfordshire a master in suspense.


Book 11: Succession

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SUCCESSION      James Dawn is head of the Dawn Organised crime family controlling South London, he’s a very big player in the drugs game so who would organise a hit on him and why? The outcome could easily slip into a gang war between the Dawn family, the West End Dooley family and the North London Robinson family. Palmer calls in help from the Organised Crime Squad and sets about finding the killer before it all goes off. Will he be in time as other family bodies turn up and in the back ground suspicion is building on one particular person.

Book 11 ISBN 9781916163362


Book 12: The black Rose

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THE BLACK ROSE    It is the Holy Grail of rose breeders, a Black Rose. To breed it will make the breeder millions, so when one is about to be registered with the British Association of Rose Breeders it’s not surprising somebody else tries to get their hands on it, even to the extent of murdering people but when  thieves fall out things generally go from bad to worse and liaisons change.  Garden Centres are usually quiet, tranquil places but when a million pounds is up for grabs the plant pots fly. The ending is most unusual. If you are an amateur gardener you’ll love this book.

Book 12 ISBN 9781916163393


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Book 13: LAPTOPS CAN KILL

LAPTOPS CAN KILL Case 13 in the DCS Palmer and the Met’s Serial Murder Squad files. When petty thieves are murdered by a team of professional hitmen whose MO matched other unsolved killings Palmer wants to know why? What could bring a professional hit on a bunch of petty thieves? What had they done to upset somebody so much that the hit was called? There’s a big search going on in the underworld for a certain laptop, why? What’s on it and where is it and is it connected to the case? Who is ‘Sammy’ the person being sought so aggressively by the hitmen and what does ‘Sammy’ know? Palmer brings in help from Organised Crime and starts to unravel the tangled threads of the case whilst suffering the usual attempts of Mrs P at home to improve his health with a vegetarian diet that he resists and his nemesis neighbour Benji unwittingly causing him pain.


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BOOK 14: SCREEN 4

There’s a serial killer at work murdering cinema-goers in London. Has he done it before? The team uncover a cold case that says he might have but where is he now? As usual with this best selling series the plot twists and turns to the final curtain as Palmer and his team chase shadows.

At home Mrs P has enrolled in Peloton and Palmer’s nemesis neighbour Benji has put a trampoline in his garden and Palmer’s had a large fish pond installed… surely nothing can go wrong….can it?

ISBN 978-1838438463