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Detectives Calladine & Bayliss Books 1–10
Meet two of Britain’s favourite detectives
Tom Calladine is an experienced detective inspector who is devoted to his job. His personal life, however, is a disaster zone. Having been married and divorced before the age of twenty-one has set a pattern that he finds difficult to escape. Fortunately he has better instincts for detecting than he has for managing his private life.
Ruth Bayliss is in her mid-thirties, plain-speaking but loyal. A single mother, she is balancing her professional life with looking after a small child. She loves her job, but sometimes she wishes it would leave her more time to hit the gym. She uses her demanding workload as an excuse for not trying too hard with the guys she meets.
The books are set in the fictional village of Leesdon on the outskirts of an industrial northern English city (think Manchester!). There is little work and a lot of crime. The bane of Calladine’s life is the Hobfield housing estate, breeding ground to all that is wrong with the area that he calls home.
This box set includes these 10 books:
Book 1: DEAD WRONG
Book 2: DEAD SILENT
Book 3: DEAD LIST
Book 4: DEAD LOST
Book 5: DEAD & BURIED
Book 6: DEAD NASTY
Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS
Book 8: DEAD BAD
Book 9: DEAD GUILTY
Book 10: DEAD WICKED
Tom Calladine is an experienced detective inspector who is devoted to his job. His personal life, however, is a disaster zone. Having been married and divorced before the age of twenty-one has set a pattern that he finds difficult to escape. Fortunately he has better instincts for detecting than he has for managing his private life.
Ruth Bayliss is in her mid-thirties, plain-speaking but loyal. A single mother, she is balancing her professional life with looking after a small child. She loves her job, but sometimes she wishes it would leave her more time to hit the gym. She uses her demanding workload as an excuse for not trying too hard with the guys she meets.
The books are set in the fictional village of Leesdon on the outskirts of an industrial northern English city (think Manchester!). There is little work and a lot of crime. The bane of Calladine’s life is the Hobfield housing estate, breeding ground to all that is wrong with the area that he calls home.
This box set includes these 10 books:
Book 1: DEAD WRONG
Book 2: DEAD SILENT
Book 3: DEAD LIST
Book 4: DEAD LOST
Book 5: DEAD & BURIED
Book 6: DEAD NASTY
Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS
Book 8: DEAD BAD
Book 9: DEAD GUILTY
Book 10: DEAD WICKED
2142 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2024
About the author
Helen H. Durrant
49 books636 followersI'm a woman of a certain age with a vocabulary addiction and no plans to recover.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 15, 2025
A very good long read.
Tom Calladine is not exactly a woman's dream, he's good looking but he's not constant, and of course he's a copper so he's always busy. He has a loyal team. Ruth Bayliss his sergeant was a bit commitment shy but now has a baby with her partner. Calladine's cousin is a mobster and this has curtailed Tom's career, but secrets about his true parents do come out. Each book he seems to have a different girl on the go, but at times think they want different things. He wants no stress and to just get on with his job, come home and relax but the girls in his life normally want a little bit more. The cases are gory, sometimes you will be told as you're reading the book who the culprit is, I actually prefer not to know, I like to be a detective as well and can I get the right answer. Otherwise you may as well give up if you know who's done it.
There are a couple of characters who come into this who have their own series. Stephen Greco and Eliza ( Rachel???) King. I query the Rachel King series because not read it yet but the storyline looks the same as what the character was in this book. 🤔. Anyway well worth the read. Onwards and upwards to last two books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Tom Calladine is not exactly a woman's dream, he's good looking but he's not constant, and of course he's a copper so he's always busy. He has a loyal team. Ruth Bayliss his sergeant was a bit commitment shy but now has a baby with her partner. Calladine's cousin is a mobster and this has curtailed Tom's career, but secrets about his true parents do come out. Each book he seems to have a different girl on the go, but at times think they want different things. He wants no stress and to just get on with his job, come home and relax but the girls in his life normally want a little bit more. The cases are gory, sometimes you will be told as you're reading the book who the culprit is, I actually prefer not to know, I like to be a detective as well and can I get the right answer. Otherwise you may as well give up if you know who's done it.
There are a couple of characters who come into this who have their own series. Stephen Greco and Eliza ( Rachel???) King. I query the Rachel King series because not read it yet but the storyline looks the same as what the character was in this book. 🤔. Anyway well worth the read. Onwards and upwards to last two books in this series.
Highly recommended.
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February 13, 2025Read the 10 books
I have to admit to really enjoying this series. I could not put them down. Each book had so many twists and turns it kept me on my toes. The characters grow on you quite quickly and made reading the next book imperative to see how they get on. Hoping there is a book 11 so I can see how they all turn out. The writing was brilliant as we're the plots Well done. If you like crime novels you are going to live these
I have to admit to really enjoying this series. I could not put them down. Each book had so many twists and turns it kept me on my toes. The characters grow on you quite quickly and made reading the next book imperative to see how they get on. Hoping there is a book 11 so I can see how they all turn out. The writing was brilliant as we're the plots Well done. If you like crime novels you are going to live these
May 17, 2026
Excellent
I've read a lot of Helen durrant books and have enjoyed every one of them, she writes in a way that keeps your interest alive, at times its hard to put down. So many writers get too involved with filling the pages with something totally irrelevant to the story and of no interest, that sort of writing really puts me off reading any further or reading any subsequent books written by that author.
Love Helen's books and would highly recommend
I've read a lot of Helen durrant books and have enjoyed every one of them, she writes in a way that keeps your interest alive, at times its hard to put down. So many writers get too involved with filling the pages with something totally irrelevant to the story and of no interest, that sort of writing really puts me off reading any further or reading any subsequent books written by that author.
Love Helen's books and would highly recommend
February 5, 2025
The stories are good but a bit predictable.
I enjoyed the stories but quite a few wrong guesses. Almost every new character she introduced lasted one book and they were guilty. Calladine comes across as a bit of a ladies man does the book need him jumping from one relationship to another
I enjoyed the stories but quite a few wrong guesses. Almost every new character she introduced lasted one book and they were guilty. Calladine comes across as a bit of a ladies man does the book need him jumping from one relationship to another
January 17, 2026
I rarely figured out who the murderer was.
Enjoyed this crime thriller series, especially the English language. I lived in Britain in the 1970s and learned I spoke American. Durrant’s characters became like family and I read all the books in succession because I was invested in the coppers lives. Thank you.
Enjoyed this crime thriller series, especially the English language. I lived in Britain in the 1970s and learned I spoke American. Durrant’s characters became like family and I read all the books in succession because I was invested in the coppers lives. Thank you.
December 8, 2024
NOT gripping at all
Pathetic grammar and doesn't know that there is a difference between whiskey and scotch whisky one is foreign muck and the other is real SCOTCH
doesn't know when to use I and ME correctly
Generally pathetic
Pathetic grammar and doesn't know that there is a difference between whiskey and scotch whisky one is foreign muck and the other is real SCOTCH
doesn't know when to use I and ME correctly
Generally pathetic
January 10, 2025
Living close by!!
Living close to the subject area ie. on the outskirts
of Huddersfield, I can surmise many of the areas mentioned, however it is a bit strange that some areas are deliberately misspelt. Intriguing!!
Living close to the subject area ie. on the outskirts
of Huddersfield, I can surmise many of the areas mentioned, however it is a bit strange that some areas are deliberately misspelt. Intriguing!!
November 30, 2024
Fell-swoop reading!
Outstanding plots embellished with great characters GENEROUSLY characterized. I read all ten books on my Mac computer, IPhone and IPad.
Outstanding plots embellished with great characters GENEROUSLY characterized. I read all ten books on my Mac computer, IPhone and IPad.
December 21, 2024
Great believable characters
Good easy reads. Fallible team who get results. Will continue with the series as available. Looking forward to book 11 and beyond
Good easy reads. Fallible team who get results. Will continue with the series as available. Looking forward to book 11 and beyond
January 12, 2025
Excellent Series
Very moving series. Would like to read more stories by the author. Enjoyed every minute of the series. Very good.
Very moving series. Would like to read more stories by the author. Enjoyed every minute of the series. Very good.
January 14, 2025
A Very Good read
Character building is the key to this book, great characters meant I couldn’t put it down, 10 books in a row lol
Character building is the key to this book, great characters meant I couldn’t put it down, 10 books in a row lol
January 19, 2025
Unputdownable
Kept me up well into the next day. Thoroughly enjoyed this series of books. Well written with edge of the seat thrills in all of them!
Kept me up well into the next day. Thoroughly enjoyed this series of books. Well written with edge of the seat thrills in all of them!
February 9, 2025
I loved the series.
February 13, 2025
Read books 1 to 9 a few years ago and suddenly thought “I’ve read this lot before”, with one new addition. Didn’t spoil my reading experience though. Great reads, great characters and great themes. Down to earth, no fancy procedures just basic hard graft policing to solve the cases. Not a great lover of ‘luvvy duvvy’ but Calladine’s love life nicely interrupts the solving process. And why should a good copper fall the way he does for the ladies? Oh it’s only fiction, don’t believe a word!
May 10, 2025
Very graphic description
June 5, 2026
an excellent read fast paced and captivating
All of this series were fast paced definitely edge of the seat read,
Complexed but simple to grasp,
Well worth a read.
All of this series were fast paced definitely edge of the seat read,
Complexed but simple to grasp,
Well worth a read.
December 6, 2024
Generally a good read. I like Calladine but could not warm to Bayliss who I found particularly annoying. I guess that is reading books. Plots are very good and Calladine is a good cop despite the best efforts of Bayliss whose only claim to fame is her weird and constant interference in his personal life.
March 19, 2025
I enjoyed reading the Detective Calladine & Bayliss series 1 to 10, very well written with lots of twists and turns, some stories in this series were a little long and drawn out but all in all a good read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews