“The Slaughterhouse Murder” by Roy Lewis

The Slaughterhouse Murder is the 13^th entry in the Eric Ward mystery series by British author Roy Lewis, and it’s something of a surprise. There’s less, considerably less, Eric Ward in this story than the previous 12, so much so that the story moves almost into the category of police procedural rather than legal thriller. 

A farm near Newcastle-on-Tyne is staked out by police for illegal processing of animal meat. The owner has rented his barn to the processors but is having to spend considerable time with his wife and a sick relative in Ireland. The police make the raid, but one of the villains escapes after injuring an officer. The owner is eventually interviewed but not charged.

 

The farm in question is occupied by a tenant of Eric Ward’s now-former wife Ann. Ward looks into it, sounds out various people involved, and has his gossip-laden friend Jackie Parton look into things. What Parton, and then Ward, stumble into is something much bigger than illegally scorching sheep carcasses; there’s apparently a huge move afoot by criminal elements to upset old crime fiefdoms. Ward is even approached by a government enquiry group to be part of the investigating team, but he turns it down.

 

Roy Lewis

The story focuses as much, if not more, on the police teams investigating a murder, organized crime, and more as it does on Ward. The divorce from his wife means there’s little of the lawyer’s personal story, which has always been a hallmark of the previous novels. There’s also the possibility of a new love interest, but it goes no further than a first date to the ballet and dinner. The Slaughterhouse Murder is still well-written, interesting, and entertaining, but I’m missing some of the old magic. Perhaps the next two in the series, both of which are now published, will return to that.

 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England. 

 

Related:

 

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Marriage Murder by Roy Lewis. 

 

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Wasteful Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Phantom Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The Phantom Murder" by Roy Lewis

Attorney Eric Ward is facing the finalization of his divorce decree. He and his wife Ann are calling it quits, both plagued by indiscretions and a loss of love. He refuses any part of her sizeable estate or resources; he wants to keep what’s his, including a flat in Newcastle. 

Ann still feels badly that he won’t accept any kind of financial settlement, so she and her current legal advisor, who may also be her lover and Eric’s rival, arrange for a large contract to fall Eric’s way. It’s from a commercial firm with insurance and shipping interests. What Ann doesn’t know, but her legal advisor does, is that the contract is likely to land Eric in trouble. 

The firm asks him to find out why a ship that docked in Newcastle has been “arrested” – what in the U.S. would be called “impounded.” Supposedly a crew member has been caught smuggling drugs, but the ship and the rest of the crew don’t seem involved.  So Eric investigates, puts out feelers through his information sources, talks with the local police, and gradually learns that nothing is what it seems to be.

The investigation takes him into the murky world of piracy, “Phantom” shipping, organized crime on a local and continental basis, and a client who may be up to his eyeballs in trouble. And it also takes him to a potential new romantic interest, who may be as involved as everyone else.

Roy Lewis

The Phantom Murder by Roy Lewis is the twelfth novel in the Eric Ward mystery series by British author Roy Lewis. Originally published as Phantom in 2002, it’s been republished this year as part of reintroducing the series (and author). 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

The Phantom Murder is yet another consistently fine Eric Ward mystery. Lewis keeps the personal story of his hero moving as quickly as the story of the mystery he’s trying to solve. With a thrilling ending and wonderfully drawn characters, it’s a mystery winner.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Marriage Murder by Roy Lewis. 

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Wasteful Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The Wasteful Murder" by Roy Lewis

Attorney Eric Ward is back, embroiled in a new murder mystery. The Newcastle lawyer is watching his marriage falling apart; he’s on the moral hook with the local police inspector; he’s estranged from his usual source of information, who doesn’t quite trust like he used to; and he has his hands full with his latest clients, a group of villagers opposing a toxic waste site and a rather sleazy sort who makes a living investigating people’s trash cans and selling what he finds to the highest bidder. A journalist is trying to glean information from him and offers something in return – information about the attorney who may be replacing Eric in his wife’s affections. 

Swirl all that together, with a good dose of personal guilt from the previous story (The Marriage Murder), and you’ve got a good story. Add an explosion and fire at the waste site, the body nearby of the sleazy information collector, and pressure from the police to gather information, and you’ve got something better than a good story – a fast-paced suspense novel that you don’t want to put down. 

Roy Lewis

The Wasteful Murder by British author Roy Lewis was originally published in Britain in 2001 as The Nightwalker and has been reissued by Joffe Books, which is republishing two of the Roy Lewis series of mystery novels. It’s a humdinger of a story, undergirded by Lewis’s own in-depth understanding of general and maritime law – and the professional jealousies and rivalries that often accompanied it.

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

I can’t recommend the Eric Ward mysteries too highly. Eleven books so far, and each one is an excellent story.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Marriage Murder by Roy Lewis. 

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

“The Marriage Murder” by Roy Lewis

Newcastle-on-Tyne Attorney Eric Ward has gotten himself into a serious fix. The former-policeman-turned-attorney has just had an argument with his wife Ann, right before she leaves for a three-week business trip to Singapore. Accompanying her is her own corporate attorney, a man nearer her age and one Eric has little use for. 

And now he has to attend an evening business reception, one of those boring affairs he hates. Finally getting away, he’s leaving the parking lot when an attractive woman who’d made something of a scene at the gathering flags him down; her car won’t start. and she needs a ride home. She also needs legal advice about something she says she’s gotten too deep into. Eric succumbs to her charms and finds himself in bed. 

She’s asleep when he leaves, and then he realizes he can’t find his car keys. Returning to her flat, he finds the woman dead in the living room, her neck broken. He eventually realizes that it will be only a matter of time before the police find her car, learn she was at the reception, and start interviewing attendees as possible suspects. He’s right; the police are also asking for DNA samples. 

Roy Lewis

One of Eric’s ne’er-do-well clients gets himself in a fix, owing a gambling debt and being framed for a burglary. And then the man is found at the scene of a murder with the interesting twist of the body being missing. Slowly, and with the help of his regular informant, Eric comes to see that the crimes are connected, leading in the direction of another client and the chairman of the board Eric serves on. 

It’s messy, it’s complex, and it’s a ripping good read. First published in Britain in 2000 under the title A Form of Death, The Marriage Murder by Roy Lewis is the tenth in the Eric Ward series. 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

It appears that Eric Ward may lose everything – his good name, his marriage, and possibly even his freedom. And that’s the mesmerizing tension point in The Marriage Murder.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis.

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The Spanish Villa Murder" by Roy Lewis

Newcastle attorney Eric Ward was a policeman until his career was cut short by glaucoma. He studied law, and eventually became a barrister. And surgery seems to have considerably helped his eyesight. He’s married to the former Ann Morcomb, a wealthy younger woman who runs an estate and a considerable number of investments, and she has yet to understand why Eric won’t throw over his law practice and be her full-time attorney. 

Eric likes his independence, and he likes knowing that he doesn’t depend upon a wealthy wife, even if it would be easier. He does represent her on the board of a financial firm in London, one that’s filled with sharks itching to see the end of him. Eric asks too many questions – the wrong kind of questions. But’s he made a name for himself in Yorkshire and London for his expertise in maritime law and for ferreting out information that has saved clients (and his wife) a lot of money.

He’s approached by Simon Chan, head of a shopping and banking company in Singapore, to find a former company officer who’s now missing. It seems this officer negotiated deals he shouldn’t have, and it isn’t just Chan who wants to find him. The man also disappeared with the wife of a former business partner. But nothing in this world of shipping, strange contracts, high finance, hostile takeovers, and arbitrage is ever what it seems. And the body count is growing.

Roy Lewis

First published in 1991 as A Kind of Transaction, The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis is the ninth mystery in the Eric Ward series, and it shares the consistently high quality of story of its predecessors. The story displays a quiet (sometimes not-so-quiet) tension between Ward and his wife that connects to the main plot line and a deep knowledge of maritime law and how courts operate.  

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

Ward’s understanding of human nature, and his ability to know when a client is lying (which is often), underscore the story in The Spanish Villa Murder. The series is being revised and reissued by Joffe Books, and it’s an excellent mystery and legal thriller.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The Apartment Murder" by Roy Lewis

I’ve become a big fan of the Eric Ward mysteries by British author Roy Lewis, but I’m reading them faster than the publishing is reissuing them (they were originally published in 1980s, and 1990s). And now I’ve reached the eighth novel, and there’s no word on the next nine. 

Eric Ward is a former policeman forced to resign because he was losing his eyesight to glaucoma. He turned to the study of law, and a successful eye surgery has saved his eyesight. He maintains a practice in commercial and maritime law in Newcastle in Yorkshire. He’s married to the former Ann Morcomb, a wealthy woman some 13 years his junior and who operates both the family estates and a considerable number of investments. An ongoing source of tension between them is his refusal to act as her attorney and maintain his own practice.

Over the years of their marriage, Eric has found himself involved in a number of legal cases that spill over into criminal law. He’s made a name for himself, not only for what’s accomplished in Newcastle but also in business circles in London. 

Roy Lewis

In The Apartment Murder, Eric and Ann are both attending a reception in London when they meet Eileen O’Hara, chairman of the board of Broadlands, a manufacturing company that is likely the focus of a leveraged buyout. And O’Hara wants Eric to be her adviser; she’s heard his reputation.

What looks like a high finance / merger and acquisition activity begins to edge into personal animosity, old scores to settle, and, ultimately, murder. And it’s Eric ward who begins to ferret out the truth. He’s also sensing a dangerous attraction to O’Hara. 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

The Apartment Murder is a riveting story of greed, corporate duplicity, and passions run amok, with Eric Ward trying to hold on to his reputation for honesty. My only regret is that I have to wait until the ninth in the series is published.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The City of London Murder" by Roy Lewis

Attorney Eric Ward, a former policeman who nearly lost his eyesight to glaucoma, is helping his wealthy wife make an acquisition of a Yorkshire firm. Well, helping isn’t exactly the right word. Ward knows his wife Anne doesn’t really need his help; she’s smart enough and capable enough to manage on her own, with the help of a young acquisition advisor.

The advisor, for his part, is indeed young, but he’s gained something of a reputation as an up-and-comer. He’s also engaged to a beautiful woman, who doesn’t seem as taken with the advisor as he is with her.

Ward is pulled into a hostile takeover defense (this is the 1980s, when such events were almost routine) as a compliance officer. The chairman of his investment banking firm is also part of the defense team, and a rather unorthodox strategy is put into effect. Ward suspects that there’s more to the plan than he’s been told, and that the defense team is slipping into a gray legal area at best and illegality at worst.

Then the advisor’s fiancée is brutally murdered, and the advisor is arrested. But like everything else when high finance is involved, there’s far more here than meets the eye.

Roy Lewis

The City of London Murder by British mystery writer Roy Lewis is the eighth in the Eric Ward mystery series. It’s a riveting tale of merger and acquisition, entrepreneurs slipping onto the wrong side of the legal fence, petty jealousies and rivalries, and murder. 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

The Eric Ward mysteries were first published in the 1980s and are now being republished. What you don’t ger are stories heavily dependent upon computers, mobile phones, and DNA analyses. And the author cleverly weaves the ongoing relationship between Ward and his wife into a significant piece of the story.

Lewis maintains his consistently high quality of storytelling with The City of London Murder. It’s been a delight to find and read these stories from 40 years ago.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

"The Shipping Murder" by Roy Lewis

I never thought that a subject like marine insurance could be a fascinating topic. In the hands of former police office-turned attorney Eric Ward, it becomes exactly that.

A body is found floating near the Newcastle, England docks. It’s eventually identified as a first mate who signed on with a ship at a recent port of call. He had been working on a ship that sank in the Mediterranean.

This wouldn’t necessarily affect Eric Ward or his largely commercial law practice. Eric has another problem – his wife has to invest her inheritance, and her young lawyer has already lined up a commercial insurance brokerage. Eric doesn’t like the young lawyer, and he’s suspicious of the brokerage. Through an unlikely chain of events, he ends up on the board of one of the brokerage firm’s subsidiaries, one that acts more like a shell company for moving liabilities around. One of those liabilities is marine insurance, like for the cargo boat that sank in the Mediterranean. 

Soon Eric Ward finds himself battling crooks, shady executives who are borderline crooks, a retired gangster type who isn’t really retired, and what might be a rival for his wife’s affections. He takes some financial risks, and everything looks like it’s going to blow up in his face.

Roy Lewis

The Shipping Murder by British author Roy Lewis is the sixth in the Eric Ward mystery series, and it’s a top-notch tale of fraud, corruption, and murder.

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too Many, Murder in the Mine, The Woods Murder, Error of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.

The Eric Ward mysteries were first published in the 1980s and are now being republished. What you don’t ger are stories heavily dependent upon computers, mobile phones, and DNA analyses. Instead, you get a story that focuses on characters, plot, and enough twists and turns to make you think you’re examining a corkscrew collection. The Shipping Murder is a winner – and you learn a lot about the shipping business.

Related:

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.