Catherine Aird (born Kinn McIntosh) was born in 1930 in the British town of Huddersfield. Over the course of her life, she became a fixture in the mystery novel world, both for her skilled writing abilities and her leadership.
Aird sadly passed away at the age of 94 in late 2024.
Aird published her first novel, The Religious Body in 1966. This novel is the first in Aird’s Calleshire Chronicles, the series of over 20 mystery novels for which she is best known. The series follows Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, as they solve mysteries in the fictional county of Calleshire, England.
Aird’s books straddle the line between cozy mystery and police procedurals. She combined engrossing and suspenseful plotlines with humor and wit to craft her much-beloved series.
In addition to her writing, Catherine Aird was also an inspirational leader. She was chair of the United Kingdom’s Crime Writers’ Association from 1990-1991. In 2015, she won the CWA’s Golden Dagger award in recognition of her outstanding lifetime contribution to the crime writing genre.
In 1988, Aird was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire for her involvement with the Girl Guides Association, a girl’s only charitable organization.
In recognition of the amazing writer and literary figure that Catherine Aird was, we have compiled this list of ten of her books to be enjoyed in her honor by readers new to her work and old fans alike.
The Religious Body
This book is the first introduction of the detective at the center of Aird’s novels, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan. Here he takes on an unusual case of an unholy action in a holy setting.
A nun, Sister Anne, has been found dead at the bottom of a staircase in the convent of St. Anselm. Inspector C.D. Sloan, assisted by his trusty sidekick Detective Constable Crosby, is called on to investigate the death.
He quickly finds that Sister Anne did not just take a tumble but that she has been murdered. Inspector Sloan and Constable Crosby must get to the bottom of the case, questioning every suspect both in and outside of the monastery.
The Stately Home Murder
Times are hard in 1970 England. In order to make some extra money the Earl of Ornum opens up his large and extravagant estate to the public. Everything looks beautiful, until a child discovers that inside an elaborate suit of armor on display there’s a real dead body.
Sloan and Crosby are on the scene to figure out who could be responsible for the death of this victim hidden in plain sight. The estate is home to many suspects, from the royal earl and duchess to their family members and servants.
And now that the house has hosted many touring visitors, the total list of suspects is almost endless.
A Dead Liberty
It seems like an obvious case. Kenneth Carline, an employee of Lucy Durmast’s father, dies of poisoning after eating a meal that Lucy cooked. Kenneth was planning on marrying a different woman, and Lucy killed him in a fit of jealousy.
But why isn’t Lucy defending herself?
After the main detective investigating suffers a terrible injury, Sloan is on the case and he’s suspicious. What seemed like a clear-cut situation starts to get murky.
Sloan discovers how the king of an African nation, anti-nuclear sentiments, and the previous lead detective’s injury might all be clues to a surprising conclusion.
Some Die Eloquent
Sloan’s wife, Margaret, is pregnant with their first child and the inspector is anxiously awaiting fatherhood. He only hopes he can find time, and live long enough, to see the child be born…
A sweet, quiet school teacher has died. It is originally thought that she died of natural causes, but there’s one suspicious aspect– she’s left behind a small fortune.
Sloan is brought in to decipher who would have had a will and a way to kill for the woman's money. Someone is dead set on the sum, and Crosby is standing in their way.
Parting Breath
Calleshire University is abuzz with discontentment. Faculty and staff are bracing themselves against an upcoming student sit-in protest.
As tension grows on the college campus, there is a burglary of a dorm room. Inspector Sloan arrives to investigate but then, in a shocking turn of events, a student is found dying on the quad.
Before the student takes his last breath, he ekes out three little words: “twenty-six minutes.” Now Sloan, with the help of Constable Crosby, must find the connection between the two crimes and the meaning behind the dying man’s last words before more harm can make its way to the campus?
Last Respects
When a man sets out on an early fishing trip one morning, the last thing he expects to find is a floating corpse. The unidentified body has been dead and on the water for a long time, further complicating a mysterious case.
As Sloan tries to uncover who the victim is, and who the killer could be, he is faced with all sorts of challenges of the British countryside.
He’ll deal with municipal building codes, tides, sheep, and local history, all with Constable Crosby at his side, and occasionally in his way.
Passing Strange
After all of the planning and effort put into it, everything is going smoothly at the annual Horticultural Society Flower Show in the village of Almstone.
That is, until the beloved district nurse, Joyce Cooper, is found dead behind the fortune teller’s booth, strangled by a piece of florist’s wire.
Can Inspector Sloan get to the bottom of who would want a sweet old lady, who plays the organ at church every Sunday and has devoted her life to helping others, dead?
His discoveries might just shake up the town.
Harm's Way
Most of Inspector C.D. Sloan’s cases start with a dead body, but this one starts with just a finger. A finger dropped by a crow onto the path of two hikers on a walk in the farming country of Great Rooden.
For once, Sloan is on the hunt not just for a suspect, but also a victim. It seems that many people have disappeared in the area, and even more people could be responsible.
Can Sloan and Crosby find where the finger points in this town of big personalities, including a wayward son, a wealthy financier, and even some women thieves?
The Body Politic
This book presents a complex mystery with complex players. Alan Ottershaw is an engineer working in a Middle Eastern country called Lasserta which is home to much of a sought-after mineral.
When he hits and kills a pedestrian while driving, he is whisked back to England before the harsh government can punish him. However, the Lassertan government is not happy and threatens to end their contract with Ottershaw’s mining company.
Soon, Ottershaw is killed in a battle reenactment. It seems like everyone had a reason to want Ottershaw dead and the whole controversy over with.
Can Sloan solve who took the matter into their own hands?
Slight Mourning
William Fent hosted a dinner party of 11 of his close friends. By the end of the night, Fent is dead in a car crash.
The police find that he had ingested a massive amount of barbiturates sometime during the evening, so of course they call in trusted Inspector Sloan.
All of the 11 friends, and no one else, had an opportunity to kill Mr. Fent, but which one had a motive?
Sloan must question each of the guests about their relationship with Fent and their actions at the party, and he better act fast…
