Catherine Aird Books in Order

Catherine Aird was an English crime fiction author best known for the long-running Sloan and Crosby series set in the fictional English county of Calleshire, a police procedural series which puzzle plotting elements of the Golden Age. She received the CWA Diamond Dagger in 2015, the highest honour in British crime writing, and was a member of the Detection Club from 1981. She died in December 2024 at the age of 94, having published her final novel, Constable Country, the previous year.

This page lists all Catherine Aird books in order, including the complete Sloan and Crosby / Chronicles of Calleshire series, short stories, and her one standalone novel, A Most Contagious Game (1967).

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Sloan and Crosby Series (Books in Order)

The Sloan and Crosby series, aka the Chronicles of Calleshire Series, follows Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Berebury CID and his impulsive and clumsy Detective Constable William Crosby as they both investigate murders in the fictional English county of Calleshire. The series is a mix of traditional village mystery and police procedural. While the stories have flawlessly crated puzzle mysteries, the cases are handled by the police rather than by an amateur sleuth. The ongoing sense of humor comes from the strong contrast between the methodical, long-suffering Sloan and his constantly irritable superior Superintendent Leeyes, and the enthusiastic but rather useless Crosby. The series ran from 1966 to 2023, with 28 novels published for almost six decades.

Reading Order

1. The Religious Body, 1966
2. Henrietta Who?, 1968
3. The Stately Home Murder, 1969 (also titled The Complete Steel)
4. A Late Phoenix, 1970
5. His Burial Too, 1973
6. Slight Mourning, 1975
7. Parting Breath, 1977
8. Some Die Eloquent, 1979
9. Passing Strange, 1980
10. Last Respects, 1982
11. Harm’s Way, 1984
12. A Dead Liberty, 1986
13. The Body Politic, 1990
14. A Going Concern, 1993
15. Injury Time, 1994
16. After Effects, 1996
17. Stiff News, 1998
18. Little Knell, 2000
19. Amendment Of Life, 2002
20. A Hole in One, 2005
21. Losing Ground, 2007
22. Past Tense, 2010
23. Dead Heading, 2013
24. Learning Curve, 2016
25. Inheritance Tracks, 2019
26. Constable Country, 2023

Standalone Novels

• A Most Contagious Game, 1967

Short Story Collections

• Chapter and Hearse: And Other Mysteries, 2003
• Last Writes, 2014

Anthologies

Catherine Aird Biography

Catherine Aird was the pen name of Kinn Hamilton McIntosh, an English crime fiction author who wrote mostly the Sloan and Crosby series, also known as the Chronicles of Calleshire. She published 28 novels in the series between 1966 and 2023, along with one standalone novel and three short story collections.

Born in 1930 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Catherine Aird attended Greenhead High School before a serious illness interrupted plans to study medicine at Edinburgh University. She eventually moved to the village of Sturry, near Canterbury in Kent, where she managed her father’s medical practice and dispensed medications, which is a background that made her familiar with poisons and drugs that influenced her novels. She lived in Sturry for most of her adult life and also developed a strong interest in local history, editing and publishing several village histories.

She published her debut novel, The Religious Body, in 1966, introducing Detective Inspector Sloan and Constable Crosby. Her second book, A Most Contagious Game (1967), was a standalone, but her publisher urged her to continue the Sloan series, which she continued for the rest of her career. She served as chair of the Crime Writers’ Association from 1990 to 1991 and was inducted into the Detection Club in 1981. In 1988 she was awarded an MBE for her services to the Girl Guide Association, and she holds an honorary MA from the University of Kent. In 2015 the CWA awarded her the Diamond Dagger for an outstanding lifetime’s contribution to crime fiction. Catherine Aird died on 21 December 2024.

Catherine Aird Awards and Honors

Awards

• Inducted into the Detection Club (1981)
• Honorary MA, University of Kent (1985)
• MBE for services to the Girl Guide Association (1988)
• CWA Dagger in the Library Award (1992)
• CWA Diamond Dagger (2015)

Nominations and Shortlists

• Cold Comfort – Barry Award for Best Short Story (2015)

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