D.C. Smith is a seasoned detective in the fictional town of Kings Lake, Norfolk, in this engaging police procedural crime series by Peter Grainger. D.C. (short for David Conrad) is a former Detective Chief Inspector who chooses to be demoted rather than move into management so that he can focus on “real police work.”

Fans of the series say the books are beautifully written with complex characters and evolving relationships that invest them in the lives of the characters, especially Smith’s. Author Deborah Crombie loves the series, saying it is “now at the top of my list of British procedurals, and that’s saying a lot.”

With his nuanced plots, Peter Grainger explores detectives who are at the start and end of their careers. Readers recommend reading the series from the beginning to follow the characters as they evolve, and they especially love the audio versions of the books narrated by Gildart Jackson.