A Killing in November: a razor-sharp Oxford mystery (Paperback) - Simon Mason

A Killing in November is an Oxford-set crime series of surprising twists, troubled pasts and a dynamic duo who are brought together by a mysterious murder investigation.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER 2023

'As great a contribution to the noble British genre of detective fiction as any writer for decades' Stephen Fry
'This moody, atmospheric novel is full of surprises' Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month)

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Ryan Wilkins grew up on a trailer park, a member of what many people would call the criminal classes. As a young Detective Inspector, he's lost none of his disgust with privileged elites - or his objectionable manners. But he notices things; they stick to his eyes. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. You wouldn't think they would get on. They don't.

But when a young woman is found strangled at Barnabas Hall, they're forced to.

Rich Oxford is not Ryan's natural habitat. St Barnabas's irascible Provost does not appreciate his forceful line of questioning. But what was the dead woman doing in the Provost's study? Is it just a coincidence that on the night of her murder the college was entertaining Sheik al-Medina, a Gulf state ruler linked to human-rights abuses in his own country and acts of atrocity in others?

As tensions rise, things aren't going well. Ray is in despair. Ryan is in disciplinary measures. But their investigation gradually disentangles the links between a Syrian refugee lawyer now working in the college kitchens, a priceless copy of the Koran in the college collection and the identity of the dead woman.


A Killing in November introduces an unlikely duo from different sides of the tracks in Oxford in a deftly plotted murder story full of dangerous turns, troubled pasts and unconventional detective work.

About the Author

SIMON MASON has pursued parallel careers
as a publisher and an author, whose YA crime
novels Running Girl, Kid Got Shot and Hey,
Sherlock! feature the sixteen-year-old slacker
genius Garvie Smith. A former Managing
Director of David Fickling Books, where he
worked with many wonderful writers, including
Philip Pullman, he has also taught at Oxford
Brookes University and has been a Royal
Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford.

Lost and Never Found is the third book in the
DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries. The first book,
A Killing in November, received widespread
critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the CWA
Gold Dagger. The Second book, The Broken
Afternoon, was a Times Audio Book of the Week
and a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month.