Hamish MacLeod
Bookseller · Glen Corran, the Highlands
Seventy-three, sharp as a tack, and emphatically not the police. He reads a hillside like a first edition, keeps a tabby called Burns, and always asks the same question: Cui bono?
Meet the detectives
The whole night shift
Six gentle sleuths, six corners of England and Scotland, and one problem: you’ll never stay awake for the reveal.
Miss Violet Threadneedle
Dahlia grower · St Dunstan’s-on-the-Wall
Thirty years judging the Chelsea Flower Show taught her to spot a weed at fifty paces. She isn’t implying anything, dear. She’s observing. There’s a difference.
Dr Lally & Dr Lola Kent
Twin village vets · Little Brambleworth
They finish each other’s sentences and solve crimes by asking the animals. When Lord Nelson, a champion racing pigeon, comes home wrong, somebody has some explaining to do.
DCI Harriet “Birdy” Quayle
Thames Valley Police · The Cotswolds
The team calls her Birdy. Suspects don’t. She bakes to think, reads people over scones, and is kind to the frightened and very sharp with the arrogant.
Mother Honoria Ashe
The wise woman of Caddesley
Sent for when something in the village slips out of true. Few words, a basket of herbs, a kettle that sings when the truth is spoken, and Tobit the jackdaw watching the rest of you.
Bert Marrow
Family butcher · Saltby Staithe, Norfolk Broads
Sixty-one, striped apron, pencil behind the ear. Bert reads the order book like evidence: who buys for six and cooks for two. He says less than he knows. Bones is bones.
How it works
Lights out. Kettle on. Somebody’s dead.
Pick a detective
Every story is a complete, fair puzzle, told slowly and kindly. No gore, no jump scares, nothing to keep you up.
Press play, close your eyes
Narrated in character and scored for the dark. Set the sleep timer and let it fade out on its own.
Drift off
You’ll be asleep long before the reveal. The story remembers where you nodded off, so you can pick it up tomorrow.
7 free nights
Premium · Annual
A$89 / year
Every mystery, every detective. Try it free for 7 nights, then A$89 a year.
Premium · Monthly
A$14.99 / month
Every mystery, every detective. Cancel any time in your Apple account.
The first 20 minutes of every mystery are free. No subscription needed to start.
So who did it? You’ll probably never find out. You’ll be asleep.