Books by Cenarth Fox

In A Plum Job, the brilliant and beautiful actress Louise Wellesley, a.k.a. Plum, joins the Secret Intelligence Service and arrives in Paris in the summer of 1939. While baring her breasts on stage at the Folies Bergère, war begins and soon the German army is marching up the Champs-Élysées. The French Resistance think she''s a collaborator, the police arrest her for murder, and the Gestapo fancy her body. She uncovers a British double-agent, and flees with a price on her head. In A Plum Jam, back in England, she joins ENSA (Every Night Something Awful) to entertain troops. Starring in a panto at Windsor Castle, she''s snatched when the IRA kidnaps a royal princess. Still in her Cinderella costume, Plum fights back. Prime Minister Churchill demands she join the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Training is horrendous. Parachuted into southern France, she plays her toughest role from an enclosed Carmelite monastery. Sister Plum? Like Nancy Wake, she encounters randy Frenchmen, vicious Gestapo agents and double-crossing locals. Blowing up trains and killing Nazis is easy. But telling London there''s a mole in the SOE HQ is damn tricky. Plum''s in a right royal jam.

The Covid KillerAs the pandemic surges, Jo Best is between a rock and a hard place. To save a dear friend''s reputation, Jo must punish her beloved grandfather. Some choice. Her unofficial partner, IT whiz Michael Chan, turns PI trying to help a young Australian born Chinese woman find the mother she never knew. Has Michael dumped the detective? The world is attacked by a virus, and some deluded killer actively spreads the disease. There''s a new murder in a Melbourne creek, and a 32 year-old murder on a Queenscliff beach. Does Jo create a new world record by arresting a killer while together they fall off a roof? With her career at the crossroads, and an offer she finds intriguing, have we seen the last of Detective Joanna Best?This is Book 8 in the series The Detective Joanna Best Mysteries

She’s the youngest and smartest Homicide detective in town. So when a crooked builder is found with a chisel in his chest, and a 22 year-old cold-case cries out to be solved, Jo Best is keen—until she gets a phone call from France. Why would Jo and her crime-busting buddy, computer-whiz Michael, take off for Paris? Dealing with a French drug baron, corrupt cops, human trafficking, the English aristocracy, narrowboats and a priest hole is just for starters. There’s a lunatic suicide bomber on the loose, and back home, Dad’s Army has pitched camp at Victoria Police. And what the heck is happening with Jo’s romantic entanglements? Has Charlotte Bronte got there first? All this and more in the biggest Joanna Best mystery ever—Book 5 in the series.

Meet Homicide cop, Jo Best. She’s smart, striking and being stalked. Solving murders is tricky but staying alive trickier. Back from France, Jo suffers heartache. Her love life’s a mess and a family tragedy hits hard. When a cocaine war in Venezuela brings multiple murders to Melbourne, there are stiffs to sort. The cops are winning when all hell breaks loose. A shocking and brutal attack rocks the Homicide Squad because the victim is one of their own. But worse, so too is the suspect—Detective Senior Constable Joanna Best. No way. Surely not. Yet the evidence is overwhelming and it seems the brilliant detective has gone from top cop to top cop killer. Is this the tragic end to a once glorious career?

Serial killers only stop when they’re stopped. Homicide can’t catch the killer because they don’t know who he, she or they are. The deaths seem unrelated—a woman drowned, a judge crushed, a teacher bashed and an equestrian strangled. Why these victims? They’re normal like you and me. Why murder the good guys? A radio shock-jock with verbal diarrhea is struck dumb. A murderer confesses to the broadcaster and the cases are all over the media. Jo Best is back in Homicide with more boyfriends than stiffs. One lover turns nasty and Jo is shafted. A car crash and missing pet bring heartache. Enter IT whiz, Michael Chan. Jo and Michael head to church for a baptism of fire. Can you spot the killers before Jo? And will she accept that Parisian invitation? 

World War 2 thriller where brilliant young English actress is a sleeper for the Secret Intelligence Service in Paris in 1940. She dances at the Folies Bergere, is framed for murder and works on the same bill as Edith Piaf. Two German cousins, a Panzer commander and a Gestapo agent are in Paris. One falls in love with the actress and the other wants her dead. The French police, Resistance and Gestapo all want to capture her. When she uncovers a double-agent her only friend is Edith Piaf.

A crowded playground is bursting with excited toddlers, their parents and grandparents. Four-year-old Candice disappears. How? Was she abducted? Did she wander off? Where is she? Joanna Best moves from Homicide to Serious Crime and finding little Candy consumes the city.Jo's secretive criminal life involves helping a young woman, the victim of revenge porn. A brute is on the warpath looking for Joe Best. Who? Candy's parents are at breaking point. They must be handled with sensitivity. At their home, Jo starts a brawl and is arrested. Can she ever stay out of trouble? And can she handle not one but three suitors? Candy isn't found and Homicide take over the case until Best saves her best for last.

Some people ask to be murdered, like the journalist who researched a VIP paedophile ring. To kill the story you kill the writer. Someone did. Homicide detective Joanna Best has suspects galore but her favourite gets murdered. Now Jo Best is both a brilliant cop and a bloody good crim. She and a friend set up a scam to retrieve a small fortune pinched by two gangsters - the Brothers Crimm. Life gets interesting. The crims kidnap and torture, the top cop sets up a sting, and Jo's father gets arrested. Life wasn't meant to be easy. Whodunit with the two murders and what will Jo lose first-her career, a limb or her life?

The Code of Monte ChristoJoanna Best is a brilliant homicide cop and a damn good criminal. She clashes with senior police and dangerous villains. But Jo isn't a criminal by choice. The only way to fix a family crisis is to break the law, and as she consorts with crims, she tries to solve a double homicide where her colleagues may have arrested the wrong guy. Juggling two jobs is deadly as her partner in crime and her Homicide boss both plan to knife her. So when a maniac tortures her family, Jo panics. Can she find a double homicide murderer? Is her career over? Will a loved family member be killed? And what on Earth is the Code of Monte Christo?

Do you have a conscience? Does it work? Melbourne scientist, Bernie Slim, creates a drug designed to kick-start a conscience. Surely this Moral Compass Pill is science fiction. It’s secretly given to ordinary people with unexpected results. When a heavy criminal is tricked into taking the drug, serious trouble looms. When a public figure pops the pill, it’s no longer a secret. A leading politician, Mafia boss, and Big Pharma CEO fight for the formula. Bernie’s in strife. Can the drug and Bernie survive?What would happen if cops, crooks and politicians followed their conscience?Tricky.

Patrick Brontë, father of the famous sisters, was of lowly Irish birth. His father was kidnapped and became a slave. Pat’s dad survived, married and Patrick was born. He had 9 younger siblings. He lived in a two-roomed cottage and from these humble origins became an amazing teacher then won a scholarship to Cambridge graduating with honours.A priest in the Church of England, Brontë fathered six children, three of whom—Charlotte, Emily and Anne—became famous novelists. Their novels remain hugely popular today.But Patrick copped a bad press. He asked the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell to write a biography about his daughter Charlotte. In her book, Mrs Gaskell gave Patrick a hard time. So hard that critics inferred he was ‘a cassocked savage’ and ‘a mad dog who should be shot’. Really?Biographers and publishers pushed the Gaskell line. Patrick’s evil reputation was set in cemetery stone. But not any more.Now his life-story can be revealed. And what a story. The redhead from County Down led an amazing life. He was a poet, novelist, hero and way ahead of his time. He gave his children a fabulous education with giant dollops of love. He inspired them to write. He was a fierce advocate for health, education and social reform. And he loved dogs! Meet the unsung champion from the wild Yorkshire moors.Cassocked Savage is based on the play Saucy Pat by Cenarth Fox