Unhuman Series

Set in a small Cotswold town, Inspector Hobbes and the Blood is a fast-paced comedy cozy mystery fantasy about the adventures of Andy, an incompetent reporter, when he is reluctantly working with Inspector Hobbes, a police detective with a reputation. Andy soon finds himself immersed in a world where not everyone is human, and a late-night visit to a churchyard nearly results in grave consequences, and a ghoulish outcome. An accidental fire leads to Andy having to doss in Hobbes's spare room. Contending with a wave of murder, suicide and robbery, as well as Hobbes's weirdness, is the just the start; he must also get to grips with Mrs Goodfellow, Hobbes's housekeeper, who collects teeth. Although they are mostly from humans, she also claims to have some vampire specimens. However, Andy soon finds her wonderful cooking compensates for her eccentricities. Despite Andy believing he is coping, he is nearly unhinged by horror when a stressed Hobbes's concealed nature reveals itself in an orgy of bone-crunching. Yet, coming through unscathed, Andy develops respect and admiration for his host, even when he uses weird, occasionally brutal, methods to begin unravelling the mystery, which would appear to link The Order of the Dragon and Vlad Tepes, the original Dracula, to the crime wave. When Hobbes goes missing, Andy, with the dubious assistance of Dregs, Hobbes's big, bad dog, and armed with a leg of lamb, searches for him. Will he triumph over crazed blood lust and human sacrifice? Can Andy with Hobbes's friends, a binge-drinking dwarf and a troll who looks uncannily human, save the day? And can Andy catch vampirism from false teeth? These and other questions may be answered in Inspector Hobbes and the Blood.  Inspector Hobbes and the Blood audiobook was a nominee for an ABR Audiobook Listener Awards 2018. Listen now.

Set in the Cotswolds, this is the next instalment in the adventures of Inspector Hobbes, Mrs Goodfellow and Dregs, as narrated by the still disaster-prone Andy Caplet. It is a rip roaring, funny and moving tale of Andy's infatuation with a dangerously beautiful woman, starting off during investigations into sheep deaths and the mysterious disappearance of pheasants. These incidents appear to be connected to a rash of big cat sightings, and something horrible seems to be lurking in the woods. Is Andy cursed to be always unsuccessful in love, or is the curse something much darker, something that will arouse his primeval terrors?

There's going to be trouble. Andy Caplet's wife goes away, someone is out to get him, and he loses nearly everything in a storm. Amazing both himself and his unhuman friend Inspector Hobbes, he heroically rescues flood victims and uncovers something shocking. Is Andy being set up for blackmail by the apparently charming young woman who attempts to seduce him, or is something even more sinister afoot? Hobbes certainly believes so, and he's getting worried. This is the fourth in Wilkie Martin's unhuman series of cosy comedy crime fantasies. Tim Campbell was a nominee for a VoiceArts Award 2018 for his narration of the Inspector Hobbes and the Bones audiobook. Listen now. Praise for Wilkie Martin 'odd, inventive, and genuinely very funny indeed' Katie Jarvis, Cotswold Life  'I enjoy how silly everything is.' Jo Ann Hakola, The Book Faerie Praise for Tim Campbell Winner of Independent Audiobook Awards 2019 (Fantasy)

No stranger to fear since meeting the unhuman Inspector Hobbes, Andy Caplet fears getting fired from his reporting job (again). His main concern, though, is a shady property developer who has designs on Sorenchester Common, and more annoyingly on his wife.  Perhaps a trip to the mountains will help him relax, but this proves even more perilous with foul weather, inedible food, brigands, and a terrifying cruise. Fortunately, mountain leopards, Yetis and Flossy, the yak, take a shine to Andy.  Back in the Cotswolds, a child gets murdered and a new detective takes on the case. When Hobbes returns, he (with Andy’s dubious assistance) is relegated to hunting an enormous bird with killer feet. Meanwhile, Andy still worries about the common and the reclusive Common People (surely Not Yetis?), who will lose their homes if the housing development goes ahead.  This is the fifth in Wilkie Martin’s unhuman series of cozy comedy crime fantasies.