R. D. Wingfield cover gallery

Given the recent weather, I couldn't resist putting this little gallery together.

Frost at Christmas (Markham, Ontario, Canada, Paperjacks, 1984)
London, Sphere, 1990.
London, Corgi 13891, 1992. Cover photo: Peter Sherrard

Ten days to Christmas and Tracey Uphill, aged eight, hasn't come home from Sunday School. Her mother, a pretty young prostitute, is desperate. Enter Detective Inspector Jack Frost, sloppy, scruffy and insubordinate. To help him investigate the case of the missing child, Frost has been assigned a new sidekick, the Chief Constable's nephew. Fresh to provincial Denton in an oversmart suit, Detective Constable Clive Barnard is an easy target for Frost's withering satire.
__Assisted and annoyed by Barnard, Frost, complete with a store of tasteless anecdotes to fit every occasion, proceeds with the investigation in typically unorthodox style. After he's consulted a local witch, Dead Man's Hollow yields up a skeleton. Frost finds himself drawn into an unsolved crime from the past and risks not only his career, but also his life...

A Touch of Frost (Toronto, Canada, Paperjacks, 1987)
London, Corgi 14555, 1992. Cover photo: Peter Sherrard

Detective Inspector Jack Frost, officially on duty, is nevertheless determined to sneak off to a colleague's leaving party. But first the corpse of a well-known local junkie is found blocking the drain of a Denton public lavatory - and then, when Frost attempts to join the revels later on, the nubile daughter of a wealthy businessman is reported missing.
__Sleepy Denton has never known anything like the crime wave which now threatens to submerge it. A robbery occurs at the town's notorious strip joint, the Coconut Grove, the pampered son of a local MP is suspected of a hit-and-run offence and, to top it all, a multiple rapist is on the loose. Frost is reeling under the strain, his paperwork is still in arrears and now, more than ever, his self-righteous colleagues would love to see him sacked. But the manic Frost manages to assure his superior that all is under control. Now he has only to convince himself...

Night Frost (London, Constable, 1992)
London, Corgi 14558, 1992. Cover photo: Peter Sherrard

A serial killer is terrorizing the senior citizens of Denton, and the local police are succumbing to a flu epidemic. Tired and demoralized, the force has to contend with a seemingly perfect young couple suffering arson attacks and death threats, a suspicious suicide, burglaries, pornographic videos, poison-pen letters...
__In uncertain charge of the investigations is Detective Inspector Jack Frost, crumpled, slapdash and foul-mouthed as ever. He tries to cope despite inadequate back-up, but there is never enough time; the unsolved crimes pile up and the vicious killings go on. So Frost has to cut corners and take risks, knowing that his Divisional Commander will throw him to the wolves if anything goes wrong. And for Frost, things always go wrong...

Hard Frost (London, Constable, 1995)
London, Corgi 14409, 1996. Cover photo: Jonathan Ring

A young boy is found dead in a rubbish sack, suffocated and with one finger cut off. Another boy of the same age, Bobby Kirby, is missing. A psychopath is stabbing babies as they lie sleeping in their cots. Enter Detective Inspector Jack Frost, scruffy and insubordinate, foul-mouthed, intuitive and fearless. The next problem for the understaffed Denton force is the abduction of Carol Stanfield, a fifteen-year-old who's found naked by the roadside, her father having paid a ransom. Robert Stanfield is a dicey customer, and Frost has his doubts...
__The corpse of a petty criminal, Lemmy Hoxton, is discovered, with the tops of three fingers chopped off. The small children of a carpet-fitter are murdered; his wife's body is found on the railway line. A supermarket MD is sent a ransom demand for the missing boy, Bobby, accompanied by one of the child's fingers. Jack Frost, brought to magnificent life by David Jason in the TV series, staggers from crisis to crisis, his bumbling modus operandi disguising his extraordinary powers of detection.

Winter Frost (London, Constable, 1999)
London, Corgi 14778, 2000. Cover photo: Michael Wildsmith

Denton is having more than its fair share of crime. A serial killer is murdering local prostitutes; a man demolishing his garden shed uncovers a long buried skeleton; an armed robbery at a local mini-mart; a ram-raid at a jewellers and a series of burglaries.
__But Detective Inspector Jack Frost's main concern is for the safety of a missing schoolgirl. Nine weeks ago, Vicky Stuart, eight years old, didn't return home from school and in spite of exhaustive enquiries and extensive searches, has never been seen since. Another little girl from the same school is reported missing. her body is found... raped and strangled.
__Frost's prime suspect, strongly protesting his innocence, hangs himself in his cell, leaving a note blaming Frost for driving him to suicide. Subsequent evidence points to the man's innocence.
__Course, insubordinate and fearless, DI Jack Frost is in serious trouble.

A Killing Frost (London, Bantam Press, 2008)
London, Corgi 15689, 2008. Cover photo: Douglas Black/Arcangel Images

A human foot has been discovered in Denton woods, a multiple rapist is on the loose, and the local supermarket has reported poisoned stock. Then two young girls are declared missing, and the Denton crime wave reaches terrifying heights.
__As DI Jack Frost staggers exhausted from case to case, something nasty arrives at the station in the form of DCI Skinner. The scheming, slippery Skinner's first job is to manipulate the transfer of the unorthodox Frost to another division.
__Will Frost find the missing girls before his new nemesis forces him away from Denton once and for all?