John Bude books

Inspector Bigswell

Inspector Sherwood Reading Order

Superintendent Green Reading Order

Superintendent William Meredith Reading Order

John Bude was a pen name for Ernest Carpenter Elmore, who published steadily from the mid-1930s through the 1950s. His detective fiction belongs squarely to the Golden Age tradition, with fair-play plotting, English country settings, and a lead detective who relies on solid police procedure rather than brilliant intuition.

Superintendent William Meredith of Scotland Yard carries most of Bude’s output. Meredith was deliberately written as a counterpoint to the flamboyant sleuths of the era — he does the work, builds the case, and arrives at conclusions through patience rather than inspiration. The settings vary considerably across the series: the Lake District, Sussex, Cheltenham, the French Riviera, and other locations each provide a distinct atmosphere without reducing the books to simple “murder and scenery” formula.

Bude’s work went out of print for decades before being rediscovered and republished by the British Library Crime Classics imprint, which brought new readers to titles like The Lake District Murder and Death on the Riviera starting in the 2010s.