Michael Gilbert books

Anthologies

Inspector Hazelrigg Reading Order

Inspector Mercer Reading Order

Luke Pagan Reading Order

Non-Fiction

Patrick Petrella Reading Order

Plays

Short Story Collections

Standalone Novels

Michael Gilbert practiced law for over 50 years at a London firm, and that daily exposure to the mechanics of justice gave his fiction an unusual authority. He wrote his first novel, Close Quarters, in 1947 while commuting by train, and continued producing crime fiction alongside his legal work for the rest of his life. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988, placing him alongside figures like Agatha Christie and Graham Greene.

His output spans police procedurals, spy fiction, courtroom dramas, and suspense novels. The Inspector Hazelrigg books established him in the late 1940s, and the Patrick Petrella series followed a London detective from his early career through decades of policing. His short stories about the intelligence agents Calder and Behrens, collected in Game Without Rules and Mr Calder And Mr Behrens, are among the best Cold War spy fiction in short form.

Gilbert was also a prolific short story writer and anthologist. His twelve story collections appeared over more than four decades, and he edited or contributed to numerous anthologies of crime fiction. Whether writing about solicitors caught up in fraud, spies meeting in English country pubs, or detectives working London’s streets, he brought the same understated skill and dry wit to every page.