Ian Rober Books In Order

Publication Order of Ian Roper Books

The Ian Rober series is a series of highly successful mystery and suspense books written by one of the most popular English authors named Janie Bolitho. This series is comprised of a total of 12 books, which were released between the years 1993 and 2002. Each and every book in this mystery series features the primary character in the role of Ian Rober. He is described by author Bolitho as a Detective Chief Inspector living Rickenham Green, England. Author Bolitho has set all the books in the fictional town of Rickenham Green. Ian Rober is shown dealing with a number of mysteries around him and trying to solve each one of them with the help of intelligence and detective skills. Other than Ian Rober, author Bolitho has depicted several other important characters in each of the novels of the series. As the series begins, Ian Rober is described as trying to unravel the mystery behind the mystery of a young and beautiful woman named Julia Henderson. Her dead body is discovered lying between the fireplace and the settee, on the floor of her house. It was clear that she had murdered, but the condition in which she was found made it look like she had committed suicide. Julia was described as an amazingly lovely woman by the vicar. Even his wife was a very good friend of Julia. Working as a freelance journalist, Julia Henderson had the reputation of raising the pulses of all the young and old males miles around with her amazing beauty. When the police begins to investigate Julia’s murder, they find small pieces of an earthenware from her scalp, which provide the only information of the murder weapon. And when Ian Rober is called upon to investigate with his detective team, he discovers fingerprints all around the house. The finger prints tend to make him certain that Julia’s mendacious husband, whom she had separated from, is the prime suspect. However, he is not the only one in Ian Rober’s list of suspects. One among the other couple of suspects include a jealous, cold, and calculating wife who thinks that both her son and husband had an affair with Julia. The other suspect turns out to be a womanizing teacher, who was recently suspended for indulging in an affair with a student. Finally, as the police come across unexpected confessions, they move in to arrest the culprit, whose revelation dumbfounds and shock everyone. With this starting story in the suspense series, author Bolitho introduced the readers to the ingenious plotting, vivid characters, convincing psychology, and suspense setting in her own unique style. Also, the introduction of Ian Rober in the form of a determined police detective enabled the readers to look forward to the series with great anticipation.

One of the most famous books of the Ian Rober series written by Janie Bolitho is entitled ‘Motive For Murder’. It was released published in the year 1994. Author Bolitho has set the plot in England’s fictional town known as Rickenham Green, and has depicted Ian Rober as continuing with his role as a DCI. The plot deals with a murder investigation in which a dead body is found underwater, with the victim’s eyes reflecting like a sharp, green emerald. In the opening scene of the book, DCI Ian Rober is shown discovering a dead body. As he begins to investigate, he finds a brick lying near the head of the victim, with a few strands of long, gray hair adhered to it. However, it seems quite clear that the victim had died because of getting stabbed in the abdomen. As Ian Rober moves further with the investigation, he becomes extremely mystified. He finds 6 pounds in one of the pockets of the dead body, which rules one motive behind the killing. If he had been killed for money, then the killer would have taken the money as well as the Bell bottle that lay next to the victim’s body.

One thing that continually bothers Ian Rober is that why did the killer bashed the victim’s skull when he had died already. Ian Rober suspects many things for resorting to such means, including drugs, heat of the moment, blackmailing, self defense, etc. And as the investigation goes on, the police learns that a heroin addicted young girl across the town has discharged herself from a local hospital secretly. A few other criminal activities take place in the town, including burglary in a series of flats near the Station Arms, foiling of an attempted suicide, and machinations of a pimp. It appears that all these events are linked to the homicide case that Ian Rober is working on. The baffling and complex nature of the case threatens to destroy the social well being of the small town. In order to prevent this happening, Ian Rober is required to find the murderer and put and end to the mystery of the homicide case as well as to all the linked ones. In the end, the mystery ends with a shocking and startling revelation.

One of the other popular books written in this series is titled as ‘Ripe for Revenge’. It was released by the Worldwide Library in the year 1996. This book is set in a small village in England called as Little Endesley. The opening sequence shows that a brutally murdered dead body is discovered from the woods of the village during hot summer holidays. It is identified to be that of an 8 year old girl named Sharon Vickers. A notorious child molester named Jacko Penhaligon becomes the main suspect, even though there is no information about him being involved in violence. The community of the village believes that he is the culprit and wishes to see him punished. However, they are unable to provide any proof of his crime. The rising difficulty of the murder case makes the police believe that the girl might have been killed by a passing-by stranger. Therefore, there does not seem any chance of finding the perpetrator. Later, several pornographic videos are found, in which the officers working on the investigation seem to be directly involved. Following this, several unconnected criminal activities take place in the nearby Rickenham town. This leads the police to the killer’s identity. Moving ahead with this important lead in the case, Ian Rober goes on to unravel a series of revenge-crimes, while struggling with his life’s ups and downs as well as with those of the officers working with him.