Peter Maxwell Series - M. J. Trow Audiobook

Written by M. J. Trow
Read by Peter Wickham
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

1. Maxwell’s House (1994)
Length: 8hrs
Publisher: Soundings Audio
Released: Jul 1, 2016

The derelict house on the edge of the sleepy seaside town was a haven for courting couples, down-and-outs - and someone with altogether more sinister intentions. It was there that they found the corpse of 17-year-old Jenny Hyde. She’d been strangled. Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell didn’t have to become involved at all. But one of his pupils had been murdered and Maxwell took it personally. However, his efforts to discover the truth about Jenny’s death land the genial Head of Sixth in deeper trouble than he could ever have thought possible.

2. Maxwell’s Flame (1995)
· Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
· Release date: 06-07-17
· Publisher: Soundings

Peter Maxwell didn’t want to attend the GNVQ course. He didn’t want to get mixed up in murder either - but perhaps it was all part of death’s rich tapestry. And while a disparate gathering of teachers was breaking ice upstairs at the Carnforth Centre, someone else was in the basement - breaking skulls. But what the killer couldn’t have foreseen was that one of the victims was an old flame of Maxwell’s.

So now it was personal. And when ‘Mad Max’ takes something personally, he doesn’t get madder - he gets results.

3. Maxwell’s Movie (1998)
Length: 7hrs
Publisher: Soundings
Released: Sep 1, 2016

The school outing to the Museum of the Moving Image is not an unqualified success. For in the darkened cinema complex of MOMI two members of the party disappear without trace. As the instigator of the doomed trip, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell feels personally responsible for the fate of the missing teacher, Alice Goode, and sixth form pupil, Ronnie Parson. His search for the missing pair drags him into a world far removed from the essay crises and staff-room banter of Leighford High. Sucked into the sleazy and sinister work of Soho and the porn industry, Maxwell finds himself ensnared in a mesh of blackmail, vice – and murder.

4. Maxwell’s War (1999)

When a director is shot dead, Maxwell finds himself in the frame as never before. One of his ex-sixth formers fired the gun, and it was Maxwell who loaded and primed it. He sets out to clear his name and that of his old pupil.

5. Maxwell’s Ride (2000)
While riding the Wild Water, a man is killed in the float ahead, and Max and the girls become witnesses to murder. The corpses multiply as Maxwell nears the end of his search for the truth - but will one of them be his own niece?

6. Maxwell’s Curse (2000)
Peter Maxwell is about to celebrate the millennium, the mathematically and historically correct one, that is Dec 2000. But he finds a frozen corpse on his own doorstep and when he begins to investigate he stumbles into a spot of witchcraft.

7. Maxwell’s Reunion (2001)
When Peter Maxwell attends a school reunion of the class of ‘65, all is not as it seems among his old chums. They are career men, family men - but the years have taken their toll, and the seething tensions of the school years surface in unlikely ways. At the end of the reunion weekend, a man is dead, hanging from the bell rope of the old school. When a second death occurs, Maxwell finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation. What is the secret that has been lurking under Maxwell’s nose all these years - and could he be on the murderer’s list for killing No. 3?

8. Maxwell’s Match (2002)
Publisher: Soundings Audio
Released: Feb 1, 2017

History teacher Peter (Mad Max) Maxwell, a bit of a maverick, is sent on a short-term swap with another teacher at a nearby private school, Grimonds.

Here, amongst the gowns and debating societies, Mad Max stumbles on an unnatural death. It’s the start of a complicated mystery that succeeds admirably in combining laughs with edge-of-the-seat excitement. One of the housemasters falls from the roof - Maxwell believes he was pushed. Then another is found floating in a lake. And what’s with all the gay porn?

As Maxwell unravels the intricate web, suspicion falls on more and more of the eccentric cast of teachers, though some of the pupils also have motives.

Trow has a deft touch, and highlights some of the idiocies and fears of boarding school life, while never letting it get in the way of the pace of the story.

9. Maxwell’s Inspection (2003)
Publisher: Soundings Audio
Released: Jan 1, 2017

There comes a time in every teacher’s life when he must face his Nemesis - the Ofsted Inspection. On the third day, with the atmosphere at Leighford High decidedly fraught, one of the Inspectors is found stabbed to death. Events move quickly and the Head is arrested on suspicion of the murder. But Peter Maxwell, Head of Sixth Form, cannot help but notice that Sally Meninger, the Ofsted Humanities expert, is not as distraught at her colleague’s death as one might expect. But is it that simple? Aided by his inside informant, lover DS Jacquie Carpenter, Maxwell sets out to prove that the Head is innocent. And the only way to do it is to take on the Inspectors one by one…

10. Maxwell’s Grave (2005)
Publisher: Soundings Audio
Released: Jul 1, 2016

When Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell takes his kids from Leighford High on an archaeological dig, they uncover a grave. But the corpse was not Saxon and it wasn’t a king, this was an altogether more recent death. Then a policeman on the case is found dead at the wheel of his car. What knowledge did he possess that led to his death? And does his colleague, Maxwell’s partner Jacquie Carpenter, unwittingly have the same information? Maxwell locks horns with the great and not so good in a vicious world of skulduggery, academic back-biting and religious mania which can only end in murder.

Taken from tape by uploader. I cleaned up sound and tagged. Some tracks end with music.

11. Maxwell’s Mask (2005)
· Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
· Release date: 03-25-11
· Publisher: Soundings

Deena Harrison was one of Leighford High School’s “characters” - setting fire to the toilet block and throwing boys down stairs. But she had the voice of an angel and could act the skin off a rice pudding. The autumn she came down from Oxford, there was something of a crisis in the Drama department at Leighford High. Mrs Carmichael was in danger of losing her baby and the Little Shop of Horrors was in danger of closing down. So Deena comes back to help out. And people start dying…just tragic accidents of course - loose cables, carelessly placed ladders; simple health and safety issues, surely? And then Deena’s old Head of Sixth Form stumbles into the spotlight… the return of Mad Max.

12. Maxwell’s Point (2007)
· Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
· Release date: 09-13-07
· Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

With girlfriend DS Jacquie Carpenter back at work, and baby Nolan rapidly growing into a feisty toddler, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell, head of Sixth Form at Leightford High, hires an au pair. But one afternoon Max returns home to find that the exotic Juanita seems to have disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, two walkers are surprised and disturbed when their Border collie digs up an arm on Dead Man’s Point. Max is no stranger to murder inquiries, but with a creepy gardener, troublesome teenagers, and reports of a randy rambler to investigate, an au pair to search for and a baby to look after, Max may have taken on more than he can handle.

13. Maxwell’s Chain (2008)
· Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
· Release date: 09-09-08
· Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

As Head of Sixth Form at Leighford High and a new father, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell is a very busy man.

Despite this, he still finds time for some amateur sleuthing, even though his policewoman “Significant Other”, DS Jacquie Carpenter, has decided that, this time, he’s leaving any murder investigations to her. But how can he refuse when the school photographer asks for his help after accidentally photographing a murder on the beach?

Their discovery of a body buried in the sand dunes sets in motion a chain of events that only the redoubtable Mad Max can break. One thing is certain - life in Leighford will never be the same.

14. Maxwell’s Revenge (2009)
· Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
· Release date: 08-17-09
· Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

The position of Assistant Headteacher has become available at Leighford High, but Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell won’t be applying. He has his hands full juggling his beloved Sixth Form, fatherhood and impending marriage. When a member of staff dies after a special lunch for the prospective Assistant Headteachers, Maxwell’s hopes for a quiet term, followed by a quiet wedding, are swiftly shattered, as he finds himself embroiled in yet another sinister murder case.

DCI Henry Hall, begrudgingly, has to admit that Maxwell’s suspicions of poison may well be correct. The question is, who would want to poison the teachers at Leighford High - and why? Is there an enemy in the ranks? Only Mad Max knows the answer…

15. Maxwell’s Retirement (2010)
· Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
· Release date: 06-18-10
· Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell, the “dinosaur” Head of Sixth Form, doesn’t see the need to know how to send a text or an email. However, it soon becomes vital that he learn. Some of his female pupils begin to receive threatening messages.

Then Max starts to receive messages too, and two of the girls go missing. When a body is found, it seems that the prank has taken a sinister turn.

And Mad Max may well be next. With his job under threat from the ambitious IT technician and the formidable Pansy Donaldson, and facing increasing pressure to retire, will Max manage to crack the case?

Or is the chance of him reaching retirement looking more unlikely by the day?

16. Maxwell’s Island (2011)
· Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
· Release date: 04-06-12
· Publisher: Soundings

Having had his retirement snatched from him by malfunctioning technology, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell finds himself facing yet another year at Leighford High School. His wife, Jacquie, is further annoyed when a family holiday quickly becomes an impromptu Year Seven trip to the Isle of Wight. The situation takes another turn for the worse when the wife of Tom Medlicott, the new Head of Art, goes missing.

Back in West Sussex, when Medlicott himself is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, Henry Hall is also drawn into the investigation. But the with entire man’s family in the morgue, his suspect list is non-existent. Then Maxwell stumbles, by accident, on the linchpin to the whole case.

17. Maxwell’s Crossing (2012)
· Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
· Release date: 10-01-12
· Publisher: Soundings

At Leighford High, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell is temporarily promoted to Head of History when his colleague is chosen for an American exchange. His counterpart is Hector Gold, who is accompanied by his eccentric family including his in-laws, Jeff and Alana O’Malley. Jeff O’Malley has been gate-crashing the local poker school. When Sarah Gregson, one of the poker school’s members, is found murdered, newly-promoted Inspector Jacquie Carpenter Maxwell and Henry Hall investigate, with the assistance of Maxwell. As it becomes apparent Sarah suspected Jeff of cheating and Jeff was sacked in LA for being a crooked cop, is this simply a case of murder as revenge for name-calling? Being quite the expert in solving murders, Maxwell believes there is more to it.

18. Maxwell’s Return (2014)
· Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
· Release date: 04-01-16
· Publisher: Soundings

Are the two things connected? Well, yes and no. Teenage girls are being picked up on the seafront, and two of them are found dead. DI Jacquie Carpenter-Maxwell has barely set foot on her old patch before she is up to her jet-lagged neck in somebody else’s tragedy.
The prime suspect is Bernard Ryan, Deputy Head at Leighford High, and Mad Max is soon riding to the rescue on White Surrey. But can he pedal fast enough before another girl meets the wrong man, at the wrong time, in the wrong place?

19. Maxwell’s Academy (2015)
· Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
· Release date: 11-08-16
· Publisher: Soundings

The end of civilisation, as Peter Maxwell knows it, is just around the corner. It comes in the form of Fiona Braymarr, the new superhead. She is a new broom, and she sweeps good people along the way. And the odd thing about her? She has no past. And within days of her arrival, two local women have no future; one is found dead in a car showroom, the other is stabbed at the foot of her own stairs. Two murders so closely linked in time and space must surely be connected. Maxwell’s wife, DI Jacquie Carpenter-Maxwell, thinks so. So does her boss, DCI Henry Hall. And Maxwell? Well, it’s hard to keep a good amateur sleuth down.

20. Maxwell’s Summer (2020) - Not yet in audio.

Replacement - I had found copies of all the books but just enough different so they could not reseed the original upload from 2014.