The Murder at World’s End: The gripping new cosy crime mystery and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick from the bestselling author

Ross Montgomery

Oct 2025 · The Stockingham & Pike Detective Series Book 1 · Random House

About this eBook

Downton Abbey meets Knives Out in the gripping new crime series from the bestselling author where an unlikely sleuthing duo - an under-butler and a foul-mouthed octogerian - hunt a killer in a manor sealed against the end of the world.

‘A tantalising whodunnit with some of the funniest dialogue I’ve read in a while’ JENNIE GODFREY
‘Ingeniously plotted and highly addictive. Fans of P G Wodehouse will enjoy this!’ ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG
‘A joy from start to finish. This is crime writing at its best’ JANICE HALLETT

Cornwall, 1910. On a remote tidal island, the Viscount of Tithe Hall is absorbed in feverish preparations for the apocalypse that he believes will accompany the passing of Halley's Comet. The Hall must be sealed from top to bottom - every window, chimney and keyhole closed off before night falls. But what the pompous, dishonest Viscount has failed to take into account is the danger that lies within... By morning, he will be dead in his sealed study, murdered by his own ancestral crossbow.

All eyes turn to Stephen Pike, Tithe Hall's newest under-butler. Fresh out of Borstal for a crime he didn't commit, he is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His unlikely ally? Miss Decima Stockingham, the foul-mouthed, sharp as a tack, 80-year-old family matriarch. Fearless and unconventional, she relishes chaos and puzzles alike, and a murder is just the thrill she's been waiting for.

Together, this mismatched duo must navigate secret passages, buried grudges and rising terror to unmask the killer before it's too late...

Ratings and reviews

This is a good old-fashioned, locked-room mystery. Loved it. Plenty of obnoxious suspects. Plenty of red herrings. Lots of accusations, dead fish, a suit of armour, a maze, missing laundry, a change of will. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

About the author

Ross Montgomery is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author of books for children and, now, for adults. He won the Waterstones' Children's Book of the Year in 2024 and the Barnes and Noble Children's Book of the Year in 2025, and has been shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book of the Year and the British Book Awards. The Murder at World's End is his first adult novel and was an instant Times bestseller.

He lives in London with his wife, their baby and a cat named Fun Bobby.