I was absolutely honoured to find out that PONS wanted to create a Best of Collection of my crime stories. In early 2018 they asked me to handpick thirty of my previously published tales of murder and mystery. This book has been one of the highlights of my writing career so far. It does what it says on the tin, and not only entertains but can be a great companion for English language learners.

In Tales of the Macabre you can find three original horror stories suitable for brave young readers. Published by Burlington books and written by Dominic Butler, these tales are reminiscent of urban legends whispered about in school yards and joked about on camping trips. Yes, they might seem amusing enough in the daylight, but when you switch off that reading lamp at night, you just might hear a whistling coming from the nearby woods, or a the sound of dark laughter from just outside your window.

An elderly American man recalls a trip to Europe that ended with a near fatal game of chess, and how the dark events of another man's life had a long-lasting effect on his own ideas of morality.
On a stormy night on the Isle of Skye, a woman posing as an art enthusiast finally solves the mystery of a missing girl, but whether she will live to reveal the truth is another matter altogether.
In the Australian Outback, two escaped criminals, still shackled to each other, must decide who is the dead weight, and who will live.
A Taste for Murder contains ten original crime stories set in English speaking locations around the world.

Like most teenagers, 14-year-old Eddie Morton loves computer games. So, when a mysterious online player called Angel invites him to take part in an exciting digital treasure hunt across London, he doesn't hesitate to accept.
Little does he know, it might be the biggest mistake of his life.

Take another trip around the dark world of crime. From England to America, Canada to Australia, it seems like there is not a single corner of the planet that is safe from Dominic Butler's dark imagination.
These short stories are written for A2 level learners of the English language. The vocabulary is simple, the grammar accessible, but the tales are as dark and twisty as any you will find.

There is something strange about the night-time comings and goings of the new housemate in a New York apartment. While in the Wetlands of New Zealand, a husband's disappearance is about to make his tear-less wife extremely rich. Money, however, may not be the sole motivation for the barbaric murder of an adulterous gambler in South Africa's Sun City Hotel.
In Dominic Butler's fourth collection of crime based short stories no corner of the globe appears to be without its shadows, no person entirely without guilt in their hearts or blood on their hands.

Lovers contains retellings of three of history's most romantic and heartbreaking tales: Rome and Juliet, The Legend of Robinhood and Maid Marian, and The Lovers of Teruel.
Dominic's contribution was the tale of England's favourite gentleman thief, Robinhood. His version of the tale highlighted the influence that Marian had on him when they were children, how her kindess and strenght inspired him to rob from the rich and give to the poor, and how, later in life, they fell and love and became inseparable in our collective imaginations.

This collection of crime based short stories takes us from the foggy flanks of Stonehenge to the sun-kissed roads of Route 66. Murder, mystery and mayhem unfold in each location, introducing a cast of characters to confound and confuse the reader. Perfect for English learners of an A2 level, this collection can as equally be enjoyed by anyone who has a taste for a tale with a twist. Will the murderous husband manage to commit his foul deed at Loch Ness? Will the escaped prisoner find salvation in the old Dublin church? Find out in "Murder in the Fog".

In this collection of crime based short stories writers Dominic Butler and Massimo Marano offer up a selection of wrong doings and mysteries in the tantalizing setting of Italy. On a terrace above Venice's Grand Canal an aging man plots his revenge, while during a Milan fashion show there is a robbery which will bloody the finest clothes on show.
Perfect for A2 level learners of Italian, these stories will amuse, mystify and entertain.

Dominic Butler's second collection of crime based short stories takes us on another dark tour through the world of murder and mystery. A storm-swept country house sets the scene for a classic "who dunnit" with a twist. A locked room on the towering top floor of a Texan skyscraper hides an impossibly murdered body. And in the heart of London the National Art Gallery is about to play host to a master thief.
Perfect for B1 English learners, these dark pulp fictions are as equally enjoyable for fans of classic crime fiction with a twist.

A collection of crime stories set entirely in Germany, "Unter de Erde" is a reimagining of my previously published crime stories, taken from their original settings and reworked by Francesca Giamboni. For B1 German language learners, this collection seeks to increase your vocabulary in the most natural and entertaining way possible; the reading of stories.

In the quiet woods at the foot of Mount Snowdon a young local lad is looking for the fabled Welsh dragon. Dangling from the balcony of a regal English manor house is a young lady whose afternoon tea has taken a tricky turn. While on the shores of the Isle of Skye a family of unimpressed Americans are about to experience the boat trip of their lives.
In twenty short stories "The Skye's the Limit" takes you on a tour of the British Isles that will resolve the question of what exactly puts the "Great" into Great Britain.
Lighthearted, humorous, spooky and at times romantic, this book really is the best of British.