The Wimbledon Trilogy consists of three books written by Nigel Williams set in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a suburb of southwest London, England, southwest of Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,189 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimb ...

and published by

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

: *''The Wimbledon Poisoner'' (1990, ) : Henry Farr, a struggling solicitor is desperate to get rid of his wife, Elinor and decides to poison her, following the example of Everett Maltby, the original Wimbledon Poisoner. He obtains a quantity of

thallium Thallium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Tl and atomic number 81. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal that is not found free in nature. When isolated, thallium resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Che ...

from a chemist using a forged optician's order and bastes a roast chicken with it. Unfortunately his wife is not feeling hungry and neighbour Donald arrives unexpectedly as the meal is served and takes a large portion with tragic results. Soon his friends and neighbours are dying in great numbers as the poisoning continues to misfire, and at every turn Henry is dogged by Inspector Rush, a friend of Elinor's... *''They Came from SW19'' (1992, ) : 14 year-old

ufologist Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...

Simon Britten's father has just died and his spiritualist mother attempts to contact him through the advocacy of The First Church of Christ the Spiritualist, South Wimbledon of which she is a member. At the same time the regular UFO watch on Wimbledon Common also makes contact of a different kind. Simon is caught between the church and aliens and struggles to find the truth... *''East of Wimbledon'' (1993, ): Robert Williams passes himself off as a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

to get a job at the Wimbledon Independent Islamic Boys Day School. This pretence is soon under pressure as Robert knows very little about

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. He is also entrusted with the care of Hasan a blind pupil who is believed by the so-called 'twenty-fourthers' (cf.

twelvers Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the largest branch of Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as t ...

), a sect of the

nizari Nizari Isma'ilism () are the largest segment of the Isma'ilism, Ismailis, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasise independent reasoning or ''ijtihad''; Pluralism (philosophy), pluralism— ...

ismailis Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept M ...

, to be the twenty-fourth

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

(cf. Twelfth Imam), whose

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks f ...

they eagerly await... They were collected together in a combined volume entitled ''The Wimbledon Trilogy'' in 1995 (). ''Scenes from a Poisoner's Life'' (1994, ), is a series of 12 linked stories, one for each month of the year concerning characters from the Wimbledon Trilogy.

Screen adaptation

'' The Wimbledon Poisoner'' was adapted for television in 1994 by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Originally in two parts and directed by Robert Young it starred Robert Lindsay as Henry Farr,

Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for ''Abigail's Party'', the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film ...

as Elinor and Philip Jackson as Inspector Rush. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wimbledon Trilogy, The Novel series Literary trilogies Faber & Faber books The Wimbledon Trilogy