Showing results for "Chapter One" in Crime Fiction

For years, Aidan Cullen has dreamed of becoming a successful crime writer. When his hard work finally pays off and his first book is published, what should have been a night of celebration unravels into an evening of horror. Left for dead after a brutal attack, trauma leaves him paranoid and reclusive, and he retreats to the remote countryside with only his dog Nanook for company. With the world kept at arm’s length, he begins to feel safe. That is, until a woman is murdered at the end of his road.

Dr Olivia Winter is a forensic psychologist whose job is to understand the minds of serial killers. There’s only one monster she can’t understand, her father.

Johan Boje, officer with the police force of Central and West Jutland, is killed by a hit-and-run driver in front of his house, during a late night in March. His boss, Axel Borg, is one of the first people at the crime scene and here, he realizes the brutality of the murder. Johan Boje’s nine-year-old son says he saw the car and the driver, whom he claims is a police officer.

My name is Amber Ryan. I’m in prison, but I’m innocent. And I’ve been jailed not just for a crime I didn’t commit, but for a crime that never even happened. Now, my friend is going to try to prove it. But to do that, she has to go back. Back to the dark.

Adeline Evans has recently moved into a home for the elderly. A safe space, where she can be cared for. When she begins to receive cryptic and threatening notes, she is certain that someone is out to get her. But the residents are warned against listening to a woman who is losing her memory. It would seem Adeline is tormented by the secrets in her past, and that the menace is all in her mind. Until danger comes down the corridor and starts knocking in the night.

DCI Matilda Darke receives an anonymous email from someone claiming to have committed the perfect murder. Experience tells her this isn’t possible, but as she investigates, she discovers a killer questioning everything she’s ever known. Now, Matilda is on the trail of a murderer who targets the most vulnerable people in society. Apart from ‘With Sympathy…’ cards, hand delivered to the family of his victims, he leaves no trace of his crimes.

When Ella Leonard arrives at work one Monday morning, she's stunned. The place isn't just shut – it's gone. Boarded up, closed down. Days later, she gets home to find she's been evicted from her flat, her belongings piled on the doorstep. It's as if, bit by bit, someone is taking her entire life away from her. Who, and why? And how much worse can it get? The answer? A lot worse.

When an accident forces Felicia Grant back to her family’s auction house in Stamford, she vows it’ll only be a flying visit. But as the gavel falls on the final lot, a hidden secret is revealed—the body of her father’s business rival, murdered during the packed sale! Soon, Felicia is swept into a mystery that has everyone in the community as a potential suspect―including her. As the body count rises and with the people she loves under threat, Felicia takes matters into her own hands. But even the most picturesque place has its secrets.

PC Gareth Bell watches the psychopath who stabbed Bell’s partner stroll out of court a free man. Somebody on the inside tampered with the evidence, and now one of Brighton’s most dangerous criminals is back on the streets again. Bell’s personal mission for revenge takes him onto the other side of the law and into the dark, violent underworld of the glamourous seaside city. Soon he faces a horrifying choice: risk everything he holds dear, or let the man who tried to kill his partner walk free.

‘A sparklingly delicious confection to satisfy the mystery reader’s appetite’ Helena Dixon, bestselling author of the Miss Underhay Mysteries The first book in a NEW cozy mystery series! Still spinning from the hustle and bustle of city life, Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is glad to be back in...

High-flying lawyer Sara O’Neil had it all; the career, the money, the prestige. And then she jumped to her death. Cassandra Harlow never expected to see her friend fall from their office rooftop. Someone knows what really happened. But the only people who might know the truth are a secret women-only society, Inside, whose promise is to fast-track your career. But if Sara was part of it and they helped facilitate her rise to the top, could they also be the reason she came crashing down to earth?

DCI Matilda Darke has been kidnapped and her nemesis, Steve Harrison, appears to be behind it. He’s currently residing in the supermax of Wakefield Prison and spends twenty-three hours a day in his cell, so how could he possibly be responsible? As Matilda’s team race to find her, they’re alerted to a body found in an abandoned car on the outskirts of Sheffield. With forensics scouring the woodland for clues, the last thing they expect is for the body count to rise. Meanwhile the search intensifies for the DCI when a video of her kidnapping is leaked to the media.

After six long months with no new cases for her Edge of the World Detective Agency, Donna ‘Deadly’ Nightshade jumps at the chance to spend a weekend undercover on St Michael’s Mount. With seven high profile attendees – including the Home Secretary – Donna doesn’t expect much tension. But as a storm descends on the tidal island, and they’re cut off from the rest of the world, friends turn to enemies and before the rain has ceased it’s not just one murder Donna has to worry about – it’s two.

PR guru Lola Lovett’s client has gone missing, but that’s not the problem. It’s the fact that he’s meant to be at home. Already dead. But Lola hasn’t come this far in life to let an inconvenience like an undead actor stop her from getting what she wants, so she immediately sets about getting close to the investigation into his disappearance…and DCI Sue Fisher.

Five years ago, Clare killed her family – her husband, her father, and one of her twin sons. She has no memory of the car accident, but there is no refuting the evidence of drugs in her system. She has accepted her guilt, and served her time. Now, released from prison, all she wants is to be reconciled with her remaining son, 13-year-old Tommy. To help him come to terms with her crime, and his own survivor guilt, Clare tries to find out the full truth of what happened on that fateful night.

Nobody in Barbara Marsden’s family knows about her past, least of all her daughter Helen. But someone wants the truth to come out. When Helen discovers a sinister note at Barbara’s house, she can’t understand who would want to threaten her mother. She’s determined to find out who sent it, but soon realises her search might hurt her own family and put Barbara at risk… What really happened all those years ago? And who is going to end up paying the price?

Jeanette is the manager of a probation hostel that houses high risk offenders released on license. At 3am one morning, she receives a call telling her a resident has been murdered. Her whole team, along with the eight convicted murderers, are now all suspects in a crime no one saw committed.

The real nightmare begins when the missing person returns. PC Gareth Bell is about to arrest a cocaine dealer on Brighton Marina, when he makes a shocking discovery that turns his world upside down: the dealer is his long-lost brother, Jake, someone he thought had died years ago. But their reunion is short lived. For Jake is on the run from a cold-blooded killer, whose network reaches all the way into the police force itself. Now that his brother’s life is on the line, Bell has only two choices. Family, or duty?

With street crime at an all-time low, Matilda and her team finally find the time to dig into their backlog of cold cases. DI Brady has been tracing victims of systemic abuse at a local children’s home after a high-profile accusation pitched it into the spotlight—a case that couldn’t be more personal. Nothing could have prepared them for what they uncover next. As they piece together the disturbing picture of the history of the home, it soon becomes clear that this is much bigger than either of them ever suspected.

When Donna branches out from floristry to private investigation and opens The Edge of the World Detective Agency, the last thing she expects is to have a murder fall into her lap almost immediately. Now, normally she wouldn’t be one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there’s one significant problem with the case – all the evidence points to Donna as the murderer!