Showing results for "Chapter One" in Police Procedurals

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 a missing teenage girl reappears unharmed but pregnant, the case falls to DI Edina Ogborne, the newest recruit of Canterbury Police. But Ed’s already got her hands full with a team who don’t want her, an ex who won’t quit and terrible guilt over a secret from her past. As Ed investigates the case, she discovers Canterbury has seen this crime not once, but several times before. And when Ed and her detectives encounter missing historic police files, falsified school records and Ed’s new lover as a prime suspect, it becomes clear that the system has been corrupted.

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.

In a pristine suburb outside of London everything and everyone is perfect…on the surface. But then one of their own – an innocent teenage girl – goes missing, and DCI Sue Fisher and her team start to investigate the secrets and lies of an interconnected web of bored housewives, cheating husbands, and disaffected teens. Now, as the veneer of perfection starts to chip away, dark secrets rise to fell the mighty and a community is brought to its knees.

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.

A beloved teacher is murdered and left in a ditch beside a country lane. His wife is found beaten and gagged in their suburban home. New detective Pippa Adams learns that the teacher ran a homework club for vulnerable pupils. But what did he really teach them? When Pippa scratches the surface of the school community, she meets families who’ve learned a shattering lesson. And finally uncovers the good teacher’s darkest secrets.

DCI Matilda Darke and her team have been restricted under special measures after a series of calamitous scandals nearly brought down the South Yorkshire police force. Now Matilda is on the trail of another murderer, an expert in avoiding detection with no obvious motive but one obvious method. When his latest victim survives the attack despite her vocal cords being severed, Matilda is more convinced than ever of the guilt of her key suspect. If only she had a way to prove it.

Two murders. Twenty years. Now the killer is back for more… A darkly compelling debut crime novel. The start of a brilliant series, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid, and James Oswald. DCI Matilda Darke has returned to work after a nine month absence. A shadow of her former...

Investigative journalist Emma Hunter never thought she’d be a best-selling author. Especially not for a blistering exposé of the brutal horrors committed at a children’s home. All she wants is to return home to the anchoring salt air and solitude of Weymouth where questions still fester unanswered and a 20-year-old secret binds her to the beach.

In the crippling heat of August in Rome, a flat goes up in flames, the doors sealed from the outside. Five illegal immigrants are trapped and burnt alive—their charred bodies barely distinguishable amidst the debris. When Detective Inspectors Rossi and Carrara begin to investigate, a terror organisation shakes the city to its foundations. Then a priest is found murdered and mutilated post-mortem—his injuries almost satanic in their ferocity.

DI Frank Farrell and DS McLeod are tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a defence solicitor’s wife in Dumfries. It’s been over a year since they left the town after an investigation robbed them of a dear friend. But now they’re back and must find a way to move on. When the son of another defence solicitor is murdered, a strange tattoo etched on his body, the case takes them into darker, more disturbing territory.

Nine months ago, DCI Matilda Darke survived a bullet to the head. The brutal attack claimed dozens of lives, including those she loved most, and the nightmares still plague her every waking thought. Now, she’s ready to get back on the job. But a new terror awaits. A woman is found murdered and her wounds look eerily similar to several cold cases. Desperate to find a lead, DCI Darke and her team must face a terrifying truth: a serial killer is on the loose in Sheffield.

When elderly George Rainsford goes to investigate a suspicious noise one night, the last thing he expects to find is a bloodbath. A man has been killed and a woman brutally beaten, left for dead. The victims are Lois Craven and Kevin Hardaker - both married, but not to each other. Their spouses swear they knew nothing of the affair, and, besides, they both have alibis for the attack. With nothing else to link the victims, the investigation hits a dead end.

When several young prostitutes are found murdered in Liverpool, DI Leigh Moss knows there is only one person she can turn to for help with the case. Gangland queen Grace Carter knows the streets of Liverpool better than anyone and can ask questions Leigh can’t...but will Grace help? Grace doesn’t trust easily, but when she discovers that her family might be linked with the gruesome murders, she decides to give Leigh a chance. But helping Leigh is risky, and as Grace is dragged deeper into the murky world of vice, her own life is put in danger.