Showing results by publisher "Soundings" in Crime Fiction

When Joanna Hart came into his office, enquiry agent Dan Markham thought it would be an easy case. All the blonde with red lips and swinging hips wanted was to know if her husband was unfaithful. But when the man is killed, Markham's involvement makes him suspect number one. As the evidence piles against him, he realises someone has set him up. In a deadly game, Markham has to battle to keep his client and himself alive.

Twenty years after her brother Callum mysteriously vanished, Orla Payne is still haunted by his disappearance. The case was closed after her uncle's suicide - the police believed he killed himself in the Hanging Wood out of guilt over murdering the boy, even though a body was never found. Daniel Kind recommends Orla contact DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Lake District's Cold Case Review Team, to see if she can discover the truth about what really happened all those years ago.

The droll Scots detective, Bob Burns, is once more aided by forensic scientist and ladyfriend, Dr Julie Bryson, and abetted by overly-keen Andy Green. Working undercover on a cruise liner bound for the Canary Islands, Bob and his two sidekicks have plenty to cope with. The discovery of a severed finger in a passenger’s quiche lorraine sparks an investigation full of greed, guile, deceit and double-dealing. Does the finger belong to an alleged man-overboard victim? Was the man-overboard victim pushed, or did he commit suicide? Is it all just a cleverly engineered insurance scam?

A teenage girl is strangled and left for dead on a lonely country lane in Devon. The police are baffled when she describes her attacker as having the head of a dog, but when the body of a woman is found mutilated and wrapped in a sheet, DI Wesley Peterson suspects the killer may be performing an ancient ritual linked to the jackal-headed Egyptian god, Anubis. Meanwhile, archaeologist Neil Watson has been called to Varley Castle to catalogue the collection of an Edwardian amateur Egyptologist.

When a woman is burned to death in Grandal Field in Devon, it seems like a case of mistaken identity. Until DI Wesley Peterson learns of a legend involving a French woman who burned to death there in the 13th century. And when he discovers that records of a previous excavation on the site have vanished, and that two archaeologists involved in that dig died in tragic circumstances, Wesley starts to investigate the possibility of a link between the legend and recent events.

DI Wesley Peterson has never witnessed such a bizarre crime scene. A man has been brutally murdered by two precise wounds to his neck and his body drained of blood. It seems that the victim was not a popular man in the Devon area and Wesley doesn't have a shortage of suspects. But then two more victims are found killed in an identical fashion. As if Wesley didn't have enough to investigate, Wesley's friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, begins to receive disturbing anonymous letters about macabre events at a medieval abbey.

Little Marcus Fallbrook was kidnapped in 1976 and, when he never returned home, his grieving family assumed the worst. Now, 30 years later, teenager Leah Wakefield has disappeared and DI Wesley Peterson has reason to suspect that the same kidnapper is responsible. As Wesley delves into the case, his friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, discovers a mystery of his own when he exhumes the dead from a local churchyard. A coffin is found containing one corpse too many and Neil believes it may be linked to a strange religious sect.

This story recounts Sherlock Holmes’ very first case. Having previously treated his deduction skills as a hobby at college, he must quickly turn detective to help a friend in need. An old acquaintance has paid Victor Trevor’s father a visit and seems to be blackmailing him. Holmes must decode a mystery letter to understand why.

In Victorian London, race-walking, or 'wobbles', is all the rage. So on a Monday morning in November 1879, the crowds gather for Islington's bizarre six-day endurance walking race. By Tuesday, one of the contestants is dead. Tetanus from a blister is assumed, but then there is a second death, and this time it's definitely murder. A bemused Sergeant Cribb from Scotland Yard is called in, along with Constable Thackeray, and they soon discover that something foul is at play.

Primavera Blackstone has found contentment in a small Spanish village by the sea. A fiercely protective single mother, she doesn’t appreciate an offer of marriage. Nor does she welcome the arrival of a blast from her past, retired cop Ricky Ross, now a private detective and working for Jack Weighley, millionaire owner of a budget airline. Primavera teams up with Ricky to investigate a series of mystery assaults on Jack’s aircraft. Are they mere acts of vandalism, or the sinister work of Catalan extremists?

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget finds it impossible to refuse when she receives a desperate phone call from an old acquaintance, obstetrician Charles Tissot. One of his patients, Heather Krimble, alleges that Tissot seduced her at a party and that he is the father of her unborn child. His career on the line, Charles begs Claire to expose Heather's fragile mental state and discredit her wild claims....

Four bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time. Witnesses to the shocking shooting of a teenage boy. A moment that changes their lives forever. Fiona, a midwife, is plagued by panic attacks and unable to work. Has she the strength to testify? Mike, a delivery driver and family man, faces an impossible decision when his frightened wife forces him to choose – us or the court case. Cheryl, a single-mother, doesn’t want her child to grow up in the same climate of fear.

The Oast Theatre in Steeple Martin is hosting a touring production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night which is attracting a lot of attention. But very soon it begins to attract attention of an entirely different kind when a document goes missing along with its owner. When a body turns up, Libby Sarjeant and Fran Wolfe become involved with the investigation with the help, naturally, of their friends and relatives.

Forbidden in Victorian England, the grim and violent world of bare-knuckle fighting has gone underground. So when a headless body is found floating in the Thames, his hands “pickled” for fighting, Sergeant Cribb knows he is facing a challenge. Desperate for information, they select the young constable Henry Jago to infiltrate the gang, subjecting him to a rigorous programme of purging, pickling and training. Cribb is certain that the losing fighters are being killed or worse, so getting Jago out just in time is crucial....

In the winter of 1942, England lies cold and dark in the wartime blackout. One bleak evening, Councillor Grayling steps off the 6.12 from Euston, carrying £120 in cash and oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the snow-covered suburbs. Inspector Holly draws up a list of Grayling's fellow passengers: his distrusted employee Charles Evetts, the charming Hugh Rolandson, and an unknown refugee from Nazi Germany, among others. Inspector Holly will soon discover that each passenger harbours their own dark secrets and that the councillor had more than one enemy among them.

A woman is on trial for her life, accused of murder. The 12 members of the jury each carry their own secret burden of guilt and prejudice which could affect the outcome. In this extraordinary crime novel, we follow the trial through the eyes of the jurors as they hear the evidence and try to reach a unanimous verdict. Will they find the defendant guilty or not guilty? And will the jurors' decision be the correct one?

Who does Andrew Clayton turn to when his wife has been murdered, his child is in danger, and the police think he is responsible? Despite his mistrust of Clayton, Joe Hunter accepts the job of protecting young Cole. But who is he protecting the boy from? And why? It's clear Clayton knows more about his wife's killer, but he isn't saying. And when his silence places Cole in the killer's sights, there's...No Safe Place.

The year is 1832, and great change and reform are sweeping England, but 23-year-old Joshua Weyland is languishing in Key West, USA. He was third mate on the schooner Jessica, which ran aground in suspicious circumstances, and the skipper has been arrested on charges of deliberately wrecking his ship. Josh is eager to get back to England to marry his fiancée, so he ships as second mate on a brig bound for Bristol. But when the ship founders off the coast of Cornwall, it's clear it's been deliberately wrecked.

Two children are abducted on their way home from school and are still missing after several weeks - no one knows whether they are alive or dead. The police are certain that ruthless local gangster Vince Formosa is behind the kidnapping, but have no proof. Forced to resign following an accidental death in police custody, former Detective Inspector Sep Black knows he's been set up. But how can he prove it? Convinced that Formosa has a mole within the police, Black sets out to expose the traitor and clear his name.

Paul Crane had not altogether liked the look of Skene and West when they turned up at his North Norfolk cottage and made him an offer he could not refuse, but his chequered past had long since taught him not to be particular...Only when he fell in love with Penelope was there any hope of going straight. And perhaps he would have stuck to his promise if the chance of making a million had not, as it were, dropped into his lap.