Showing results for "Hemlock" in Crime Fiction

Wealthy, privileged Ilaria Cavendish checks into a luxury hotel in central London. Within the hour, her lover finds her submerged in a bath full of scalding water, dead. At first glance it looks like an accident, because no one went into the room with her and no one came out, but everything points to murder. For DS Maeve Kerrigan the case is a welcome distraction from her worries about DI Josh Derwent, who is struggling with a difficult situation – but then disaster strikes.

Met detective Eden Driscoll never wanted a child, but when his estranged sister vanishes from her sailboat, he is asked to look after her son Finn – the nephew he hadn’t even known existed. Resettled in the seaside town of Teignmouth, Eden adjusts to his newfound parenthood. Then Finn disappears from school, and Eden knows something is dreadfully wrong. When Eden's sister's body is finally found, floating in the sea, local police rule her death an accident, but Eden isn’t convinced.

When Nick Vincent, producer of true-crime show Infamous, hears about an explosive new angle on a high-profile case – the murder of an eight-year-old girl in Oxford in 2016 – he leaps at the chance to send a researcher to verify the claims. Two months later, a dog walker discovers a woman’s body, bound and buried in a shallow grave in the woods, and forensic evidence links it to the disappearance of that same child. DCI Adam Fawley, the original investigating officer, is called in to run the enquiry.

It is December in Stockholm and Sweden's Minister of Justice is under threat. An anonymous note has told him he has four days left to live. At the same time, a human skeleton is found in the Stockholm subway, belonging to a high-ranking financier. Police inspector Mina Dabiri's team, still recovering from the traumatic incident last summer that ended in the death of a colleague, calls in mentalist Vincent Walder to help with the case. For Vincent, it feels as if the world is increasingly closing in on him.

It began as the project of a lifetime – a group of archaeologists, uncovering the remains of a Roman settlement on a beautiful hill in the glorious English countryside. But, the idyll is shattered when they begin receiving threatening letters. Former city detective Jake Jackson, now enjoying a quieter life in the local village, is pulled in to investigate. Soon, threatening letters are the least of their problems, when a murderer strikes. And now the race is on for Jake to find them, before they kill again…

1993: Student Lachlan Kite is sent to post-Soviet Russia in the guise of a language teacher. In reality, he is there as a spy. Top secret intelligence agency BOX 88 has ordered Kite to extract a chemical weapons scientist before his groundbreaking research falls into the wrong hands. But Kite’s mission soon goes wrong and he is left stranded in a hostile city with a former KGB officer on his trail.

When nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall vanished from her bed one summer night, her disappearance tore her family apart. Now, sixteen years later, her mother Helena is found dead, her husband by her side. It looks like a straightforward murder-suicide but DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent soon discover nothing about this case is straightforward. The Marshalls have been keeping secrets, and they aren't alone. Josh has been holding something back too – something that could change everything for Maeve.

That spring night in South London, when Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart. The night Isabel learned that the worst things wait, just outside the door. The night Edward learned that he was powerless to stop them. The night they never talk about. When their attacker is caught, it's finally time to tell the story of that night. Not to the world. Or to the man who did it. But to each other.

We’ve all experienced it. That creeping sensation of eyes on your back, the faint echo of footsteps following yours. Across the country, a madman is carefully choosing his victims. Once he has you in his sights, he won’t let go. You think you’re in control of your own life? Think again. Because The Puppet Master is coming for you, and he won’t stop until you’re dead…

Two terrible events, without obvious connection, shake Fjällbacka to its core. A famous photographer is found brutally murdered in a showroom. Henning Bauer, the Nobel prize winner in literature, suffers from a violent act on the small island where he is writing the 10th book in his world famous series. While Patrik Hedström and his colleagues at Tanumshede police station struggle to investigate the cases, Erica Falck researches a murder on a trans man in Stockholm in the 1980’s.

Everyone has their own version of what happened to the school that day: The survivor, who escaped but is now trapped in a lie. The newspapers, hellbent on turning a tragedy into a spectacle. And the outsider, who claims it never really happened at all… They all want the truth. But who’s ready to face it? As events spiral out of control and conspiracies ignite, the true story is revealed. Piece by shocking piece.

Danny Ryan is rich. Beyond his wildest dreams rich. The former dock worker, Irish mob soldier and fugitive from the law is now a respected businessman – a Las Vegas casino mogul and billionaire silent partner in a group that owns two lavish hotels. Life is good. But then Danny reaches too far. When he tries to buy an old hotel on a prime piece of real estate with plans to build his dream resort, he triggers a war against Las Vegas power brokers, a powerful FBI agent bent on revenge and a rival casino owner with dark connections of his own.

"I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story." This is the chilling invitation from Sebastian Trapp, renowned mystery novelist, to his long-time correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. Welcomed into his lavish San Francisco mansion, Nicky begins to unravel Trapp’s life story under the watchful eyes of his enigmatic wife and plainspoken daughter. But Sebastian Trapp is a mystery himself. And maybe – probably – a murderer.

A gripping new police procedural thriller from Simon Toyne featuring criminologist Dr Laughton Rees and DCI Tannahill Khan

Margot went to college in South Carolina for a new start. It’s a chance to get away – from her small town, her family and the memories of her dead best friend. She gets her wish when the enigmatic Lucy invites her to join two other girls in a shared house for their second year. But as Margot gets to know the girls, she begins to realise that something’s off about Lucy, she’s not quite what she seems. Six months later, Lucy is missing and a boy from the frat house next door is dead, leaving Margot in the wake of the investigation.

Detective Jake Jackson moved to the countryside for a quieter life. And now, he finally seems to have his wish – spending his time swimming in his lake, tending to his chickens, and enjoying long, lazy evenings with his newfound love, Livia. But the return of an old case shatters the calm, and pulls him into the shadowy world of No Taboo – a secretive group serving the extravagant whims of the elite. As the web around Jake tightens, he must determine who he can really trust in his small community. Or else he will learn just how far No Taboo will go to protect their secrets.

When a DVD is delivered in the dead of night, DCI Cara Elliott hits play on a horrifying showreel of violence… This is death, on demand. Avid viewers are paying for the killings, with twisted specifications. A request, an abduction, a murder. And always in a forty-eight-hour pattern. But when the killer finds out they’re being investigated, they reveal their next target. In forty-eight hours, a police officer will be the one in front of the camera. The hunters have become the hunted, and the clock is ticking…

When the dismembered body of a headmaster is found on the derelict site of a former school in Sheffield, DI Diana Walker finds herself chasing shadows. Faced with missing teachers, unreported crimes and silent witnesses, Diana is running out of leads. Her colleagues insist this is just another instance of gang violence, but Diana knows there’s something more. Something everyone’s too scared to talk about. With her reputation on the line, Diana is determined to find the truth.

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide. DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for four days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders. As George and Ritchie question the island’s inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets. But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.