Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Crime Fiction

Sergeant Belinda 'Billy' Kidd is driving home from the airport, jet-lagged and ready to resign from a career that has left her traumatised. Menopause has robbed her confidence too - now she's a traffic cop who's afraid to drive. When brake lights haemorrhage up the motorway, the cars grind to a halt. Moments later she finds a dead driver in a black sedan. He has a metal skewer in his neck. But how? The killer can't have left the scene without being spotted by the dozens of witnesses - so he must still be there, among them.

Former CID detective Scott Jericho is done with murder. Done with puzzles. Done with the dark rage that seems to haunt him. That is until a vicious serial killer targets someone close to him. Now Jericho is back, his thirst for justice remorseless. But time is running out. Fortune tellers and psychics are being slaughtered and everything points to a link with a live TV event due to be broadcast on Halloween night. But what is the significance of the macabre wax effigies found at every crime scene? Why is celebrity psychic Darrel Everwood convinced he will die in four days time?

Private investigator Julia Stark receives an unannounced visit at the office. The man at the door is one of the owners of a successful family business. The day before, he was present at a board meeting and dinner at his estate in the northwestern part of Sweden. The following morning, he finds a photograph in his phone of a bloody man, tied up with a bag over his head. Due to alcohol-related amnesia, the man has no idea where the picture comes from and wants to hire Stark Detective Agency to clear his name before the police get involved.

As Christmas comes to the west cost of Iceland, a corpse is found in a fish farming pond. Detective Hildur Rúnarsdóttir and trainee Jakob Johanson barely have time to start their investigation before another body is discovered. And soon a third. While investigating the case, Hildur's lost sister weighs heavy on her mind. Meanwhile, Jakob travels to Finland for the hearing of his fraught custody battle, that leaves him facing dire consequences. As the number of deaths continues to grow, Hildur and Jakob are desperate to catch the killer before they strike again.

A family in England is massacred, the father left holding the shotgun. PC Lucy Davies is convinced he's innocent. A sleeper agent in Moscow requests an urgent meeting with Dan Forrester, referencing their shared past. His amnesia means he has no idea whom he can trust. An aging oligarch in Siberia gathers his henchmen to discuss an English accountant. It's Dan's wife.

Alice has made the most of her maternity leave, becoming simultaneously a proud mum (well, a mum, at least) and accidental amateur sleuth. With her son, Jack, fast approaching his first birthday, she is keen to continue to keep him alive and maybe finally catch up on some sleep...if she's lucky. When an opportunity presents itself in the unexpected form of a sit-in protest, Alice and her friends willingly chain themselves to trees and settle in for some overdue rest. But the next morning one of their fellow protestors is found strangled.

Summer 1983: four-year-old Billy chases a rabbit in the fields behind his house. But when his mother goes to call him in, Billy has disappeared. Never to be seen again. Today: Veronica is a bereavement counsellor. She's never fully come to terms with her mother's suicide after her brother Billy's disappearance. When a young man walks into her group, he looks familiar and talks about the trauma of his friend's disappearance in 1983. Could Billy still be alive after all this time?

Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. As a courtroom artist she uses her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. After all, her own brutal past means she knows innocence is even rarer than justice. But when she is drawn back into the trial that defined her career, a case of twisted family betrayal, she realises her own reckless pursuit of justice may have helped the guilty go free.

When the body of a young man washes ashore in Stockholm's southern archipelago, Manfred Olsson is called in to investigate. But with his daughter, Nadja, in a coma, it is with some reluctance that he leaves his wife alone by their child's bedside. Elsewhere, 18-year-old Samuel lives with his hard-working single mother, Pernilla. His charm has always been able to get him out of trouble, but when he finds himself in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong, he is forced to make a run for it.

A 13-year-old boy commits suicide. A 65-year-old man dies of a heart attack. Dan Forrester, ex-MI5 officer, is connected to them both. And when he discovers that his godson and his father have been murdered, he teams up with his old friend, DC Lucy Davies, to find answers....

When ex-soldier-turned-teacher Jenni Wales sees 15-year-old Destiny's black eye, she's concerned. Destiny isn't your average student: she's smart, genius IQ smart, and she's in care. But concern turns to fear when Jenni witnesses an attempt to abduct Destiny from school. With social services and the police not taking the threat seriously, Jenni does the only thing she can think of to keep Destiny safe: she takes her. But the men that are after Destiny are close behind them. What can Destiny know that would make them hunt her? And can Jenni keep her safe?

Four men gather in Stockholm. Each has existed on the fringes of Stockholm society. Each has a past that just won't let him go. Then a plan falls into their laps. A plan to steal millions from the largest cash facility in Sweden. At first the scheme seems foolproof, every contingency covered, every detail planned perfectly. But is everyone involved who they say they are? Can they ever really hope to pull off such an extraordinary crime?

Wealthy and privileged, Alex has an easy path to success in the Parisian elite. But he and his domineering father have never seen eye to eye. Desperate to escape the increasingly suffocating atmosphere of their apartment, Alex seeks freedom on the streets of Paris where his new-found friend Sami teaches him how to survive. But everything has a price - and one night of rebellion changes their lives forever. A simple plan to steal money takes a sinister turn when Alex's father is found dead. Despite protesting their innocence, both boys are imprisoned for murder.

When a boarding school master at an exclusive boys' school is shot dead, it is deemed accidental. A lazy and usually drunk detective is sent to write up the report. Cardilini unexpectedly does not cooperate, as he becomes riled by the privileged arrogance of those at the school. He used to have instincts. Perhaps he should follow them now...With no real evidence he declares the shooting a murder and puts himself on a collision course with the powerful and elite of Perth. As he peels back layers, the school's dark secrets begin to emerge.

Tom Killgannon, ex-undercover police officer and now in witness protection, is recalled to active service by a local police task force, headed by DS Sheridan. His mission is to befriend notorious child killer Noel Cunningham and find out where he buried the bodies of his final two victims. The catch? Tom has to obtain that information from within Blackmoor prison itself. Undercover and with backup, Tom soon runs into danger. In the prison is convicted gangster Dean Foley. He used to run Manchester's biggest gang, until Tom's testimony put him away for life.

When criminal justice lawyer Joanna Chylka is tasked with defending the son of Zelasny & McVay's biggest client, she is stumped for the first time. Assisted by average law graduate and the firm's newest mentee, Kordian Orynski, they find himself in a maze of tangled evidence. Piotr Langer Junior has been charged with Article 148: murder with exceptional brutality. He is alleged to have sat in his apartment for ten days with two rotting corpses, before calmly opening the door to the police dressed in a light blue dressing gown, as though nothing had ever happened.

Southern Sweden: Beautiful countryside, endless forests, coastal walks, dark days - and even darker nights. But beneath the beauty lies a dark heart... Skåne, 1986: On the night of Walpurgis, the eve of May Day, where bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and preparations are made to celebrate the renewal of spring, a sixteen-year-old girl is ritualistically murdered in the woods beside a castle. Her stepbrother is convicted of the terrible deed and shortly after, the entire family vanishes without a trace.

For psychological profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön, life is good. She and her partner, investigator Peter Lindgren, have just returned from a dream holiday in Greenland, and the symptoms of her early onset dementia seem to be under control. Then they are asked to go to the small, sleepy industrial town of Ormberg to investigate a cold case: 10 years earlier a five-year-old girl's remains were found in a cairn near the town. With her dementia creeping back again, Hanne starts to keep a diary noting down everything she is likely to forget.

After his daughter overdosed and died, William Thomas Knox brutally murdered billionaire Skip Buchanan, patriarch of the family most responsible for the American opioid epidemic. One year later, veteran Harper Scott is out of work and just desperate enough to take a job protecting members of the hated Buchanan family. Then, as the online mob grows and death threats against the Buchanans reach a fevered pitch, another Buchanan is murdered and Harper is thrown into a race to find the killer.

To protect her daughter, she's willing to risk everything. If you like Lisbeth Salander and Amelia Sachs, then it's time to meet Nora Watts. She's not your average heroine, but she'll go above and beyond for those she loves. Nora Watts is used to being hunted. Since she rescued her biological daughter, Bonnie, two years ago, from the criminal gang that had kidnapped her, Nora's been targeted by the ruthless Dao. He wants revenge, and he will use whatever he can to get to Nora - including Bonnie. So, Nora has no choice: the hunted must become the hunter.