Showing results by publisher "Wildfire" in Crime Thrillers

Inspector Tony McLean is called to a routine break-in at Drake BioTech, a trendsetting Edinburgh start-up at the cutting edge of DNA re-engineering. It's well below McLean's pay-grade, but given the extensive political connections of its eccentric owner Nathaniel Drake, he doesn't have a choice. Even if nothing appears to have been stolen. A missing person soon turns up dead with no signs of trauma or suggested cause of death, and still the police can find no connection between the strange events at play in the city.

Undercover ops are always dangerous, but DC Constance Fairchild never expected things to go this wrong. Returning to their base of operations, an anonymous office in a shabby neighbourhood, she finds the bloodied body of her boss and friend, DI Pete Copperthwaite. He's been executed - a single shot to the head. In the aftermath, it seems someone in the Met is determined to make sure that blame for the wrecked operation falls squarely on Con's shoulders. She is cut loose and cast out, angry and alone with her grief....

A body has been discovered on the riverbanks of The Valley, a remote community in the hills of New South Wales. The gold mine at the heart of The Valley was once the lifeblood of this region, but it has been flooded for decades. Over the years, many have tried and failed to bring it back to life. Now, most believe the mine is barren. The victim is Wolfgang Burnside, deputy mayor - a champion of change or local schemer, depending on who you ask. He had been working on plans to take the Valley off-grid with hydro-power. Until he was poisoned, his body dumped in the river for all to see.

In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable youngsters and billionaires do as they please. Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner's death is straight-forward, not even who found the body. Homicide Detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping. He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town, and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won't come again. Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days brutally murdered and Mandy the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him.

When a member of the Police Scotland team fails to clock in for work, concern for her whereabouts is immediate...and the discovery of her burnt-out car in remote woodland to the south of Edinburgh sets off a desperate search for the missing woman. Meanwhile, DCI Tony McLean and the team are preparing for a major anti-corruption operation - one which may raise the ire of more than a few powerful people in the city. Is Anya Renfrew's disappearance a coincidence or related to the case?

Will you look her in the eyes, just before she dies? A terrifying crime thriller that will set your pulse pounding. Perfect for fans of M. J. Arlidge, Robert Bryndza, and Angela Marsons. A psychopath calling himself I, Killer has posted two photos of his first victim online - before death and after death. They've gone viral before DCI Fenton's team even discovers the body. Soon another victim's photo is similarly posted...and so begins the killer's following. DCI Fenton is determined to discover the identity of I, Killer.

A renowned mountaineer and self-described 'fell runner' is found dead in a deep gully on one side of Scafell Pike within hours of announcing his intention of breaking the world record for the quickest continuous summit of every peak in the Lake District. Only a month into the job, DI Jess Chambers had been hoping that Cumbria would offer a slower pace of policing than her native Belfast, but this first case already sees her out of her depth. A local mountain guide, Margot Voyce, proves to be her biggest asset as she begins her investigation.

The charred remains of an elderly woman are discovered in a burned-out gamekeeper's cottage, hidden away in woodland to the west of Edinburgh. Clearly no accidental fire, Detective Inspector Tony McLean suspects that neither is this simply a grim arson attack. There is far more to the victim than her humble surroundings might suggest, and something ritualistic to her horrific murder. Nor will it be the only case of death by fire that Tony and his team will be faced with. This is only the beginning, and with such evil clouding the air, Tony begins to wonder what else will burn....

McLean is back. The gripping thirteenth book in the Sunday Times-bestselling Inspector McLean series.

On compassionate leave following the death of her mother, Detective Constable Constance Fairchild thought renting a cottage near Aberystwyth, Wales, would get her far enough from London to finally relax. But trouble always seems to find Con, and it's not long before she is cooling off in a police station cell after defending herself from two would-be rapists. In custody she meets a young Ukrainian woman, Lila, who confides in Con that she's been forced by her manipulative boyfriend into prostitution and running drugs.

A dead river. A dying town. A killer's secrets.... In an isolated country town ravaged by drought, a charismatic young priest opens fire on his congregation, killing five men before being shot dead himself. A year later, journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals don't fit with the accepted version of events. Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking discovery rocks the town.

Suspended from duty after her last case ended in the high-profile arrest of one of Britain's wealthiest men, DC Constance Fairchild is trying to stay away from the limelight. Fate has other ideas. Coming home to her London flat, Constance stumbles across a young man, bloodied, mutilated and barely alive. She calls it in and is quickly thrown into the middle of a nationwide investigation. It seems that the victim is just the latest in a string of similar ritualistic attacks.

It's New Year's Eve and the stage is set for a lavish party in one of Edinburgh's best postcodes. It's a moment for old friends to set the past to rights—and move on. The night sky is alive with fireworks and the champagne is flowing. But the celebration fails to materialise. Because someone at this party is going to die tonight. Midnight approaches and the countdown begins—but it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution.

1999. As London prepares for the Millennium, a serial rapist is stalking the River Thames. A junior female police officer in a world dominated by men, Detective Constable Louise Mangan is desperate for the chance to prove herself, and when she brings in the culprit almost single-handedly, she believes the people of Hampton Court can rest easy at last. But the worst is yet to come. Soon word reaches the police of a deadly criminal operation at the heart of this leafy suburb. Now Mangan finds herself undercover, getting closer to answers each day.

Newly minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder—a 'file and forget'. But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult—and dangerous—than she'd ever expected.

An archaeological dig at the old South Leith parish kirkyard has turned up a mysterious body dating from around 700 years ago. The experts wonder if she wasn't murdered and dumped, but some suspect that this gruesome discovery is a sacrifice, placed there for a specific purpose. Then a second body is unearthed. This victim went missing only 30 years ago—but the similarities between her death and the ancient body's suggest something even more disturbing.

Her lifeless body is hidden in the dark corner of a basement room, a room which seems to have been left untouched for decades. A room which feels as cold as the grave. As a rowdy demonstration makes its slow and vocal way along Edinburgh's Royal Mile, Detective Chief Inspector Tony McLean's team are on stand-by for any trouble. The newly promoted McLean is distracted, inexplicably drawn to a dead-end mews street...and a door, slightly ajar, which leads to this poor girl's final resting place. But how long has she been there, in her sleep of death?

Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn't believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway. Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can't have, her alluring Oxford professor. He's married - not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line? Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She's not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken. Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it. Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson.

Sadie loves her daughter and will do anything to keep her safe. She can't tell her why they had to leave home so quickly - or why Robin's father won't be coming with them to London. She can't tell her why she hates being back in her dead mother's house, with its ivy-covered walls and its poisonous memories. And she can't tell her the truth about the school Robin's set to start at - a school that doesn't welcome newcomers. Sadie just wants to get their lives back on track.