EXCERPT: ‘Mrs Velky,’ Agent Briggs says, ‘as I’m sure you’re aware, this is pretty much a slam dunk case. By denying legal counsel, and by your continued silence on the matter, you are basically admitting guilt. Do you understand that?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘So, you are admitting guilt?’ Zeal asks. ‘Did you kill Cora Granger? Would you like to make a confession right now?’ ‘Yes.’ A moment of shocked silence fills the room. I look up, my teary eyes as cold as ice. ‘I killed Cora Granger.’ ABOUT ‘A MARRIAGE OF LIES’: Beneath the surface of every marriage there are secrets. This one is deadly. My husband ..read more

EXCERPT: A Current Affair transcript (August 15, 1988) MAURY POVICH: Edgewood, Maryland. A small, peaceful working-class town nestled on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. Little League baseball parades and Fourth of July carnivals. The kind of place where people don’t bother to lock their doors at night. [in a deeper voice] Edgewood, Maryland . . . a close-knit community now held hostage in a death grip of terror and paranoia. Three young girls. Savagely beaten and murdered. The killer has been christened the “Boogeyman” because of his ability to strike close to home and vanish without a tra ..read more

EXCERPT: There was a buzz in the air that she’d never witnessed before at a crime scene. The puzzlement on the face of her colleague told her he was thinking the same thing. They got out of the car as a booming voice told everyone to move out of the way. They headed towards the voice, which came from a police constable sprinting up the path to the car park. Behind him two paramedics were maneuvering a wheeled gurney along the graveled path. Keats followed closely behind, his face ashen. She watched as the paramedics opened the ambulance door and expertly transferred the gurney into the back ..read more

EXCERPT: The Kitchen floor was covered with glass. She looked around, then saw that a pane had been smashed in the back door. The small one just above the door handle. The rest of the panes in the grid were intact. Then, in one of those panes, Ruth caught a reflection. A man, tall, dark clothing. Fierce blue eyes, a long narrow nose and square jaw. He was right behind her. An arm clamped around her throat and a hand stifled her scream. There was something in that hand. Something soft. It smelled bad. A chemical odour. Ruth fell to the floor, her knees giving way. Her vision swam, and then she ..read more

EXCERPT: Lucy stopped. That feeling of being watched had returned, even stronger than before. She spun around. There – standing on the corner, twenty feet away, where the road played host to another row of crumbling warehouses. It was the man in the corduroy jacket. The one who’d been outside the cottage this morning. The one who’d got away. Not this time. ABOUT ‘NO LESS THE DEVIL’: It’s been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer to catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the i ..read more

EXCERPT: She remembers the inside of the car. Two bodies, crumpled, broken. Two bloody necks: white bone, flesh, tendons visible. And two heads lying alongside. Casually discarded, wet hair trailing in blood, glassy eyes wide open. ‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Decapitated.’ ABOUT ‘THE ECHO MAN’: Detectives Cara Elliott and Noah Deakin are on the case of a series of seemingly unconnected murders, each different in method, but each shocking and brutal. As the body count increases, they can’t ignore the details that echo famous cases of the past—Manson, Kemper, Dahmer, and more. As Elliott and Deakin get c ..read more

EXCERPT: ‘I bet I feature in your dreams, don’t I?’ She laughed. ‘And don’t think I’ll just slip away out of your life, either. I have a task to complete and I will see it through.’ ‘More people to kill?’ Alice spat the words out. ‘This time the focus is on you, Alice. You see, I want you dead, out of my head for good. Sorry to be a spoilsport but I’m calling time on our little game.’ The line went dead. ABOUT ‘THE ASH LAKE MURDERS’: A female serial killer with a deadly agenda. The detective who must stop her. Luxury holiday lodges in the stunning Peak District. The game begins . . . Callum i ..read more

Another title off my backlist! EXCERPT: A bolt slid into place. A lock clicked tight. Half in shock, Dobbs pushed back against the wall and sat up, staring at the door. He pulled his knees tight against his chest. His heart thudded against his rib cage. His left hand reached for his damaged arm, squeezed, held the wound. Blood flowed through his fingers. He sucked in a ragged gasp; pain radiated out from his torn shoulder, down his arm, to his fingertips. The world tilted, his vision clouded, his body attempted to shut down. He forced himself to focus, he grasped at the present. His eyes drif ..read more

EXCERPT: It was a chilly morning. The clocks were put back at the weekend. Winter was on its way. She hated the dark mornings and the early dark evenings, and she didn’t relish coming to the woods alone to exercise Buttons. He wasn’t even a year old yet, so he wouldn’t be able to tackle someone if she was attacked. ‘Buttons?’ she called again. ‘You want your ball?’ She heard a yap and followed the noise. There was no denying having a dog was good exercise for her, too, but right now, all she wanted was to go to bed and wrap that big duvet around her. Up ahead, she found the spaniel lying down ..read more

Well, one week down the track and we are still in lockdown. Our 75th Jubilee has been cancelled, and we are waiting to hear tomorrow whether or not we will remain in lockdown. I am not hopeful that we will be coming out any time soon. Still I am enjoying the break and getting caught up on lots of little jobs around the house and garden. On nice days my neighbour and I sit outside on our respective sides of the fence and have coffee and chat. I bumped into Allison from the library book group in the pharmacy in town yesterday and she said the thing that she misses most is human contact; actually ..read more