Tooth and Claw

When Professor Alan Tunbridge is discovered in his office with his throat slashed, the suspects start queuing up. The brilliant but unpleasant microbiologist had a genius for making enemies. For Warren Jones, newly appointed Detective Chief Inspector to the Middlesbury force, a high-profile murder is the ideal opportunity. He’s determined to run a thorough and professional investigation but political pressure to resolve the case quickly and tensions in the office and at home make life anything but easy.

Emma didn't know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn't know how long he peered out, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors, and watched, mesmerized, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn't know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night.

The Sunday Times best-selling first instalment in the Hull-based DS Aector McAvoy series. Meet DS Aector McAvoy, and begin David Mark's addictive crime series. DS Aector McAvoy is a man with a troubled past. His unwavering belief in justice has made him an outsider in the police force he serves, a good man among the lazy and corrupt. Then on a cold day in December he is the first cop on the scene when a young girl is killed in Hull's historic church - and the only one to see the murderer.

Introducing DI Marnie Rome, Someone Else's Skin will enthral fans of Val McDermid and Mo Hayder. Devastating, brilliant, and heralding an outstanding new talent in crime fiction, this is the crime debut of the year. Some secrets keep you safe, others will destroy you.... Detective Inspector Marnie Rome. Dependable; fierce; brilliant at her job; a rising star in the ranks. Everyone knows how Marnie fought to come back from the murder of her parents, but very few know what is going on below the surface.

When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she expects to find her waiting at the station or at home cooking dinner. But when she walks into Rachel's familiar house, what she finds is entirely different: her sister has been the victim of a brutal murder. Stunned and adrift, Nora finds she can't return to her former life. An unsolved assault in the past has shaken her faith in the police, and she can't trust them to find her sister's killer.

A baby lies abandoned amongst the rubbish, her tiny face as white as alabaster, her body as stiff as a miniature doll. A young prostitute lies beaten, her figure lying like a mannequin on the frozen concrete, her blood spilt, her life ebbing away. As DC 'Charlie' Stafford and her boss, DI Hunter, struggle to identify the victim from the violator, their hunt brings them to the crack houses of Lambeth, littered with damaged people, their lives scarred by tragedy and violence, most broken beyond repair. 

You have it all. Success, a beautiful home, a happy family. Until, in a heartbeat, it's gone. We've kidnapped your daughter, and we know everything about you. Including the dark secrets from your past you thought were forgotten. We tell you not to contact the police - and that we’ll know if you do. Because we can see you.... And now you know this is no ordinary abduction. It’s worse. Within hours you’re on the run, with only one thought in your head: That you will stop at nothing to get your daughter back. Even murder....

On a remote Highland mountain, the body of Elaine Buxton is burning. All that will be left to identify the respected lawyer are her teeth and a fragment of clothing. In the concealed back room of a house in Edinburgh, the real Elaine Buxton screams into the darkness. Detective Inspector Luc Callanach has barely set foot in his new office when Elaine's missing persons case is escalated to a murder investigation. Having left behind a promising career at Interpol, he's eager to prove himself to his new team.

When the body of mother Charlotte Brannon is discovered by her husband, Adam, in their bedroom, Detective Natalie Ward is first on the scene. The killer has left a chilling calling card: The word Why? written on the wall in blood. As Natalie begins to delve deeper into the couple’s lives, she discovers that Adam has a dark past he’s been hiding, and she’s sure that the Brannons' teenage babysitter, Inge, has secrets of her own.

Kevin Palmer is a regular sort of guy, or he was until his life fell apart. His wife, his money, his business and his reputation are all taken away from him. He tries to fight back and ends up in prison. There, he concocts elaborate fantasies to wreak vengeance. He is sent to work in an abattoir, and the final piece of the jigsaw falls into place, with chilling consequences. Then a cruel twist of fate changes everything.

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....

When a body is found stuffed into a barrel at a garbage dump, covered in long red lacerations, Detective Jenna Alton and her new deputy, David Kane, rush to the scene. Nothing ever happens in the small American town of Black Rock Falls, so Jenna believes the victim must be one of two recent missing persons, and she fears for the life of the other. Both were strangers to the town, but there's nothing else to link them. Jenna knows someone must have seen something, but no one's talking.

Time's up. You're Next. "All he had to do was name the woman he wanted. It was that easy. They would do all the hard work. "Detective Sergeant Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg is investigating the disappearance of 38 different women. Each one was happy and successful until they vanished without a trace. Desperate to find her missing sister, Lauren Wraxford seeks out Heck's help.

A skeletal body is unearthed in a wooded area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. DI James Bliss, together with DC Penny Chandler, investigates the case and discovers that the young female victim had been relocated from her original burial site. A witness is convinced that a young female was struck by a vehicle back in the summer of 1990 and that police attended the scene. However, no record exists of either the accident or the reported victim. As the case develops, two retired police officers are murdered. 

Eighteen months have passed, but the scars the Ragdoll murders left behind are reopened on a daily basis, the legacy of the infamous investigation infecting all aspects of daily life. Despite the media's best efforts, copycat murders all over the planet have proven to be nothing more than violent mutilations by the unimaginative and deranged - until a Wall Street banker is strung up impossibly across the Brooklyn Bridge, the word BAIT carved deep into his chest.