Showing results by author "Mel Sherratt" in All Categories

As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I’m filled with dread. Everything looks just like the others described: a small hole in the door, a mattress, and a narrow window allowing only a small chink of light. The jewellery given to me by my loving husband has gone, and I’m in someone else’s clothes. Just days before, I had interviewed the third victim for the local paper. She couldn’t stop shaking. Her story was the same as those before her: an ordinary woman, locked away for 10 days then released with no explanation, and nothing to link her to the others.

When a young boy falls from a balcony in a block of flats, DS Grace Allendale witnesses the shocking aftermath of the tragic event. But strangely, no one will admit to seeing anything - and the parents will only tell the police that it was an accident. Determined to sort the truth from the lies, Grace is thrown into a case that takes her to the darkest corners of the criminal world - and strikes closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

Welcome to The Estate - where even the darkest times have their lighter moments.... Cath Mason has learned to be tough. The things she's seen growing up on the Mitchell Estate, she's had to be. Yet, even broken and beaten by life at times, she's still the first person a woman in need of help seeks out. At Cath's house, there is safety in numbers as well as a place to hide. No matter what trouble comes to her door, she won't turn anyone away - because she knows what it's like to live with secrets and lies.

The Limekiln Estate has witnessed many a dark crime over the years. When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a suspicious death, she isn't surprised to see it's a local she knows only too well. While the slaying of Billy Whitmore is on everyone's lips, a woman is stabbed in her home. A day later and a third victim turns up. Three known associates brutally murdered—the bodies are piling up quicker than the forensic evidence is coming back. Yet Allie senses there's something more disturbing going on. She's sure Fiona Abbott, Billy's partner, is involved too.

Working on the notorious Mitchell Estate, housing officer Josie Mellor faces challenges every day, but not nearly as many as those of her tenants. Kelly Winterton is scared and alone after her partner has been jailed. A victim of domestic abuse, Charlotte Hatfield has fled from her violent partner four times already. He'll probably kill her if he finds her this time. Disowned by her family, someone is taking advantage of Amy Cartwright's vulnerability. Who can she turn to for support?

When 16-year-old Erin Ellis is attacked, she dies in the arms of her best friend, Molly, just metres from her home. Molly is the surviving girl but says she easily could have been the victim. It was a random mugging gone wrong. With inconclusive evidence, DS Grace Allendale must dig deep within the tight-knit Stoke community for leads. And she soon finds that someone had a motive to kill Erin. As the investigation unfolds, Grace is reminded of a horrifying case she worked on earlier in her career.

A man's body is found on a canal towpath. In his pocket, a magnetic letter in the shape of an E. Days later, a second victim is murdered, this time with the letter V tucked into her clothing. When the letter E is located near to a third victim, DI Allie Shenton and her colleagues are sent into full alert. Is their killer spelling a word, a name or are the letters an anagram? One thing's for certain as the body count rises—the eerie, childlike clues point to a pattern that doesn't look like stopping. 

When a teenage girl is strangled while out for a run with her friends, it shakes the city of Stoke to its core. Why would anyone want to hurt a child? And who would have the audacity to murder in broad daylight? DS Grace Allendale and her team are brought in to bring a swift resolution, but investigating the case brings up no leads. It is as if the killer chose the girl at random and then disappeared. And then another young woman is found dead....

From behind the curtains, Sarah spotted the man coming out of the house, followed by the woman. It would be strange seeing people in the property. She wondered how much it would change their lives. For now, she would bide her time and hopefully get to know them better. She needed to gain their trust.

Nine out of ten murders are committed by someone the victim knows. So when Steph Ryder is found dead, DS Allie Shenton begins her investigation close to home, starting with Steph’s family and friends. Soon the lies, backtracking and secrets multiply as each of the suspects tries to cover up their actions on that fateful night. Before long, Allie homes in on Steph’s ambitious and powerful husband, Terry. Convinced he’s hiding something, she interviews him again and again, each time seeing through his smooth charms.

When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion. Detective Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies. As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked by the very same person who attacked her sister seventeen years ago and left her for dead.

One warm spring evening, five teenagers meet in a local park. Only four will come out alive. Six months after the stabbing of 15-year-old Deanna Barker, someone is coming after the teenagers of Stockleigh, as a spate of vicious assaults rocks this small community. Revenge for Deanna? Or something more? Detective Eden Berrisford is locked into a race against time to catch the twisted individual behind the attacks - but when her own niece, Jess Mountford, goes missing, the case gets personal.

A killer is on the loose, attacking people in places they feel most safe: their workplaces, their homes. It’s up to DS Grace Allendale to stop the murders and prove herself to her new team. All clues lead to local crime family the Steeles, but that’s where things get complicated. Because the Steeles aren’t just any family, they’re Grace’s family. Two brothers and two sisters, connected by the violent father only Grace and her mother escaped. To catch the killer, Grace will have to choose between her team and her blood. But whom do you trust when both sides are out to get you?

The small city of Stockleigh is in shock as three women are brutally attacked within days of each other. Are they random acts of violence, or is there a link among the victims? For Detective Eden Berrisford, it's her most chilling case yet. The investigation leads Eden to cross paths with Carla, a woman trying to rebuild her life after her marriage to a cruel and abusive man ended in unimaginable tragedy. Her husband, Ryan, was imprisoned for his crimes, but now he's out and coming for her.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? When Caren Williams finds herself back on the estate she fought so hard to get away from, little does she realise she'll be living opposite her archenemy, Gina Bradley. Gina thinks she and her family rule Stanley Avenue, so when Caren starts to become popular, she decides to hit her where it will hurt the most: she wants her husband.

Could you stay quiet about a murder? Killed on his way home from a night out, Kit Harper had lots of secrets. At the opposite end of the city, another man is found smothered in his bed. Jack Fletcher had secrets too. A photo of a young woman reveals a clue and with dual cases to run, Detective Allie Shenton and her team are pushed to their limits. As attacks on a close group of friends continue, a link to a cold case twenty years ago is unveiled.

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.

Tick… In the city of Stoke, a teenage girl is murdered in the middle of the day, her lifeless body abandoned in a field behind her school. Tock… Two days later, a young mother is abducted. She’s discovered strangled and dumped in a local park. Time’s Up… DS Grace Allendale and her team are brought in to investigate, but with a bold killer, no leads and nothing to connect the victims, the case seems hopeless.