Showing results by author "Rachel McLean" in All Categories

When DCI Lesley Clarke suffers an injury and is told to relocate from Birmingham to rural Dorset, she's expecting some peace and quiet. But before she even starts her new job, she witnesses a murder at the iconic Corfe Castle. Lesley must get to know her new team, learn a new patch, and solve the mystery. What's more, team are mourning the loss of her predecessor, DCI Tim Mackie, who allegedly committed suicide. But was Mackie's death suspicious? And did it involve someone in her team?

When DCI Lesley Clarke suffers an injury and is told to relocate from Birmingham to rural Dorset, she's expecting some peace and quiet. But before she even starts her new job, she witnesses a murder at the iconic Corfe Castle. Lesley must get to know her new team, learn a new patch, and solve the mystery. What's more, team are mourning the loss of her predecessor, DCI Tim Mackie, who allegedly committed suicide. But was Mackie's death suspicious? And did it involve someone in her team?

Three more chilling cases test DCI Lesley Clarke to her limits as corruption, organized crime, and personal betrayal threaten to destroy everything she’s built. In this third box set of the bestselling Dorset Crime series, Lesley faces her most dangerous investigations yet – and discovers that the truth can be deadlier than any killer.

Meet Zoe Finch, West MIdlands Police's newest detective inspector. She's outspoken, ambitious, and damaged. And she's working a case that could make her career, or cost her everything....

When Alison Osman takes her children on a trip to Cadbury World, she thinks their squabbling is her worst problem. But when she turns to find them gone, she's plunged into every mother's worst nightmare. And then the message arrives, telling Alison she has three days to choose one of her children. Detective Inspector Zoe Finch and her team need to find answers, and fast. Why is Alison's police officer husband behaving suspiciously? If the children's father died in a climbing accident, why was there no body?

It's summer and Lyme Regis is rammed with tourists. DC Tina Abbott is hoping her kids can have some fun on the beach with their granny Annie, who in turn is enjoying time with her swimming club. But then Annie and her friends’ morning swim is disturbed when they spot the body of local artist Clifford Muldoon, floating near the Cobb. Tina has things under control. But Annie, emboldened by her involvement in Lyme Regis’s last murder case, wants to get involved. And could the swimmers have information that might help solve the crime?

It's Christmas in Lyme Regis, and DC Tina Abbott is looking forward to some well-earned time with her family. But then her mum Annie, true to form, reports a crime. The pottery shop has been broken into and the owner Peg, Annie's friend, attacked. The evidence is scant. A solitary fingerprint in blood, but nothing stolen, at least as far as the police can tell. But when Annie discovers a gaudy pottery reindeer that was left at the scene of the crime, she and her swimming club friends get drawn into the mystery.

Meet DCI Lesley Clarke. She’s a straight-talking city copper who doesn’t suffer fools gladly… and she’s been transferred to rural Dorset. After being injured in a bomb attack, Lesley is presented with a choice — early retirement, or a period of respite in a calmer location. But things don’t stay calm for long. Before she’s even started her new job, Lesley is dragged into investigating a murder at one of England’s most iconic landmarks, the imposing Corfe Castle.

DCI Lesley Clarke is back in Dorset, and her world has turned upside down. One of the people she's closest to is to under arrest for the murder of DCI Mackie and a body has been found in the remote lighthouse at Portland Bill. And not just any body, but the body of someone she investigated before moving to Dorset. Can Lesley win the trust of the close-knit Portland community and find the killer? And can DI Zoe Finch of the West Midlands force help her track down potential suspects? Does Superintendent Carpenter know more than he's letting on about Mackie's death?

A vicious killer... a race against time. When two men are found mutilated in Birmingham's gay village just before Christmas, DI Zoe Finch and her team are perplexed. Did their attacker mean to kill one of the men, or simply injure them both? And who would have the surgical skills for such a precise mutilation? When more bodies are found with the same injuries, the city's gay population is rightfully scared. And then someone close to Zoe becomes a target... Can Zoe and her team find the killer before it's too late? And will the new members of the team help crack the case, or make things worse?

DI Jade Tanner has been plunged into managing the Complex Crimes Unit, Police Scotland's newest investigating team. She's recruited Dr Petra McBride, fresh from losing her job at Dundee University, and DS Mo Uddin, who's reluctantly transferred from Birmingham. When America's newest internet billionaire is shot on the shores of Loch Lomond, the team is brought in. Jade suspects a connection with the shooting of a local millionaire, an unsolved case which has been haunting her.

DI Zoe Finch is settling into her new role in Cumbria CID. She’s solved her first murder with the help of her new team, averted a potential riot, and is starting to learn who she can trust inside Cumbria Police – and who she can’t. But when a businessman and former miner is found dead at a new mine that’s the focus of local protest, Zoe is presented with a new challenge. Her boss is trying to play the death down, and she’s being encouraged to ignore leads by colleagues whose motives seem increasingly suspicious. Zoe’s sure they’re wrong.

DI Zoe Finch has been working in Cumbria for a year. She’s finally got to grips with her team, the area, and much of its criminal underworld. But when a young student is found stabbed to death outside a burning barn, the investigation leads her both out of Cumbria, and closer to home. Why was the victim there? Who was he with? And is this murder linked to other cases her team has worked on? The clock is ticking, and the killer isn’t done with Cumbria yet. There’s more blood to be shed, and it might belong to someone Zoe knows.

An old enemy and a new colleague bring twin problems for DCI Lesley Clarke. Lesley and her team think that their battles with Dorset's organised crime gangs are over. The Kelvins are all dead or in prison and Trevor Hamm's Birmingham gang have given up their attempts to expand into the county. But then a man's body is found on Chesil Beach, his fingertips and teeth removed. And his DNA isn't on the system.

Who killed DCI Mackie? DCI Lesley Clarke thinks she’s close to solving her predecessor’s murder. But when the body of a police officer connected to the crime turns up in the abandoned village of Tyneham, the case steps up a gear. And when someone she's close to is threatened by the killer, Lesley’s quest for the truth becomes even more urgent. Can Lesley convince her senior officers of the truth, keep her team on track and protect her family?

When the G7 summit comes to Loch Lomond, DI Jade Tanner and her team are on high alert. But they aren’t expecting three delegates from three of the most powerful countries to all die in suspicious circumstances — in separate locations, but at the same time. Are the deaths linked? If so, how did the killer or killers get away? And can forensic psychologist Dr Petra McBride help Jade solve the case before there’s an international incident?

When a young man is found dead at Birmingham University, the police initially think it's a drug overdose. But when DI Zoe Finch learns that the victim was accused of raping a fellow student, she starts to suspect this might not be so straightforward. Suspicion falls on the rape victim, but when she provides an alibi, Zoe's team. must look elsewhere. And then another man dies in the same way... Does someone want to teach these men a lesson? And if so, who?

DI Zoe Finch has been in Cumbria long enough to know who’s pulling the strings in organised crime, and who’s helping them from within the police. But just as she’s closing in on the evidence to prove it, she finds herself scrambling in the fallout from the murder of a key witness, and struggling to keep the case out of the hands of the very man she suspects of orchestrating it.

An isolated community... a web of secrets... a mysterious death. When a body washes up on the shores of Brownsea Island, DCI Lesley Clarke initially suspects suicide. But as she gets closer to the island's close-knit community, she starts to suspect foul play. Why did the victim argue with her closest friend days before her death? What secrets is the victim's manager keeping? And can Lesley get to the bottom of the mystery before someone else dies?

DCI Lesley Clarke is settling into her new job in Dorset's Major Crimes Unit, and becoming accustomed to a slower pace of life. But then she's called in to solve the murder of a woman with links to Lesley's new girlfriend. Has Lesley made a grave error of judgement? Can she track down the killer or does she already know her? And how will Lesley's new colleagues react when she tells them she's dating a suspect? The Clifftop Murders is the second instalment in the gripping Dorset Crime series, in which rural Dorset is a whole lot darker than the holiday brochures would have you think.