Today’s it’s my pleasure to feature award winning author Kate Ellis who writes intriguing crime fiction. In on one series she mixes the present with the past via archaeology and in another she introduces a supernatural twist. More recently she introduced DI Albert Lincoln in a series of historical thrillers. I was delighted to catch up with Kate at the East Riding Festival of Words last year to discover more about her and her books.

 

 

About Kate

Kate Ellis was born and brought up in Liverpool and studied drama in Manchester. She worked in a variety of jobs, none of which she particularly enjoyed, before discovering that writing crime fiction was what she’d wanted to do all along! Described by The Times as ‘a beguiling author who interweaves past and present’ she has written twenty four novels featuring black archaeology graduate, DI Wesley Peterson and five crime novels with a supernatural twist featuring DI Joe Plantagenet.

Her latest Wesley Peterson novel is The Burial Circle and the second novel in a new trilogy set in the North West of England in the aftermath of the First World War, The Boy who Lived with the Dead, is now available.

Kate has been twice shortlisted for the CWA Short Story Dagger and was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2019.

 

So over to Kate:-

 

 

Which 5 pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?

 

The Walk to the Paradise Garden – Delius
This was one of my late father’s favourites and it reminds me of him. He used to tell me it was about walking to a pub (something dear to both of us!)

Penny Lane – The Beatles
I grew up very near Penny Lane and I recognize all the things mentioned in the song. It definitely reminds me of my youth.

Life on Mars – David Bowie
I used to listen to this a lot with my husband when we were first married

In My Life – The Beatles
This is a beautiful, poignant song which, again, reminds me of Liverpool

Maggie May – Rod Stewart
This brings back so many happy memories of all those student discos. I still love a good dance!

 

Highlight 5 things (apart from family and friends) you’d find it hard to live without.

 

Cheese & wine – I’m a real cheese addict and of course you need the wine to wash it down.

My laptop – I type my books straight onto it which makes life a lot easier. I feel for all those authors in the past who had to write by hand or on a heavy manual typewriter.

My work ethic – I’m very self-disciplined and I make myself write every day whether I’m in the mood or not.

Getting out into the countryside – I love the countryside, especially beautiful Devon where my Wesley Peterson books are set. Just being there makes me feel better.

Charity shops – I’m a great fan. You get all the fun of hunting for bargains and help good causes at the same time.

 

Can you offer 5 pieces of advice you’d give to your younger self?

 

Be more self-confident.

Don’t let anyone else tell you how you should look or dress.

Don’t worry about the small things.

Don’t be intimidated by people who seem more assured than you do – they’re probably putting on an act.

Always get to the bar first.

 

Tell us 5 things that most people don’t know about you.

 

I ring the bells at my local church.

I’m a member of an archaeology group and have taken part in digs and surveys.

I was in the same class as horror writer Clive Barker at primary school.

I like listening to early music while I’m writing.

I’m descended from a long line of Welsh sea captains.

 

What are the first 5 things you’d have on your bucket list?

 

To go to the opera at Verona – I’ve been to the arena but, sadly, there was no performance on at the time.

To go to the Bolshoi Ballet – I did ballet when I was young and have always wanted to visit the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

To return to Vienna – I loved my first visit but felt I hadn’t seen everything. I’d love to combine it with a visit to Salzburg.

To learn to sail – something I’ve always wanted to do.

To try fencing – my dad used to own a pair of foils and I used to mess about but I’d like to learn properly.

 

Many thanks for sharing with us today Kate. I particularly liked your music choices, being both a Beatles and a Bowie fan, however Rod is an even bigger favourite so good shout! I’m a big lover of charity shops too, though I’m usually scouring the bookshelves (for books I often discover I already own). Aah that elusive self confidence, something even as adults I suspect we could do with. Great to know you’re a member of an archaeology group, I wonder what was the most exciting find you ever made? Good luck with your bucket list items. I’m with you on number one, Verona is a fabulous place but I also never managed to coincide with a performance. 

 

Books by Kate Ellis

 

The Wesley Peterson Series (most recent release first)

 

The Burial Circle (24) released 6th February

On a stormy night in December, a tree is blown down on an isolated Devon farm. And when the fallen tree is dragged away a rucksack is found caught amongst the roots – and next to it is a human skeleton.

The discovery of the body and the rucksack revives memories for DI Wesley Peterson. A young hitchhiker who went missing twelve years ago was last seen carrying a similar backpack. Suddenly a half-forgotten cold case has turned into a murder investigation.

Meanwhile, in the nearby village of Petherham, a famous TV psychic is found dead in suspicious circumstances whilst staying at a local guesthouse. Wesley’s friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, is studying Petherham’s ancient mill and uncovering the village’s sinister history. Could the string of mysterious deaths in Petherham over a hundred years ago be connected to the recent killings?

As Wesley digs deeper into the case, it seems that the dark whisperings of a Burial Circle in the village might not be merely legend after all . . .

 

 

Dead Man’s Lane (23)

Strangefields Farm is notorious for its sinister history ever since artist Jackson Temples lured young women there to model for disturbing works of art. Some of those girls never left the house alive.

Now, decades later, Strangefields is to be transformed into a holiday village, but the developer’s hopes of its dark history being forgotten are dashed when a skull is found on the site. And when a local florist is found murdered in an echo of Temples’ crimes, DI Wesley Peterson fears that a copy-cat killer is at large. Especially when another brutal murder in a nearby village appears to be linked.

As Wesley’s friend, archaeologist Dr Neil Watson, uncovers the secrets of Strangefields’ grisly past, it seems that an ancient tale of the dead returning to torment the living might not be as fantastical as it seems. And Wesley must work fast to discover who’s behind the recent murders . . . before someone close to him is put in danger.

 

 

The Mechanical Devil (22)

When archaeologist Neil Watson unearths a long-buried mechanical figure in a Dartmoor field, he is determined to discover the truth behind the bizarre find.

Soon, however, the sleepy village becomes the focus of press attention for another reason when two people with no apparent connection to each other are found shot dead in nearby Manor Field, seemingly victims of an execution-style double murder.

DI Wesley Peterson is called in to investigate, but the two murders aren’t his only problem. The daughter of a local MP has gone missing and the pressure is on to find her, especially when it’s revealed that she has a connection to one of the murder victims. And Wesley’s own life is thrown into turmoil when a woman he helped on a previous investigation finds herself subjected to a campaign of terror . . .

Is there a link between the double murder and the accidental death of a young history student in Manor Field twenty years ago? And just what is the true identity of the Mechanical Devil?

 

 

The Mermaid’s Scream (21)

Why did Wynn Staniland, a legend in the literary world, suddenly become a recluse in the 1980s? Most assumed he stopped writing because of his wife’s bizarre suicide; a death that mirrored a murder case from the nineteenth century. And now a promising young author called Zac Wilkinson is working on Staniland’s biography and hopes to reveal the true story to a waiting world – while at the same time keeping his own troubled past hidden from public view.

When Wilkinson is found brutally murdered, DI Wesley Peterson finds links to the unexplained poisoning of a middle-aged couple at a local caravan park – and Wynn Staniland appears to be the connection.

As Wesley delves further into the case he suspects a sinister puppet show might provide the solution: a grim re-enactment of the murder of Mary Field, a cause celebre from the reign of Queen Victoria that inspired Staniland’s best-known novel.

The case becomes personal for Wesley when he discovers his son is involved, and as he begins to unravel decades of secrets and deception, the shocking truth proves almost too much to bear . . .

 

 

The House of Eyes (20)

When Darren Hatman reports his daughter missing, DI Wesley Peterson isn’t too concerned. Leanne Hatman is an aspiring model, keen to abandon her native Devon for the bright lights of London. However, Darren’s claim that a photographer has been stalking Leanne soon changes Wesley’s opinion.

Leanne works at Eyecliffe Castle, once home to the wealthy D’Arles family and now converted into a luxury hotel. When Darren himself is found brutally murdered in the castle grounds, the police fear is that Leanne has met a similar fate. But, if so, where is her body?

Meanwhile, Wesley’s friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, recently returned from a thrilling Sicilian excavation, makes a disturbing discovery near Eyecliffe Castle and surprises Wesley with the news that, while in Sicily, he met Leanne’s alleged stalker.

With Eyecliffe Castle becoming the scene of another violent death, Wesley suspects a connection between the recent crimes, the disappearance of two girls back in the 1950s and a mysterious Sicilian ruin called the House of Eyes, a place feared by superstitious locals.

As he works to solve one of his most challenging cases yet, Wesley must face alarming revelations, rooted in centuries of fear and evil . . . as well as dealing with a nightmare of his own.

 

 

The Death Season (19)

A complex case . . .
When DI Wesley Peterson is summoned to investigate a killing, he assumes that the case is a routine matter. But soon dark secrets and deadly deceptions start to emerge from the victim’s past, and Wesley begins to realise that a simple incident of cold-blooded murder is altogether more calculated and complicated that he could ever imagine.

Tracing back through time . . .
Meanwhile, archaeologist Neil Watson is pulled from the historic Paradise Court to a ruined village from the First World War. Even with the help of the attractive and enigmatic Lucy, Neil cannot shake the feeling that something is missing from his explorations: a cryptic clue that might have been lost when Sandrock tumbled into the sea many years ago. A clue that could help Wesley solve his most puzzling case to date.

DI Wesley Peterson is standing on the edge . . .
As more victims fall prey to a faceless killer, Wesley sees the investigation affecting him more personally than ever before. And when his precious family becomes a target, Wesley has no time to lose. Just like the fallen village of Sandrock, Wesley will have to stand tall if he is to withstand the coming storm . . .

 

 

The Shroud Maker (18)

A grisly find . . .

A year on from the mysterious disappearance of Jenny Bercival, DI Wesley Peterson is called in when the body of a strangled woman is found floating out to sea in a dinghy.The discovery mars the festivities of the Palkin Festival, held each year to celebrate the life of John Palkin, a fourteenth century Mayor of Tradmouth who made his fortune from trade and piracy. And now it seems like death and mystery have returned to haunt the town.

A faceless enemy . . .

Could there be a link between the two women? One missing, one brutally murdered? And is there a connection to a fantasy website called Shipworld which features Palkin as a supernatural hero with a sinister, faceless nemesis called the Shroud Maker?

Will history repeat itself once again?

When archaeologist Neil Watson makes a grim discovery on the site of Palkin’s warehouse, it looks as if history might have inspired the killer.And it is only by delving into the past that Wesley comes to learn the truth . . . a truth that will bring mortal danger in its wake.

 

 

The Shadow Collector (17)

Lilith Benley and her mother, rumoured to be witches, were convicted of the brutal murder of two teenage girls. Eighteen years later Lilith is released from prison, and shortly after she returns to her old home, a young woman is found dead at a neighbouring farm where a celebrity reality TV show is being filmed. When DI Wesley Peterson is called in to investigate he has to deal with fragile egos and hidden truths, as well as the possibility that Lilith Benley has killed again.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Neil Watson discovers a gruesome wax doll at a house that once belonged to a woman hanged for witchcraft in the seventeenth century. And when Neil has a near fatal accident, some suspect a supernatural connection.

Even though Wesley has problems closer to home to solve, it is up to him to uncover terrible secrets, banish dark shadows collected in the past and bring a dangerous killer to justice – a killer who will stop at nothing to dispense vengeance and death.

 

 

The Cadaver Game (16)

When the decaying body of a murdered woman is discovered in a suburban house following an anonymous tip off, DI Wesley Peterson has problems establishing her identity. But as he digs deeper, he has another more disturbing case to investigate – the naked bodies of two teenagers have been found with shotgun wounds at the foot of a cliff.

Both cases become stranger when Wesley realises they are linked to a sinister manhunt, mirroring events from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Why did the teenage victims take part in an online game called Blood Hunt, which they were eventually persuaded to play for real?

Then a skeleton is found near the place where the dead teenagers were last seen alive and Wesley finally has to face a terrible truth . . . and a hunt to the death.

 

 

The Jackal Man (15)

When a teenage girl is strangled and left for dead on a lonely country lane, by an attacker she describes has having the head of a dog, the police are baffled. But when the body of another young woman is found mutilated and wrapped in a white linen sheet, DI Wesley Peterson suspects that the killer is performing an ancient ritual linked to Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of death and mummification.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Neil Watson has been called to Varley Castle to catalogue the collection of Edwardian amateur Egyptologist, Sir Frederick Varley. However, as his research progresses, Neil discovers that Wesley’s strange murder case bears sinister similarities to four murders that took place near Varley Castle in 1903 – murders said to have been committed by Sir Frederick’s son.

As the Jackal Man’s identity remains a frustrating enigma, it seems that the killer has yet another victim in mind. A victim close to Wesley Peterson himself . . .

 

 

The Flesh Tailor (14)

When Dr James Dalcott is shot dead in his cottage it looks very much like an execution. And as DI Wesley Peterson begins piecing together the victim’s life, he finds that the well-liked country doctor has been harbouring strange and dramatic family secrets.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Neil Watson has discovered a number of skeletons in nearby Tailors Court that bear marks of dissection and might be linked to tales of body snatching by a rogue physician in the sixteenth century. But when Neil finds the bones of a child buried with a 1930s coin, the investigation takes a sinister turn.

Who were the children evacuated to Tailors Court during World War II? And where are they now? When a link is established between the wartime evacuees and Dr Dalcott’s death, Wesley is faced with his most challenging case yet.

 

 

A Perfect Death (13)

When a woman is burned to death in Grandal Field in Devon, it seems like a case of mistaken identity. Until DI Wesley Peterson learns of a legend involving a French woman who burned to death there in the thirteenth century. And when he discovers that records of a previous excavation on the site have vanished, and that two archaeologists involved in that dig died in tragic circumstances, Wesley starts to investigate the possibility of a link between the legend and recent events.

But edging closer to the truth brings unexpected danger to Wesley. For the truth echoes a story of twisted love and obsession from many centuries ago – a truth that almost costs Wesley his life . . .

 

 

The Blood Pit (12)

Never has DI Wesley Peterson witnessed such a bizarre crime scene. The victim, Charles Marrick, has been murdered, his body drained of blood. Described by those who knew him as ‘evil’, it seems that Wesley isn’t going to have any shortage of suspects – until a popular local vet is murdered in an identical fashion…and a third body is discovered many miles away.

And when Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, starts getting disturbing anonymous letters written in gory detail about macabre events at a medieval abbey – which Neil fears are being sent by the killer Wesley is looking for – Wesley wonders whether there could be a connection between all these deaths and Neil’s letters. And could Neil himself be in danger?

As the sinister truth unfolds, both Wesley and Neil are forced to face tragedy and shocking revelations…and a killer who bears the scars of past sins.

 

 

The Shining Skull (11)

Little Marcus Fallbrook was kidnapped in 1976 and when he never returned home, his grieving family assumed the worst. Then, thirty years later, teenage singing star Leah Wakefield disappears and DI Wesley Peterson has reason to suspect that the same kidnapper is responsible. And another abductor is at work in the area – a man who tricks blonde women into a bogus taxi and cuts off their hair. Has Leah fallen prey to the man the newspapers call ‘The Barber’ or has she suffered a more sinister fate? But then Marcus Fallbrook returns from the dead. And when DNA evidence confirms his identity, the investigation takes a new twist. Meanwhile, archaeologist, Neil Watson’s gruesome task of exhuming the dead from a local churchyard yields a mystery of its own when a coffin is found to contain one corpse too many – a corpse that may be linked to a strange religious sect dating back to Regency times. Wesley has his hands full elsewhere – slowly, Marcus Fallbrook begins to recover memories that Wesley hopes will lead him to cunning and dangerous murderer. But he is about to discover that the past can be a very dangerous place indeed.

 

 

The Marriage Hearse (10)

When Kirsten Harbourn is found strangled and naked on her wedding day, DI Wesley Peterson makes some alarming discoveries. Kirsten was being pursued by an obsessed stalker and she had dark secrets her doting fianc, Peter, knew nothing about. But Kirsten’s wasn’t the only wedding planned to take place that July day in South Devon.

At Morbay register office a terrified young girl makes her wedding vows. And a few days later her bridegroom is found dead in a seedy seaside hotel. As Wesley investigates he suspects that his death and his bride’s subsequent disappearance might be linked to Kirsten’s murder. Meanwhile the skeleton of a young female is found buried in a farmer’s field – a field that once belonged to the family of Ralph Strong, an Elizabethan playwright whose play, ‘The Fair Wife of Padua’ is to be performed for the first time in four hundred years.

Is this bloodthirsty play a confession to a murder committed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1? Or does it tell another story, one that might cast light on recent mysteries?

 

 

A Cursed Inheritance (9)

The brutal massacre of the Harford family at Potwoolstan Hall in Devon in 1985 shocked the country and passed into local folklore. And when a journalist researching the case is murdered twenty years later, the horror is reawakened.

Sixteenth century Potwoolstan Hall, now a New Age healing centre, is reputed to be cursed because of the crimes of its builder, and it seems that inheritance of evil lives on as DI Wesley Peterson is faced with his most disturbing case yet. As more people die violently, Wesley needs to discover why a young woman has transformed a dolls house into a miniature reconstruction of the massacre scene. And could the solution to his case lie across the Atlantic Ocean, in the ruined remains of an early English settlement in Virginia USA?

When the truth is finally revealed, it turns out to be as horrifying as it is dangerous…

 

 

The Plague Maiden (8)

When a letter arrives at Tradmouth police station, addressed to a DCI Norbert it causes quite a stir. For though DCI Norbert has long since moved on, the letter claims to have evidence that the man convicted of murdering the Rev. Shipbourne, Vicar of Belsham, during the course of a robbery in 1991, is innocent.

Despite having a full case load, including investigating a series of vicious attacks on a local supermarket chain, DI Wesley Peterson is forced to at least follow up on the letter writer’s claims. Meanwhile archaelologist Neil Watson is excavating as site in Pest Field near Belsham church.

He discovers a mass grave that leads him to conclude that the site – earmarked for development – is one of an ancient medieval plague pit. But, more disturbing, is the discovery that the grave is home to a more recent resident…

 

 

The Skeleton Room (7)

When workmen converting former girls’ boarding school, Chadleigh Hall, into a luxury hotel discover a skeleton in a sealed room, DI Wesley Peterson and his boss, Gerry Heffernan are called in to investigate. But within minutes they have a second suspicious death on their hands: a team of marine archaeologists working on a nearby shipwreck have dragged a woman’s body from the sea. And it becomes clear that her death was no accident.

The dead woman’s husband may be linked with a brutal robbery of computer equipment but Wesley soon discovers that the victim had secrets of her own. As he investigates Chadleigh Hall’s past and the woman’s violent death, both trails lead in surprising directions and matters are further complicated when a man wanted for a murder in London appears on the scene, a man who may know more about Wesley’s cases than he admits…

 

 

A Painted Doom (6)

Teenager Lewis Hoxworthy discovers a disturbing painting in a medieval barn; a discovery which excites archaeologist Neil Watson who is excavating an ancient manor house nearby. But when former rock star Jonny Shellmer is found shot through the head in Lewis’s father’s field and Lewis himself goes missing after contacting a man on the internet, Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson and his boss, Gerry Heffernan face one of their most intriguing cases yet. It seems that the Devon village of Derenham is not only full of resident celebrities seeking the rural idyll, but full of secrets, ancient and modern. Lewis’s distraught parents seem to have something to hide. Then the mysterious owner of a new age shop is silenced before she can reveal what she knows about Jonny Shellmer. Is Jonny’s death linked to Lewis’s disappearance? And does Jonny’s best known song, ‘Angel’ contain a clue? As Neil Watson uncovers the story of Derenham’s medieval past, it becomes clear that the Derenham Doom – a painted portrayal of hell and judgement more than half a millennium old – holds the key to the mystery. And as events reach a terrifying climax, Wesley Peterson has to act swiftly if he is to save a young life.

 

 

The Bone Garden (5)

An excavation at the lost gardens of Earlsacre Hall is called to a halt when a skeleton is discovered under a 300 year old stone plinth, a corpse that seems to have been buried alive. But DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby of archaeology. He has a more recent murder case to solve. A man has been found stabbed to death in a caravan at a popular holiday park and the only clue to his identity is a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Does local solicitor Brian Willerby have the answer? He seems eager to talk to Wesley but before he can reveal his secret he is found dead during a ‘friendly’ game of village cricket, apparently struck by a cricket ball several times with some force. If Wesley is looking for a demon bowler this appears to let out most of the village side. But what is it about Earlsacre Hall that leads people to murder?

 

 

The Funeral Boat (4)

When a skeleton is discovered on a Devon smallholding, DS Wesley Peterson, a keen amateur archaeologist, is intrigued by the possibility that it is a Viking corpse, buried in keeping with ancient traditions. But he has a rather more urgent crime to solve- the disappearance of a Danish tourist.

Wesley finds disturbing evidence that the attractive Dane has been abducted. His boss Gerry Heffernan believes that Ingeborg’s disappearance is linked to a spate of brutal robberies and that she witnessed something she shouldn’t have. But is her disappearance linked to far older events? For it seems that this may not have been Ingeborg’s first visit to this far from quiet West Country backwater…

Kate Ellis’s wonderfully addictive series of West Country set crime novels feature Wesley Peterson, one of Devon’s first black detectives.

 

 

An Unhallowed Grave (3)

When the body of Pauline Brent is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard, DS Wesley Peterson immediately suspects foul play. Then history provides him with a clue. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, has excavated a corpse at his nearby dig – a young woman who, local legend has it, had been publicly hanged from the very same tree before being buried on unhallowed ground five centuries ago. Wesley is forced to consider the possibility that the killer knows the tree’s dark history. Has Pauline also been ‘executed’ rather than murdered – and, if so, for what crime? To catch a dangerous killer Wesley has to discover as much as he can about the victim. But Pauline appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives and a past she has carefully tried to hide…

 

 

The Armada Boy (2)

When archaeologist Neil Watson finds the body of an American veteran of the D-Day landings in the ruins of an old chapel, he turns to his old friend DS Wesley Peterson for help.

Both men are researching an invading force: Wesley, a group of American veterans on a sentimental journey to their wartime base; and Neil, a group of Spaniards killed by outraged locals as they limped from the wreckage of the Armada.

Four hundred years apart, two strangers in a strange land have died violently. Could the same motives of hatred, jealousy and revenge be at work? Wesley is running out of time to find out . . .

 

 

The Merchant’s House (1)

DS Wesley Peterson, newly arrived in the West Country town of Tradmouth, has his hands full when a child goes missing and a young woman is brutally murdered on a lonely cliff path. Then his old friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, unearths the skeletons of a woman and a newborn baby in the cellar of an ancient merchant’s house nearby.

As they begin to investigate the murders, Wesley starts to suspect that these deaths, centuries apart, may be linked by age-old motives of jealousy and sexual obsession. And the pressure is on if he is going to prevent a further tragedy . . .

 

 

The Joe Plantagenet Mystery series

 

Waking by Night (5)

Taking a short cut home beneath the ruined abbey in the centre of the city, a teenage girl reports stumbling across a body. She also claims to have seen a mysterious nun-like figure watching her from the shadows. But during the subsequent search, no body is found. The girl’s inebriated state and her troubled history make the police sceptical of her story, and only Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe her.

Then a woman is reported missing, and Joe finds himself caught up in a complex investigation involving a production of The Devils at the local Playhouse. Could the play, with its shocking religious and sexual violence, have something to do with the woman’s disappearance? And is there really a connection with the tragic death of a young nun at the site many centuries before? Nothing is as it first appears.

 

 

Watching the Ghosts (4)

Boothgate House has a sinister past. Once an asylum for the insane, serial killer Peter Brockmeister was sent there on his release from prison in 1978. Three years later, it closed, and Brockmeister died in mysterious circumstances. Solicitor Melanie Hawkes is investigating the suspicious events when her young daughter is kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Boothgate House resident Lydia Brookes is burgled. And why is a paranormal researcher fascinated by the building’s basement? As Joe uncovers the appalling truth, he faces an evil that threatens those closest to him – and puts his own life in jeopardy.

 

 

Kissing the Demons (3)

A Joe Plantagenet murder mystery – Thirteen Torland Place is a house with a disturbing past. When a student living there is found murdered, DI Joe Plantagenet wonders whether her death has anything to do with its grim history. Then other, similar deaths come to light and he fears that a ruthless serial killer is at work. Could the deaths be connected to Obediah Shrowton, an executed murderer whose presence still seems to linger in the house? Or is there a yet more sinister and dangerous explanation?

 

 

Playing With Bones (2)

Is the Doll Strangler back? Or is a copycat killer on the loose…?

Singmass Close has a sinister past. Reputedly haunted by the ghosts of children, in the 50s it was the hunting ground of the Doll Strangler, a ruthless killer who was never brought to justice. Now DI Joe Plantagenet wonders whether a copycat killer is at work when the strangled body of teenager Natalie Parkes is found in the same close, a mutilated doll lying by her side.

With the recent disappearance of a young female model and an escaped convict at large, this new, horrific murder stretches Joe’s team to their limit. But as the bodies start mounting up and Joe’s questioning brings him closer to the real strangler, he comes to suspect a shockingly creepy connection between all three cases…

 

 

Seeking the Dead (1)

When Carmel Hennessy begins a new job in North Yorkshire, she finds the historic city of Eborby gripped by fear. A killer is on the prowl – a killer who binds and asphyxiates his victims before leaving their naked bodies in isolated country churchyards. The press are calling him the Resurrection Man.

Tragic events from the past link Carmel with new-kid-on-the-block DI Joe Plantagenet, who, with his new boss, DCI Emily Thwaite, faces the unenviable task of identifying the killer before he claims another victim. The victims appear to have nothing in common but the manner of their deaths, but as Joe’s investigations lead him to a pub with a sinister history, he is forced to consider that the case may have occult connections. Then Carmel becomes aware of a malevolent presence in her new flat and, when she starts to receive mysterious threats, it is Joe she turns to first. And that is when Joe is forced to get into the mind of a cunning – and scarily ruthless – killer.

 

The DI Albert Lincoln series

 

The Boy Who Lived with the Dead (2)

1920. Scotland Yard detective DI Albert Lincoln is still reeling from the disturbing events of the previous year when he’s called away from London to a new case in the North West of England. Before the War he led the unsuccessful investigation into the murder of little Jimmy Rudyard in the village of Mabley Ridge. Now a woman has been murdered there and another child is missing, the sole witness being a traumatised boy who lives in a cemetery lodge. Albert is determined that this time him he will find the truth . . . and the missing child.

When Albert delves into the lives of the village residents he uncovers shocking secrets and obsessions. Then, as more bodies are discovered, he realises that his young witness from the cemetery lodge is in grave danger, from somebody he calls ‘the Shadow Man’.

As Albert discovers more about the victims he finds information that might bring him a step closer not only to Jimmy’s killer but to solving a mystery of his own: the whereabouts of his lost son.

 

 

A High Mortality of Doves (1)

1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four years of war. Just when the village has begun to regain its tranquillity, a young girl, Myrtle Bligh, is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove – a bird of peace.

When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Wenfield is thrown into a panic.

With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London to crack the terrible case – but with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?

 

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