Showing results by author "Simon Beckett" in All Categories

When the bizarrely mutilated body of a young woman is found near the tiny isolated Norfolk village of Manham, it isn't just the fact that she was a friend that disturbs Dr David Hunter. A one-time high-profile forensic anthropologist, he was once all too familiar with the different faces of death, until a devastating personal tragedy made him abandon his former life and career.

‘At first glance it could have been anything – a stone, a knotted root – until you looked more closely. Thrusting out of the wet earth, its bones visible through rags of flesh, was a decomposing hand…’It was eight years ago that they found the body buried on the moor. They were certain that this was one of psychotic rapist and multiple murderer Jerome Monk’s teenage victims. Which left just two more bodies to find.

When the bizarrely mutilated and long-dead body of a young woman is found in a ditch in Manham, an isolated and insular village in the Norfolk marshlands, it isn't just the fact that she had been a friend that disturbs Dr. David Hunter. He was once a high-profile forensic anthropologist and all too familiar with the different faces of death, until a devastating personal tragedy made him turn his back on his former life and career.

It’s been a good summer for forensics expert Dr David Hunter. His relationship is going well, and he’s in demand again as a police consultant. Life is good. Then a call comes from an old associate: a body has been found, and she’d like Hunter to take a look. The empty shell of St Jude’s Hospital now stands awaiting demolition, its only visitors society’s outcasts, addicts and dealers. A partially mummified corpse has been discovered in the hospital’s cavernous loft, but not even Hunter can say how long it’s been there.

Recuperating from a near-fatal attack, forensic anthropologist David Hunter has returned to the renowned research facility where he first trained - the Body Farm in Tennessee. Still bearing physical and emotional scars, he hopes the trip will hone his old skills and restore his shattered confidence. So when his former mentor invites him to assist on a murder investigation, he agrees. After all, he's simply there as an observer - what could possibly go wrong? But even Hunter is unprepared by the gruesome nature of the killing.

Composed of over 60 per cent water itself, a human body isn't naturally buoyant. It will float only for as long as there is air in its lungs before gradually sinking to the bottom as the air seeps out. If the water is very cold or deep, it will remain there, undergoing a slow, dark dissolution that can take years. But if the water is warm enough for bacteria to feed and multiply, then it will continue to decompose. Gases will build up in the intestines, increasing the body's buoyancy until it floats again. And the dead will literally rise....

The disappearance of firearms police officer Jonah Colley's young son almost destroyed him. A phone call from an old friend leads Jonah to the warehouse Slaughter Quay, and the discovery of four bodies, with a link to his son's case. Attacked and left for dead in the dark, Jonah is the only survivor. Under suspicion himself for what happened at Slaughter Quay, Jonah uncovers a network of secrets and lies about the people closest to him—forcing him to question what really happened to his son all those years ago...

Nur Fledermäuse verirren sich noch nach St. Jude. Das Krankenhaus im Norden Londons, seit Jahren stillgelegt, soll in Kürze abgerissen werden. Doch dann wird auf dem staubigen Dachboden eine Leiche gefunden, eingewickelt in eine Plastikhülle. Die Tote, das sieht David Hunter sofort, liegt schon seit langer Zeit hier. Durch das trockene und stickige Klima ist der Körper teilweise mumifiziert. Als beim Versuch, die Leiche zu bergen, der Boden des baufälligen Gebäudes einbricht, entdeckt der forensische Anthropologe ein fensterloses Krankenzimmer, das nicht auf den Plänen verzeichnet ist.

Mit Hilfe der Forensik die Geheimnisse der Toten lüften: In "Die Chemie des Todes" erzählt Thriller-Star Simon Beckett die Geschichte des begnadeten Londoner Gerichtsmediziners und Forensikers David Hunter, der sich nach dem Tod seiner Familie als Landarzt zurückgezogen hat.

Die Gezeiten spülen einen Toten auf eine schlammige Sandbank in den Backwaters, einem abgelegenen Mündungsgebiet in Essex. Die Wasserleiche ist stark verwest, Hände und Füße fehlen. Das Gesicht ist nicht mehr zu erkennen. Trotzdem glaubt die Polizei zu wissen, um wen es sich handelt: Ein junger Mann aus dem Ort ist seit Wochen verschwunden, alles deutet auf Selbstmord hin.

Sie mussten tot sein. Von Tina Williams und den Bennett-Zwillingen fehlte jede Spur. Als der Außenseiter Jerome Monk bei dem Überfall...

On his way back from an ongoing investigation into a serial killer in Scotland, forensic anthropologist David Hunter is asked to examine a fire-death on the remote Hebridean island of Runa. Told only that there is something 'strange' about it, Hunter is intrigued enough to accept - despite the worsening winter weather conditions, and the strain it will put on his already troubled relationship with his girlfriend, Jenny.

Some moments burn in the mind for ever. The landing is dark. Light comes from a window at the far end, enough to run by. Breath comes hard. From the stairs sound heavy footfalls in pursuit. The landing ends in a last doorway. There is no more running, only the need to hide.... Imagine not knowing the father of your child. Not knowing his name. What he looks like. Or what sort of person he is. Although she is desperate for a baby, that is something that Kate Powell cannot accept.

When renowned forensic anthropologist David Hunter finds a bag on his doorstep filled with rather grizzly contents he's transported back to rexamine the consequences of a robbery from his past. Who put the bag there, and why?

Sean is on the run. We don't know why and we don't know from whom, but we do know he's abandoned his battered, blood-stained car in the middle of an isolated, lonely part of rural France at the height of a sweltering summer. Desperate to avoid the police, he takes to the parched fields and country lanes only to be caught in the vicious jaws of a trap. Near unconscious from pain and loss of blood, he is freed and taken in by two women - daughters of the owner of a rundown local farm with its ramshackle barn, blighted vineyard, and the brooding lake. And it's then that Sean's problems really start....

Als Jonah das Blut roch, war ihm klar, dass er in Schwierigkeiten steckte. Jonah Colley ist Mitglied einer bewaffneten Spezialeinheit der Londoner Polizei. Seit sein Sohn Theo vor zehn Jahren spurlos verschwand, liegt sein Leben in Scherben. Damals brach auch der Kontakt zu seinem besten Freund Gavin ab. Nun meldet Gavin sich überraschend und bittet um ein Treffen. Doch in dem verlassenen Lagerhaus findet Jonah nur seine Leiche, daneben drei weitere Tote. Fest in Plastikplane eingewickelt, sehen sie aus wie Kokons...

Nur ihre Asche blieb übrig: Abgeschnitten von der Außenwelt, am Rande der Zivilisation - diese beklemmende Kulisse von Simon Becketts "Kalte Asche" wird Sie nicht mehr loslassen. In jeder fesselnden Minute von Johannes Stecks Hörbuch-Interpretation werden Sie die bittere Meeresluft schmecken, die kalte Asche riechen und den Atem des Mörders in Ihrem Nacken spüren.

Bei seinem letzten Einsatz ist der Forensiker David Hunter nur knapp dem Tode entronnen. Von einer vollständigen Genesung weit entfernt, quält ihn die Frage, ob er seinem Beruf noch gewachsen ist. Hunter sagt alle neuen Aufträge ab und beschließt, die Body Farm in Tennessee aufzusuchen - eine bekannte Akademie, an der er sein Handwerk erlernte. Dort trifft Hunter einen alten Freund, den er bei den Ermittlungen im Fall eines sadistischen Mordes unterstützen soll...

Driving back through Wales in a fierce winter storm, forensic anthropologist David Hunter is forced to seek shelter at a remote village in Eryri mountains. But a one-night stop-over becomes something very different after a gruesome discovery in depths of the local forest. With communications down and the only road washed out by the storm, Hunter is unsure who - if anyone - he can trust. And as long buried secrets begin to emerge, he knows that, whatever dark past the isolated community might be hiding, there's no one he can call on for help. This time he's on his own.

"Die Toten machten mir keine Angst. Es waren die Lebenden, die mir Albträume bereiteten." Undurchdringlicher Nebel umgibt das heruntergekommene Hotel, im alten Gemäuer sitzt klamme Kälte. Inmitten eines Wintersturms ist Dr. David Hunter im walisischen Snowdonia gestrandet. Das "Forest Hotel" wird von einem Ehepaar geführt, das sich alles andere als freundlich gibt, doch der forensische Anthropologe hat keine andere Wahl, als hier die Nacht zu verbringen.