Showing results by author "Lynda La Plante" in All Categories

Movie mogul Harry Nathan's lonely death in a Beverley Hills swimming pool is the beginning of a trail of lust and conspiracy leading to the darkest corners of the international art world. Private investigator Lorraine Page faces her toughest fight ever as she takes on the case for fading starlet Cindy Nathan, Harry's third wife. Lorraine believes the grieving widow's story. Unlike her ex-colleagues in the police department who have already charged Cindy with murder....

When a body is found in one of London's poorest districts, the coroner's report identifies the victim as young, black and female, but impossibly anonymous. One thing is clear to Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison about this victim - that news of her murder will tear apart a city already cracking with racial tensions, hurling Scotland Yard and Tennison herself into a maelstrom of shocking accusations and sudden, wrenching violence. 

Jane Tennison, a young, inexperienced WPC, learns the hard way never to take anyone - or anything - at face value, whether in her dealings with her police colleagues or when confronted by seemingly innocent suspects. Hidden Killers sees Jane acting as a decoy prostitute, with the hope of capturing a suspect wanted for numerous sexual assaults. The attacker is drawn in and put under arrest. Commended for bravery in the case, Jane is given CID status and moves from Hackney to Bow Street Station as detective.

Jane Tennison has worked hard to become the first female detective ever posted to the infamous Flying Squad, or 'the Sweeney'. But the Dirty Dozen is a notorious boys' club, and Jane's new colleagues make it clear that they don't think a woman is up to the dangers of the job. Dealing with some of London's most ruthless armed criminals, who think the only good cop is a dead cop, is no joke. Determined to prove she's as good as the men, Jane discovers from a reliable witness that a gang is going to carry out a massive robbery.

Desire leaves a man destroyed.... A young girl's curiosity reveals secrets better left hidden.... An accidental encounter on a train ends violently.... Ambition leads to a curious exchange.... An uncanny likeness changes two lives forever.... Here is a novel in 16 chilling parts, linked by a glittering charm bracelet that brings misfortune to everyone who handles it. In Like a Charm, the cream of British and American crime writers combine for a must-have collection.

Facing life alone, they turned to crime together. Dolly Rawlins, Linda Perelli and Shirley Miller are left devastated when their husbands are killed in a security van heist that goes disastrously wrong. When Dolly discovers her husband's bank deposit box containing a gun, money and detailed plans for the hijack, she has three options. She could hand over the ledgers to the Detective. She could hand them over to the thugs who want to take over Harry's turf. Or, she and the other widows could finish the job their husbands started....

Lieutenant Lorraine Page once had everything - a devoted husband, two beautiful daughters and an impressive career with the Homicide Squad. It's impossible to believe that she could be thrown out of the police force and end up on Skid Row. Without Lorraine, her colleagues struggle on, as the hunt for a nightmare serial killer spirals into an all-out search for a missing witness: a victim who escaped. But Lorraine Page is about to be brought right back into that world again....

The race to claim the reward for finding Anna Louise Caley - dead or alive - spirals into a deadly voodoo trail in the French quarter of New Orleans. In her desperation to succeed in her first case as a private detective, ex-Lieutenant Lorraine Page is caught in a web of deceit and violence that threatens to drag her back into the murky world she has fought so hard to escape. Continuing the investigation means risking everything. 

After serving a lengthy sentence for the murder of her husband, Dolly Rawlins is free from prison. And she's only got one thing on her mind: the diamonds she stashed before the police caught her. But there are people waiting for Dolly on the outside ­- tough ex-prisoners who know about the diamonds, and they all want a cut. Also waiting for Dolly is DS Mike Withey. He holds her personally responsible for the death of his sister in the diamond raid 10 years earlier. And he wants her back inside. Dolly Rawlins has other plans. 

Against all the odds, Dolly Rawlins and her gangland widows managed the impossible: a heist their husbands had failed to pull off - at the cost of their lives. But though they may be in the money, they're far from easy street. Shocked by her husband's betrayal, Dolly discovers Harry Rawlins isn't dead. He knows where the four women are and he wants them to pay. And he doesn't just mean getting his hands on the money. The women can't keep running. They have to get Harry out of their lives for good. But can they outwit a criminal mastermind who won't hesitate to kill?

When a prostitute is found murdered in her bedsit, the Metropolitan police set to work finding the perpetrator of this brutal attack. DNA samples lead them straight to known-criminal George Marlow. The police think they've found their man, but things are not quite what they seem....

Can Jane Tennison uncover a serial killer? The fourth in the Sunday Times best-selling Jane Tennison thrillers, Murder Mile is set in 1979 at the height of the 'Winter of Discontent' when economic chaos has led to widespread strikes across Britain. Jane Tennison, now a Detective Sergeant, has been posted to Peckham CID, one of London's toughest areas. As the rubbish on the streets begins to pile up, so does the murder count: two bodies in as many days. There are no suspects, and the manner of death is different in each case. 

Everybody has a story to tell. Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison has moved up the ranks, fighting every step of the way to break through Scotland Yard's glass ceiling. Now, on her first day as the head of the Vice Squad, a high-profile case threatens to destroy everything she has worked for. When Tennison's latest investigation reveals an influential public figure as her prime suspect - a man with connections to politicians, judges, and Scotland Yard - she's given a very clear message about the direction her investigation should take.

Jack Warr is a young DC with the Metropolitan Police. Charming but aimless, Jack can't seem to find his place in the world - until he's drawn into an investigation that turns his life upside down. In the aftermath of a fire at a derelict cottage, a badly charred body is discovered, along with the burnt remnants of millions of stolen, untraceable bank notes - the hidden legacy of Dolly Rawlins and her gang of Widows. Jack's assignment to the case coincides with an investigation into his own past. 

Every legend has a beginning.... During 1974 and 1975, the IRA subjected London to a terrifying bombing campaign. In one day alone, they planted seven bombs at locations across central London. Some were defused - some were not. Jane Tennison is now a fully fledged detective. On the way to court one morning, Jane passes through Covent Garden Underground station and is caught up in a bomb blast that leaves several people dead and many horribly injured.

It is late at night on a notorious council estate in east London. A van - garishly painted with a grinning clown's face on the side - is being driven erratically. When the police pull over the driver to question him, they discover, inside the van, the body of a young woman. A murder suspect . . . an arrest . . . a confession . . . A case done and dusted? But their suspect claims his victim is not his first, but his third.

Dedicated, intuitive and utterly obsessive, DCI James Langton is ruthless in his pursuit of a gang of illegal immigrants, killers of a young prostitute. When he is horrifically, almost fatally injured by one of them, it falls upon DI Anna Travis to put her own career on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice.

Young Anna Travis has been assigned to her first murder case - a series of killings that has shocked even the most hardened of detectives. They started eight years ago – now the body count is up to six. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls identical - all drug-users and prostitutes. Then a seventh body is found. The modus operandi is the same - but the victim is a young student with the 'face of an angel'. The profile of the murderer has changed dramatically.

A young girl is found dumped on the banks of the Thames. Horrifically mutilated and drained of blood, her death is an ominous mirror image of an unsolved 1940s case in Los Angeles known as 'The Black Dahlia'. Detective Inspector Anna Travis must race against time to catch this copycat killer, dubbed 'The Red Dahlia' from the flower his victim wore in her hair. But there are no suspects and a media frenzy is spiralling out of control.

When Amy arranges a sleepover with a school friend one weekend, neither parent sees the need to be in touch with her. Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning pass before Lena - seething from her first, unexpectedly confrontational, meeting with Marcus's divorce lawyer - phones Amy. Straight to Amy's voicemail. She must be in lessons. Lena sends a text. She waits. No reply, no contact whatsoever.