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

In a newly liberated Berlin, two women are inexplicably drawn together—one a pampered Baroness suffering from a mental health crisis, the other a fearless circus performer creating the biggest spectacle of her career. A murder, a police investigation and a search into the past send both women deeper into mental deterioration, and the dark secrets that they have spent decades burying are finally brought to life.

Detective Anna Travis is tasked with reviewing an open-and-shut case when a young man, awaiting trial for robbery, casts doubt on the ruling. A nightclub owner was found dead from a single bullet wound to the head, with the gun held in his hand. It was determined to be suicide, but the young man claims it was murder. Once she wraps up the investigation, Anna's boss promises her a place at the FBI Academy, but the arrival of a senior agent soon ruffles feathers in the team.

Newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison has elbowed her way into the Area Major Incident Pool, or AMIP, an elite team investigating non-domestic murders. With her new position, she hopes things will change: the rampant sexism, the snide remarks, the undermining. Then she gets her first assignment: a five-year-old cold case of a missing teenager no one else has any interest in investigating, and an assumed suicide Tennison suspects is, in fact, murder. But as Tennison gathers the crucial evidence to secure arrests, her new colleagues watch like vultures circling prey.

Rookie detective Anna Travis has been assigned to her first murder case - a series of killings that has shocked even the most hardened on the force. Over the past eight years there have been six victims - all women from similar backgrounds, all killed in an identical way. Then a seventh body is found, but this one doesn't fit the pattern.

When an ex-police officer from the murder squad is found shot dead in a dank squat, Detective Anna Travis is pulled into the case he was working on—the hunt for Alexander Fitzpatrick, a drug-trafficker with a vast fortune, and one of the most wanted men in the Western world. But there have been no sightings of Fitzpatrick for over a decade. As the body count rises, and with no sign of Fitzpatrick, the investigation takes a horrifying turn. Anna and her team learn that Fitzpatrick, wherever he is, may have access to one of the most lethal drugs in existence.

When her boss, James Langton, is almost fatally injured while pursuing a ruthless gang, Detective Anna Travis must put her own career on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice. Then Anna is assigned to a different case, the vicious murder of a quiet, studious woman whose body was found by her daughter—an attack with no obvious motive or immediate suspect. Until the case becomes unexpectedly linked with that of her boss, and Anna finds herself under threat from those who almost destroyed his career and his life.

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 an eccentric widow claims she is being stalked by her former lodger, Detective Jack Warr is the only person who believes her wild claims. Days later, she is found brutally murdered in her home. When the investigation uncovers an international drugs operation on the widow's property, the case grows even more complex. And as the hunt for the widow's lodger hits dead end after dead end, it seems that the prime suspect has vanished without a trace.

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.

Detective Anna Travis is investigating the brutal murder of a young woman whose body was discovered in the Thames, brutalised and severed in half, a red flower in her hair. With the case bearing an eerie resemblance to the famous unsolved murder case of Elizabeth Short—known as the Black Dahlia—media interest intensifies, and fears of a copycat take hold. But with almost no clues, the case is slowly going cold. That is until the killer reaches out to the press.

The husband of a prominent and infamously ruthless barrister is found in horrific condition after a robbery and brutal assault. Now in a coma, a major investigation is launched using the newly formed, experimental Metropolitan Police Serious Crime Analysis Unit. Lynne Russell is an experienced CSI with degrees in psychology and criminology with an exceptional Masters in Investigative psychology and behaviour analysis. But Lynne's first job as team leader of MSCAN is entirely new to her: to bring together a team of three trusted officers.

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.

Helena Lanark is an elderly woman, living in a luxurious care home. The heiress of an immense family fortune, she keeps the secret to the horror which once occurred within the Lanark family house. Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark's now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found, hidden in the walls of the shelter.

Identical and brutal assaults on three women. One woman survives to give a detailed description of her attacker. The police arrest a suspect, Damon Morton, confident he is their man. But three of his employees admit to the crimes, and Morton's wife and girlfriend provide him with an alibi. They all declare Damon Morton innocent. The police know he did it. But if people lie under oath in a court of law ­- who can the jury believe?

It was supposed to be a simple case: a young man arrested for armed assault. But it was just the beginning. As Rodney Middleton awaits trial, Detective Jack Warr is warned by his mentor DCI Ridley that they have only scratched the surface of the man's crimes. Then DCI Ridley is suddenly removed from his post. No one is to contact him - and no one will say why.

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.

When a new lead in a cold case comes to light, Detective Anna Travis faces the biggest challenge of her career. Five years ago, a teenage girl disappeared in broad daylight on a busy street and the mystery has haunted Anna's boss Langton, who led the original investigation, for years. With a confession to this murder and one more besides, Langton believes he finally has his man—but Anna isn't so sure. With a lack of evidence, the confession is critical to the arrest. And when the suspect changes his story, it looks like the case could fall apart.

Barfield Prison is one of the toughest high-security prisons in England, housing the country's most dangerous criminals. And when an inmate is found dead in his cell, a riot breaks out, forcing the authorities to investigate a potential murder. Despite being Barfield's youngest ever female Governor, Helen Hewitt is seen as the best woman for the job. But with a prison full of corrupt and suspicious officers, restless inmates and a broken system, Helen has her work cut out - and no allies to help her....

In a city as old as London, the discovery is hardly surprising. But when scratch marks are found on the inside of the coffin lid, Detective Jane Tennison believes she has unearthed a mystery far darker than any she's investigated before. However, not everyone agrees. Tennison's superiors dismiss it as a historic cold case and the Church seems desperate to conceal the facts from the investigation. It's clear that someone is hiding the truth and perhaps even the killer. Tennison must pray she can find both - before they are buried forever.

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.