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

Detective Anna Travis is taking charge of an investigation for the very first time under the watchful eye of her boss. But with only an ominous pool of blood at the crime scene, and no sign of the victim, she cannot be sure whether this is a missing person case or something more. As Anna leads a desperate hunt for a man who has seemingly disappeared without a trace, she becomes obsessed with apparently irrelevant details and her boss fears that she is losing control. With no body and increasing pressure to make an arrest, Anna must catch a break in the case before she breaks down.

Fifteen-year-old Cassie Booth goes missing on her paper round. Then her bloodstained jacket is found in a boathouse belonging to Karl Wilding - but there's little evidence against him. A routine visit by Detective Inspector Pat North to appease persistent complainer Stephen Warrington spirals into something far more sinister. As his behaviour becomes increasingly obsessive, North is caught in a frightening web of deceit and lies that fuels her suspicion that Warrington has been involved in a far more horrific crime.

It is every mother's nightmare. Her child is missing, found murdered. Her lover is the prime suspect. It is every police officer's dread. A child murder. A circumstantial case. It is every solicitor's dream. Twelve men and women will decide the verdict. But only you can decide if justice is done for the victim.

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.

Violent burglars have been terrorising residents across the English countryside. But when a mutilated body is discovered in a Cotswolds house, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary group of opportunist thieves. As Detective Jack Warr investigates, he discovers locals with dark secrets, unearths hidden crimes - and hits countless dead ends. With few leads and the violent attacks escalating, he will have to act as audaciously as the criminals if he hopes to stop them.

When a woman is snatched from a wood, Inspector Superintendent Pat North seizes control of her first major enquiry - one that appears to be over before it begins, when a local sex offender quickly confesses. With no body and inconsistent statements, North and her team are not convinced. They investigate a strange family of musical geniuses - each with their own motive. But if the man who confessed isn't the perpetrator - who is? And how far will they go to evade capture?

A derelict house is being demolished when workmen discover the remains of a young girl. Detective Superintendent Michael Walker is far from happy at being assigned the 17-year-old murder case. When more skeletons are discovered, however, Walker suddenly finds himself in charge of one of the biggest investigations in years. But when a secret has been buried for 17 years, the path to justice is more tortuous than ever. Can Walker and his team dig up the truth behind one family and their shadowy past? Or is the truth buried too deep?

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.

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.

Susie and Stella have nothing in common, except for the fact that they're married to the same man - private detective Mike Hazard. When Mike suddenly disappears, the women discover his double life. The two women soon find out that Mike is keeping more secrets than just his infidelity and his actions soon put them in danger with both sides of the law. They must now track down a missing husband while finding a way to stay alive...

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.

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.

A security van heist goes disastrously wrong, and three women are left widowed. When Dolly Rawlins discovers her gang boss husband's plans for the failed hijack, an idea starts to form. Could she and the other wives finish the job their husbands started? As the women rehearse the raid, it becomes clear that someone else must have been involved. But only three bodies were found in the wreckage. Who was the fourth man? And where is he now?

Sir William Benedict, a working-class man turned entrepreneur, has everything money can buy, including an island paradise in the Caribbean. The only thing he is missing is acceptance from society's elite. When he begins to fund Andrew Maynard MP, a rising political star, he has what he has always wanted within reach. But political scandal soon erupts, and William finds himself an outcast once again. Desperate, he turns to Andrew's ex-lover to plot his retribution. Soon his island goes from paradise to the backdrop for revenge.

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.

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.

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 up for promotion, but with her boss DCI James Langton accusing her of professional misconduct, this latest case could make or break her. Shortly after the announcement of a tell-all memoir, a young film star is found dead. With careers at stake and secrets to hide, almost everyone has a motive to kill. From jealous ex-flatmates to famous lovers, Langton and his team are confronted with a vast array of suspects, keen to keep their secrets close to their chests.

Detective Jane Tennison made a bad choice. She was the one who put in a transfer to the quiet local police station in Bromley, keen to escape the relentless pressure of her former West End department. Now she regrets her decision. The tedium of petty crime investigations even makes her question remaining in the force. But then a complicated domestic assault case lands on her desk - one that might still result in a murder charge if the victim dies of his injuries.

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.