***** NB This post first appeared as part of a Damppebbles Blog Tour. When the son of a hard-hearted Seattle mayor is accused of rape, it throws his mother’s candidacy for state governor into jeopardy. Meanwhile, crime-lab worker Clark is in trouble—with mounting debts and a threat to his wife’s career, the possibility of smoothing…
Category: murder
‘A Fine Day for a Hanging’ by Carol Ann Lee
***** When 28-year-old Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, in 1955, she set in motion a trial that rocked the country. Found guilty, she was sentenced to death and became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. With many theories about what really happened, this account attempts to lay out the facts, rather…
‘Still You Sleep’ by Kate Vane
***** In her own place and with her family and a support worker nearby, Vikki Smith seems happy – until she is found dead by a burglar. With a video and Vikki’s name trending on social media, the trolls come out of the woodwork. But could one of them be responsible for her death, or…
‘The Hard Swim’ by Keith Dixon
***** During World War Two, a group of SAS soldiers are captured, shot and buried in a forest in the heart of France. Seventy years on, a young woman is targeted by a team of experienced killers who attempt to abduct her following a meeting at Edinburgh Zoo. Fortunately, PI Sam Dyke observes the would-be…
‘The Moving Toyshop’ by Edmund Crispin
**** Poet Richard Cadogan sets off for a much-needed holiday to Oxford. Arriving late one night, he becomes intrigued to find the door of a toyshop unlocked. Snooping around, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman. Before he can do anything else, someone bops him on the head. Informing the police, Cadogan is…
‘No Love Lost’ by Robert Crouch
***** When Kent Fisher interviews a young woman as a prospective new employee, he gets a bit of a surprise. But agreeing to help track down the woman’s mother, who abandoned her as a baby, he also sets in motion a series of dramatic events that could change his life forever. Aided by cop pal…
‘The Quality of Mercy’ by Malia Zaidi
**** Returning home to London, Lady Evelyn plans to start her own detective agency and having done so, soon finds herself with a dead body on her hands. With her forthcoming marriage to Daniel also on the cards, Lady E must also consider what she wants out of life. In the meantime, she has to…
‘The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer’ by Brian Masters
***** A severed head in the refrigerator, two more in the freezer, skulls and a skeleton in a filing cabinet. These are among the items found in Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment when he was arrested in 1991. But Dahmer didn’t merely kill people – he also used their body parts for sexual gratification and as pieces…
‘Deadly Harm’ by Owen Mullen
***** Five years after being abducted and held captive, Mackenzie Darroch is making a difference in the world. Running a refuge for abused women, things are going well. Then she’s thrown into a bizarre situation when she saves the life of a car-crash victim. But offering the woman a place to stay, has consequences –…
‘Saint Justice’ by Mike Grist
***** When former CIA agent Christopher Wren picks a fight in a biker bar in Utah, the gang beat him up and steal his truck. But Wren likes to help people and having stolen one of the biker’s wallets, he sets off to pump the guy for information—information that will give him a chance to…
Colin Garrow 