A Spate of Attacks is Hitting the peaceful town of Leek - and They're Getting Increasingly Violent A spate of robberies targetting elderly women is disturbing enough, but especially so in a town as peaceful and sedate as Leek. Then one attack turns to murder, and Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy is called to the eerily named Spite Hall. For the body of Nan Lawrence has been found bludgeoned to death, lying over the tapestry she was in the process of embroidering. But what could have made the robbers move from simple theft to murder? When Joanna calls on Nan's neighbours she is surprised to find that they are none other than the old lady's estranged brother and his teenage grandson, neither of whom seems particularly willing to co-operate with her enquiries. But slowly, aided by her colleague Mike Korpanski, Joanna unravels a mystery - the tangled threads of which are rooted years in the past..
DI Joanna Piercy is irritated at what she perceives to be an attempt to wrap her up in cotton wool during her pregnancy when she is asked to take on the case of Zachary Foster, a missing 96-year-old man suffering from dementia. Zachary has vanished from his residential care home on the edge of Leek during the night with his beloved old teddy bear. He can't have gone far, surely, but how did a frail, elderly man manage to abscond from a secure house at night? As Joanna investigates, it soon becomes clear that this apparently minor case is far more sinister than it first appears. Could her own life, and that of her unborn child, be at risk?
It's been six years since 14-year-old Marvel Trustrom went missing - six long years for Marvel's seriously ill father, Tom Trustom, who's desperate to know what happened to his daughter. DS Zed Willard has always believed that Jonah Kobi, a serial killer serving life for the murders of four other girls in the area, is responsible for Marvel's disappearance. Can Dr Claire Roget persuade Kobi to reveal the truth and finally confess to Marvel's murder? Claire is soon drawn into a battle of wits with a dangerous psychopath, as well as a world of dark secrets. Can she find out what really happened to Marvel and fulfil a father's dying wish?
Gina Marconi was a beautiful young barrister with everything to live for – a loving fiancé, a young son and a successful career. So why did she leave her home in the middle of the night and drive her car into a stone wall? Soon afterwards, Patrick Elson, a clever twelve-year-old schoolboy, jumps off a bridge on to the A5. The victims are unrelated, but neither suicide makes sense. Then there's a third unexplained death: DI Alex Randall's wife, Erica. With Alex on gardening leave pending an investigation, Martha must search for answers to the questions raised by the suicides on her own. Not only that, she must confront the most difficult question of all: could Alex Randall be a murderer?
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget finds it impossible to refuse when she receives a desperate phone call from an old acquaintance, obstetrician Charles Tissot. One of his patients, Heather Krimble, alleges that Tissot seduced her at a party and that he is the father of her unborn child. His career on the line, Charles begs Claire to expose Heather's fragile mental state and discredit her wild claims. With a history of making similar false allegations, her two previous babies having suffered unexplained cot deaths, Heather's accusations would appear to be nothing more than the result of a damaged mind. But as Claire delves further, it becomes clear that Charles hasn't been telling her the whole truth.
Jadon Glover is good-looking, professional, reliable and a perfect husband, according to his wife. So when he fails to return home one night, she rings the police, certain that something has happened to him. DI Joanna Piercy and DS Mike Korpanski are sceptical: there is no such thing as a perfect marriage. As the investigation proceeds, it soon becomes apparent that Jadon Glover has been keeping dark secrets from his wife. And as the police pursue their house-to-house enquiries, they unearth other secrets. But, whatever else has been going on among the inhabitants' quiet, desperate lives, it's clear that at least one of them knows what really happened to Jadon…
When she receives a wedding invitation from one of her former patients, forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget is more than a little alarmed. Highly intelligent and manipulative, Jerome Barclay suffers from a severe personality disorder. Although she has never been able to prove it, Claire believes him to be highly dangerous, responsible for at least three suspicious deaths – and she fears for the safety of his new bride. What's more, Jerome seems to know rather too much about Claire's personal and professional life, including intimate details concerning her other patients. What sinister game is he playing? With no proof as to Jerome's possibly murderous intentions, Claire's hands are tied. Can she prevent a tragedy unfolding? And is Claire herself at risk?
The new compelling DI Joanna Piercy mystery. On a snowy December morning, a young woman, Kayleigh Harrison, is found outside Patches nightclub in Leek. Half dead from the cold, she says she has been raped. As Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy, fresh from a disciplinary action, investigates, she learns that Kayleigh Harrison has made unsubstantiated allegations before... Is there a real case to investigate or not? Kayleigh holds the key, but how much of her story can be trusted?
When a woman arrives in A&E clutching a child in a pink blanket, Martha Gunn is not quite ready to make the discovery that the evening has in store for her. The baby has been mummified. A post-mortem reveals the child to be a new born boy, deceased for over five years. As always coroner Martha Gunn reserves judgement until she is able to question the mysterious woman who brought in the body...
For recently engaged DI Joanna Piercy, a murder is the last thing she wants to deal with. Especially one with as dark a back story as that relating to calculating landowner and farmer Jakob Grimshaw; a man who managed to make enemies of all his neighbours and what little family he still had. One thing is certain; Joanna has a tough job ahead of her...
Coroner Martha Gunn is among the first to be called to the scene when a man's body is found in a small cottage fronting the river. Floating face-down in the rising water, it appears to have been raised from the cellar by the flood. In the dark and fetid cottage, Martha's instincts tell her that this is a homicide - a hunch borne out by the post mortem. But there are many questions about the dead man's identity. He is initially thought to be James Humphreys, a respectable, middle-aged businessman who had rented the cottage a couple of months ago, and had recently gone missing. The corpse certainly fits his description. Yet when Mr Humphreys' wife, Cressida, comes to identify the body, she is adamant that it is not her husband. So who is it? Why has he been murdered? And where has the real Mr Humphreys gone?
In separate locations in Staffordshire, three separate tableaux are being played out. DI Joanna Piercy is writing to her lover to try and explain recent events; her sidekick Mike Korpanski is filling in insurance forms after his wife has had a prang in the car; and an unknown person is penning love letters to a local doctor. It seems that no one could lead a more mundane life than Beatrice Pennington. Unexciting; mid-forties; married; a part-time librarian; grown-up kids; her life appears unremarkable. But then drama unfolds around her...
