The effervescent Martina Cole has established a new genre of empowered, strong female-led crime books that has taken her to the top of the bestseller liosts, but she is also one of the best chroniclers of modern London and its suburbs and much of the reason for her success is the way the places she writes about are familiar to her readers. Timlin effortlessly pulls off the same trick with his fast-paced tales of South London gangsters and families, and also happens to be a friend of Martina’s!
Recommended:
Martina Cole - HARD GIRLS. A retired policewoman returns to the fray to assist a younger colleague, following the discovery of a young woman’s mutilated body. The challenges that face the duo prove tough and uncompromising. Realistic, gritty and believable.
Mark Timlin - GUNS OF BRIXTON. Best known for his Nick Sharman capers, this is Timlin’s major stand-alone novel, a tough saga of South London families, of cops and villains and loves lost and violence and lives broken. Never less than gripping and a veritable page-turner.
HARD LIVES. HARD LESSONS. IT'S MURDER ON THE STREETS.
Danielle Crosby had a body to die for. A body she sold to the highest bidder. But she ended up paying for it with her life.
When a prostitute's body is found lifeless, mutilated and brutally raped, DCI Annie Carr has never seen anything like it and never wants to again. Kate Burrows, retired DCI now consultant, has plenty of experience when it comes to murder -- after all she caught the Grantley Ripper and broke the biggest paedophile ring in the South East. She is determined to help put the killer behind bars.
But whoever it is won't be easily caught. And when another girl's body is found, even more horrifically disfigured than the last, it's clear the killer is just warming up...In a ruthless world where everyone's out for themselves, Annie and Kate must dig deep if they hope to catch a callous serial killer who knows no limits and makes no mistakes. For some, prostitution is seriously big business.
But how many people will pay the ultimate price? Utterly compelling, HARD GIRLS is a gripping and disturbing thriller that will have you hooked until the very last page.
Martina Cole is the acknowledged queen of crime drama with more than twenty novels to her name, of which over a dozen have been No.1 bestsellers.
Several of Martina's novels have been adapted for the screen, including The Take and The Runaway which were shown on Sky 1 to remarkable reviews. In addition, Two Women and The Graft have been adapted for the stage; both were highly acclaimed when performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, which also staged Dangerous Lady in 2012, celebrating twenty years since Martina's debut novel was published.
Martina Cole is a phenomenon. She continues to smash sales records with each of her books, which have sold thirteen million copies. In 2011 Martina surpassed the £50 million sales mark since records began and was the first British female novelist for adult audiences to achieve this - and she has spent more weeks in the No. 1 slot on the original fiction bestseller list than any other adult novelist. Her hard-hitting, uncompromising and haunting writing is in a genre all its own - no one writes like Martina.
