When Detective Inspector Bill Reid is found murdered in the tranquil grounds of the St Peter’s Police Treatment Centre, and compromising photographs are discovered in his room, DCI Banks is called in to investigate. Because of the possibility of police corruption, he is assigned an officer from Professional Standards, Inspector Joanna Passero, to work closely with him, and he soon finds himself and his methods under scrutiny.
It emerges that Reid’s murder may be linked to the disappearance of an English girl called Rachel Hewitt, in Tallinn, Estonia, six years earlier. The deeper Banks looks into the old case, the more he begins to feel that he has to solve the mystery of Rachel’s disappearance before he can solve Reid’s murder, though Inspector Passero has a different agenda. When Banks and Passero travel to Tallinn to track down leads in the dark, cobbled alleys of the city’s Old Town, it soon become clear that that someone doesn’t want the past stirred up.
Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot, just back at work after a serious injury, is following up leads in Eastvale. Her investigations take her to the heart of a migrant labour scam involving a corrupt staffing agency and a loan shark who preys on the poorest members of society. As the action shifts back and forth between Tallinn and Eastvale, it soon becomes clear that crimes are linked in more ways than Banks imagined, and that solving them may put even more lives in jeopardy.
Thomas Lynley ermittelt wieder! Nach Wochen der Einsamkeit fernab von London kehrt Thomas Lynley in die City zurück. Als Isabelle Ardery, eine Kollegin aus vergangenen Tagen, ihn um Unterstützung bei einem komplizierten Mordfall bittet, zögert er nur kurz – und tut ihr den Gefallen. Während Ardery im Laufe der Ermittlungen zusehends ins Kreuzfeuer der Kritik gerät, besinnt Lynley sich seiner früheren Stärken. Und seiner genialen Ermittlungspartnerin Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers …
An einem frühen Dezembermorgen wird Guy Brouard — Millionär, Mäzen und Frauenheld — ermordet an einem Strand der englischen Kanalinsel Guernsey aufgefunden. Verdächtige und Motive gibt es mehr als genug. Nur die junge Amerikanerin China River hat keines. Doch alle Indizien weisen ausgerechnet auf sie. China hatte ihren Bruder aus Kalifornien nach Guernsey begleitet, um Guy Brouard die Architekturpläne für ein von ihm gestiftetes Museum zum Gedenken an die deutsche Besatzung der Insel im Zweiten Weltkrieg zu übergeben. Eine andere Verbindung existiert augenscheinlich nicht.
Simon St. James, engster Vertrauter von Chief Inspector Thomas Lynley, reist mit seiner Frau Deborah auf die winterliche Kanalinsel, um die Unschuld von China, einer alten Freundin Deborahs, nachzuweisen. Doch je tiefer sie in die verschworene Inselgemeinschaft eintauchen, desto mehr Personen entdecken sie, die dem wohltätigen Mitbürger Guy Brouard alles andere als freundschaftliche Gefühle entgegenbringen — und die auf irgendeine Weise in den Mord verstrickt sind: seine Exfrau, sein Sohn, seine Geliebte, seine Schwester, seine jugendlichen Schützlinge, der tragisch ausgebootete einheimische Architekt. Liegen die Motive in Brouards undurchsichtiger Vergangenheit? Oder reichen sie zurück bis in Guernseys wechselvolle Geschichte?
In a remote countryside lane in North Yorkshire, the body of a young girl is found, bruised and beaten, having apparently been thrown from a moving vehicle.
While DI Annie Cabbot investigates the circumstances in which a 14-year-old could possibly fall victim to such a crime, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is faced with a similar task — but the case Banks must investigate is as cold as they come.
Fifty years ago Linda Palmer was attacked by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, yet no investigation ever took place. Now Caxton stands accused at the centre of a historical abuse investigation and it’s Banks’s first task as superintendent to find out the truth.
While Annie struggles with a controversial case threatening to cause uproar in the local community, Banks must piece together decades-old evidence, and as each steps closer to uncovering the truth, they’ll unearth secrets much darker than they ever could have guessed...
It's clear to most members of Midsomer Worthy's Writers' Circle that asking bestselling author Max Jennings to talk to them is a little ambitious. Less clear are the reasons for secretary Gerald Hadleigh's fierce objections to seeing the man - a face from his past - again. Astonishingly, Jennings accepts the invitation but, before the night is out, Gerald is dead.
Summoned to investigate, Chief Inspector Barnaby finds that Gerald's life is as much of a mystery to his neighbours as his violent death. The key is surely their illustrious guest speaker - but where is he now?