Showing results by publisher "Isis Publishing Ltd" in Women Sleuths

A memorial service witnessed in the historic Black Wood of Rannoch sets Rebecca Connolly on the trail of a baffling story. Fergus MacGregor told people he was going to Pitlochry for the day. He was never seen again. Five years later his deeply religious mother still holds a memorial in the place Fergus loved because of its connections to the outlawed MacGregor clan, the Children of the Mist. What happened that day in this last vestige of the great Caledonian forest? Does a family feud hold the key? Does an old recluse have the answers?

State prosecutor Chastity Riley runs off to Glasgow. For one, there is that letter, written by a lawyer, that lures her to the birthplace of her great-great-grandfather. And secondly, her life in Hamburg has arrived at a sad impasse. In the rough Scottish city, she meets Tom, who knows the key that unlocks the Rileys’ family secret. She never dared confront the painful truths about herself, but some whisky and a few ghosts help her to do just that.

A killer is targeting former students of the Bloomsbury Academy of Law. The victims - all female - are gruesomely butchered according to a pattern corresponding with the legal syllabus. Even more disconcerting are riddles sent by the killer to investigating officer, Chief Inspector Jake Carver, offering clues as to who is next and where they will die. 

In the village of Spire, murder is afoot. Wealthy landowner Alexander, Earl of Greengrass, is caught with his trousers down in the village graveyard before meeting a gruesome end. Luckily Susie Mahl happens to be on hand. With her artist’s eye for detail and her curious nature, she is soon on the scent of the murderer.... 

In an orphanage outside Oslo, twelve-year-old Olav is causing havoc. The institution's ageing director, Agnes Vestavik, sees sheer hatred in the boy's eyes. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk, stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife – with Olav nowhere to be found – the case goes to Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to superintendent in the Oslo police. Hanne suspects that Olav witnessed the murder and fled, and she orders an investigation of the orphanage staff.

Winter 1946. One cold dark night, as a devastated London shivers through the transition to post-war life, a young nurse goes missing from the South London Hospital for Women & Children. Her body is discovered hours later behind a locked door. Two women from the hospital join forces to investigate the case. Determined not to return to the futures laid out for them before the war, the unlikely sleuths must face their own demons and dilemmas as they pursue - The Midnight Man.

Chief Prosecutor Sigurd Halvorsrud's wife is found dead in front of the fireplace in the family living room. The cause of death is instantly apparent – she has been brutally decapitated. Halvorsrud immediately falls under suspicion. Then a journalist at one of Oslo's largest newspapers is found beheaded. What links these two horrifically violent crimes?

Two years ago, Alexander Blix was the lead investigator in a missing person's case where a young mother, Elisabeth Eie, had been kidnapped. The case came to a standstill when Blix's own daughter was killed and he was arrested for avenging her. Blix is a now free man again, but Elisabeth's kidnapper has found him, leaving evidence of her murder in Blix's mailbox.

On her first day back from maternity leave, Detective Sam Shephard is thrown straight into a cold-case investigation - the unsolved murder of a highly respected Anglican priest in Dunedin. The case has been a thorn in the side of the police hierarchy, and for her boss it's personal. With all the witness testimony painting a picture of a dedicated church and family man, what possible motive could there have been for his murder?

Warring staff. 'Accidental' poisonings. Topiary of dubious intent. Throw in the full complement of the Toot Hansell Women's Institute and dragons doing yoga, and DI Adams is starting to wonder if she might have made a small misjudgement signing up for this particular spa weekend. And that's before the dead body in the sauna and the storm that cuts them off from the rest of the world. Now she's dealing with a houseful of guests (and staff) who're looking more suspicious by the moment, fending off protesters, and trying to keep everyone safe as the storm closes in.

A dragon is missing. DI Adams' missing person is human, not dragon, but the trails of both lead to the village of Eldmere, where glimpses of a mysterious Beast have drawn in the nation's monster hunters. And where the Toot Hansell Women's Institute and the Cloverly dragons are in hot pursuit of Gilbert. A valley full of weekend Yeti hunters and cryptozoologists won't stand between them and the young dragon. But something strange is happening in Eldmere, and the dragons, Beast, and ladies of the Women's Institute are at the heart of it.

Maya Barton has just embarked on her dream job as a scene of crime officer. When she attends her first death the post-mortem deems it to be non-suspicious and the case is closed. But despite the lack of evidence, she suspects a crime has been committed. When Maya is called to another apparent sudden death her reservations resurface. She is convinced a killer is on the loose; a killer who has evaded suspicion until now, but Maya's series of mistakes alienate those around her. 

A head teacher's work is never done, especially if, like Jane Cowan, you're a victim of your own success. Her responsibilities are compounded by an influx of children, most of whom do not speak English, following their families supplying cheap labour. Jane can't turn a blind eye to the conditions in which many of these families are living, even more so when some children simply disappear. When everything points to the shadowy dealings of people smugglers in the area, she has her work cut out.

The last way antiques dealer Lina Townend wants to spend a summer’s afternoon is helping at a church fete. However, the vicar is an old friend so Lina ends up selling bric-a-brac. A harmless event turns into a crisis when someone tries to steal a tatty old snuff box from under her nose. Tatty it might be, but its valuable enough for the would-be thief to attack Griff, her business partner, to frame Lina for a crime she didn’t commit, and to kill and old friend. And maybe other people too.

With the help of Hayden Prentice, Malo's natural father and himself a onetime drug baron, Enora embarks on a hunt for the truth behind the kidnapping. The journey takes her deep into the exploding world of county lines, the new business model that delivers Class A drugs into every corner of the kingdom. The sums of money at stake are dizzying, and a human life counts for nothing. As Enora Andressen is about to discover.... 

Usually sharp-witted editor Sam Clair stumbles through her post-launch-party morning with the hangover to end all hangovers. Before the Nurofen has even kicked in, she finds herself entangled in an elaborate saga of missing neighbours, suspected arson and the odd unidentified body. When the grisly news breaks that the fire has claimed a victim, Sam is already in pursuit. Never has comedy been so deadly as Sam faces down a pair from Thugs "R" Us, aided by nothing more than a CID boyfriend, a stalwart Goth assistant and a seemingly endless supply of broccoli.

When celebrity chef Brede Ziegler is discovered stabbed to death on the steps of the Olso police headquarters, it sends a shockwave through the city. Police investigator Billy T. takes on the case, but it seems nobody really knew the dead man. While Billy T. struggles to break the case, Hanne Wilhelmsen returns to Oslo after a six-month absence following the death of her partner. Hanne discovers that not only had Ziegler been stabbed, but he had also ingested a lethal dose of painkillers.

Across the US, a secret network of crisis centres permanently relocates women in serious danger from domestic abuse. But now someone is killing them before they reach their destinations. Detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus are having trouble gaining the trust of the volunteers who run the scheme. The only way in is for an undercover police officer to pose as a threatened woman, making herself a target and drawing the killer out. Reinetta Early is the ideal candidate - except for one thing.

Thirty-nine-year-old Enora Andresson is a successful actress and a woman in her prime. But tests have revealed an aggressive brain tumour that could kill her. Already struggling with the wreckage of her marriage and a strained relationship with her teenage son, Malo, she hasn't anticipated the appearance of investigative journalist Mitch Culligan. Mitch is writing a book about entrepreneur and onetime drug baron Hayden Prentice - a multi-millionaire who once crossed paths with Enora, and whom Mitch believes has helped fund the push to take the UK out of Europe. 

Eve Singer needs death. With her career as a TV crime reporter flagging, she'll do anything to satisfy her ghoulish audience. The killer needs death, too. He even advertises his macabre public performances, where he hopes to show the whole world the beauty of dying. When he contacts Eve, she welcomes the chance to be first with the news from every gory scene. Until she realizes that the killer has two obsessions. One is public murder. And the other one is her.