AustLit

"So many ways to die and he knows every one of them.

"When a priest is found crucified in a derelict North London chapel, it makes a dramatic change for DI Charlie George and his squad at Essex Road. The brutal murder could not be further from their routine of domestic violence and stabbings on the estates.

"And that’s only the beginning . . .

"On Christmas Eve, a police officer goes missing and his colleagues can’t help but anticipate the worst. It turns out they’re right to when eventually the body is found and they discover he’s been stoned to death.

"As tensions rise, it’s up to Charlie and his team to venture into the city’s cold underbelly to try and find an answer to the madness — before anyone else dies a martyr’s death."

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A dead child is discovered in the bushes next to a disused railway line. For DI Charlie George it looks like an open and shut case: Charlie has a prime suspect and all he has to do is prove it. But the more he digs the more he finds, and the line of investigation soon becomes murky as he is drawn deeper into a web of deadly secrets.

'And what if he's wrong? Even as their suspect's alibi falls apart, Charlie realises he is not the only one in the frame. There's also the dead girl's father; how was it he knew where to find the body - in the dark? Very soon Charlie finds himself sitting in an interrogation room, staring across the desk at true evil and wondering where it comes from. Is it because of an abused childhood, a brutal home? Or is it born with no reason at all?

'Charlie doesn't have the answer. All he knows is that he has to find their killer before another child ends up in the morgue.' (Publication summary)

'Three can keep a secret. If two of you are dead...Two women are snatched off the streets of London in one weekend.

DI Charlie George and his team get to work. The lives of these young women - one of them a mother - are on the line, and the clock is ticking.

'When they catch a lucky break from a CCTV camera, Charlie is sure they have their man. And that's when he gets his first surprise. Because nothing about this case is simple and not everyone is quite what they seem.

'Charlie's job is to find the missing women and get to the truth.But some people would rather the truth stays hidden - even when the bodies start to pile up...' (Publication summary)

'There's the law. Or there's justice.

Most acts of violence are pretty random. But murdering someone and impaling their head on the railing outside the Royal Courts of Justice... that takes planning. 

'And when the pathologist finds a page from a book rammed down the dead man's throat, DI Charlie George thinks it's safe to assume that someone, somewhere, wants to send a message.

'But people who have the resources to plan a murder like that also have the smarts not to get caught. So Charlie knows he has a problem.

'Whoever the killer is, he doesn't think they've finished handing out their version of justice just yet. He just wishes he could summon the enthusiasm to stop them. Because sometimes people really do get what's coming to them.

'And Charlie and his team are left wondering which side of the law is justice really on? ' (Publication summary)