Kate Ellis

Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, celebrate their twenty-first birthday with a bang in this criminally good collection of short stories. A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope . . . Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results . . . A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive' . . . A train traveller teaches a valuable lesson in reading labels . . . A day at the seaside turns stormy for a woman who doesn't care for foreigners . . . A wealthy retiree makes a new friend who connects her to the Other Side . . . and much much more. Short, sharp and packed with twists, these 21 unputdownable tales showcase Murder Squad's range and talent throughout the years. So why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad 'Many Deadly Returns'. With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

When Kirsten Harbourn is found strangled and naked on her wedding day, DI Wesley Peterson makes some alarming discoveries. Kirsten was being pursued by an obsessed stalker and she had dark secrets her doting fiancé knew nothing about. But Kirsten's wasn't the only wedding planned to take place that day. At Morbay register office a terrified young girl made her wedding vows, and a few days later her bridegroom was found dead in a seedy seaside hotel. As Wesley investigates he suspects that the groom’s death and his bride's subsequent disappearance might be linked to Kirsten's murder. Meanwhile the skeleton of a young female is found buried in a farmer's field, a field that once belonged to the family of Ralph Strong, the Elizabethan playwright whose The Fair Wife of Padua is to be performed for the first time in 400 years. Is this bloodthirsty play a confession to a murder committed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I? Or does it tell another story, one that might cast light on recent mysteries?

In 1539, a pregnant novice nun, Agnes Moore, ejected from her convent and staying with resentful relatives, claims to have been attacked in the ancient chapel of St. Mary del Quay on Liverpool's waterfront by Satan himself. Her former abbess, Lady Katheryn Buckeley, comes to her aid but when a young priest is found dead in the River Mersey, his right hand hacked off, Katheryn realises that Liverpool harbors some disturbing secrets.

When Carmel Hennessy begins a new job in North Yorkshire, she finds the historic city of Eborby gripped by fear. A killer is on the prowl who binds and asphyxiates his victims before leaving their naked bodies in isolated country churchyards. The press are calling him the Resurrection Man. Tragic events from the past link Carmel with DI Joe Plantagenet, who believes the case may have occult connections. Then Carmel becomes aware of a malevolent presence in her flat, and when she starts to receive mysterious threats, Joe is forced to get into the mind of a cunning and scarily ruthless killer.

Unknown bones, untold secrets, and unsolved crimes from the distant past cast ominous shadows on the present in the dazzling new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil--human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. But whoever this nameless woman was, and whatever befell her, is knowledge lost to another time. . . . Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, Norris Marshall, a talented but penniless student at Boston Medical College, has joined the ranks of local "resurrectionists"--those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. Yet even this ghoulish commerce pales beside the shocking murder of a nurse found mutilated on the university hospital grounds. And when a distinguished doctor meets the same grisly fate, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect. To prove his innocence, Norris must track down the only witness to have glimpsed the killer: Rose Connolly, a beautiful seamstress from the Boston slums who fears she may be the next victim. Joined by a sardonic, keenly intelligent young man named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Norris and Rose comb the city--from its grim cemeteries and autopsy suites to its glittering mansions and centers of Brahmin power--on the trail of a maniacal fiend who lurks where least expected . . . and who waits for his next lethal opportunity. With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail, The Bone Garden deftly interweaves the thrilling narratives of its nineteenth- and twenty-first century protagonists, tracing the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking. Bold, bloody, and brilliant, this is Tess Gerritsen's finest achievement to date."An old mystery is crossed with a modern story in the latest from Gerritsen (The Mephisto Club, 2006, etc.).Julia Hamill, newly divorced and still smarting, purchases an old house outside Boston. Determined to dig a garden, she instead finds the bones of a long-dead woman--the apparent victim of murder--which starts her on a journey to ferret out the story behind her death. Julia connects with Henry, a no-nonsense 89-year-old with boxes of documents that once belonged to the now-deceased previous owner of Julia's home. The two discover a mystery dating back to the 1830s. At the heart of it is a baby named Meggie, born to the beautiful but doomed Irish chambermaid, Aurnia. Married to a man who cares nothing for her, Aurnia lays dying in a maternity ward with her sister, Rose, at her side. Rose, a spirited 17-year-old, takes Meggie to protect her from Aurnia's husband, but soon finds herself the target of a bizarre manhunt. Someone is after the child--and Rose, as well, because she witnessed a horrifying murder. The body count piles up as Rose struggles to remain free of those who would take Meggie from her. Meanwhile, a young medical student becomes the chief suspect of the West End Reaper killings when he stumbles onto another terrible homicide. Although he fights the prospect, eventually he and Rose join forces to solve the murders and protect the baby at the heart of the mysterious deaths. Readers with delicate stomachs may find Gerritsen's graphic descriptions of corpse dissection hard to take, but the story, which digs up a dark Boston of times long past, entices readers to keep turning pages long after their bedtimes." - Kirkus Reviews...

Teenager Lewis Hoxworthy discovers a disturbing painting in a medieval barn; a discovery which excites archaeologist Neil Watson who is excavating an ancient manor house nearby. But when former rock star Jonny Shellmer is found shot through the head in Lewis's father's field and Lewis himself goes missing after contacting a man on the internet, Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson and his boss, Gerry Heffernan face one of their most intriguing cases yet. It seems that the Devon village of Derenham is not only full of resident celebrities seeking the rural idyll, but full of secrets, ancient and modern. Lewis's distraught parents seem to have something to hide. Then the mysterious owner of a new age shop is silenced before she can reveal what she knows about Jonny Shellmer. Is Jonny's death linked to Lewis's disappearance? And does Jonny's best known song, 'Angel' contain a clue? As Neil Watson uncovers the story of Derenham's medieval past, it becomes clear that the Derenham Doom - a painted portrayal of hell and judgement more than half a millennium old - holds the key to the mystery. And as events reach a terrifying climax, Wesley Peterson has to act swiftly if he is to save a young life.

When the decaying body of a murdered woman is discovered in a suburban house, DI Wesley Peterson has problems establishing her identity. But as he digs deeper, he has another more disturbing case to investigate - the naked bodies of two teenagers have been found with shotgun wounds at the foot of a cliff. Both cases become stranger when Wesley realises they are linked to a sinister manhunt, mirroring events from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Then a skeleton is found near the place where the teenagers were last seen alive and Wesley finally has to face a terrible truth ... and a hunt to the death.

"DI Wesley Peterson is called to an unusual crime scene. The victim, Charles Marrick, has been murdered, his body drained of blood. Described by those who knew him as 'evil', it seems that Wesley isn't going to have any shortage of suspects. But when a popular local vet is murdered in an identical fashion, Wesley wonders what the two men could possibly have in common. Meanwhile Wesley's archaeologist friend Neil Watson is alarmed when he starts getting disturbing anonymous letters writing in gory detail about macabre events at a medieval abbey. Neil fears that his letters are being sent by the killer Wesley is looking for. However, Wesley's investigation takes an unexpected twist when a third body is discovered many miles away.And Wesley has the additional problem of a skeleton found in nearby woodland, possibly that of a sex offender who disappeared twenty years before.Could there be a connection between all these deaths and Neil's letters? And could Neil himself be in danger? As the sinister truth unfolds, both Wesley and Neil are forced to face tragedy and shocking revelations? And a killer who bears the scars of past sins. " -- BOOK JACKET.

A year on from the mysterious disappearance of Jenny Bercival, DI Wesley Peterson is called in when the body of a strangled woman is found floating out to sea in a dinghy. The discovery mars the festivities of the Palkin Festival, held each year to celebrate the life of John Palkin, a fourteenth-century Mayor of Tradmouth who made his fortune from trade and piracy. And now it seems as if death and mystery have returned to haunt the town. It is only by delving into the past that Wesley comes to learn the truth ... a truth that will bring mortal danger in its wake.

Twelve pictures, twelve tales of crime and mystery. Written by Murder Squad and their accomplices, these page-turning short stories open up a world of intrigue, suspense and fear. With contributions from celebrated crime writers including Ann Cleeves, Cath Staincliffe and Martin Edwards, each tale has been inspired by the atmospheric and evocative work of Pembrokeshire-based photographer David Wilson. The stories, all illustrated with the images that inspired their authors, include modern day love and betrayal, historical murder mysteries, and crime in the Welsh countryside.