Former psychiatrist, Frank Clevenger, is tapped by the FBI to catch an elusive murderer known as the "Highway Killer", who has left twelve bodies strewn across twelve states. Clevenger reluctantly accepts the case, but what he and the authorities cannot know is that the Highway Killer isn't just a serial killer - he is also a psychiatrist, whose brilliance as a gifted doctor is matched only by his precision as a murderer. When he writes to a national newspaper challenging Clevenger to cure him through an exchange of open letters, a gripping public therapy unfolds. But as the Highway Killer confronts the demons that inhabit his own tortured mind, his brutality climbs to new heights. Will Clevenger be able to exorcise those demons before they spin completely out of control?
It was just another day in the life of a small Atlantic resort until the terror from the deep came to prey on unwary holiday makers. The first sign of trouble - a warning of what was to come - took the form of a young woman's body, or what was left of it, washed, up on the long, white stretch of beach... A summer of terror has begun. 'Pick up Jaws before midnight, read the first five pages, and I guarantee you'll be putting it down breathless and stunned, as dawn is breaking the next day'
Daily Express; Peter Benchley's Jaws first appeared in 1974, creating a legend that refuses to die. For a new generation, the ultimate holiday nightmare is about to begin all over again..
Struggling author Billy Dye agrees to ghost the memoirs of Manchester gangster Malcolm Priest. But Priest soon wearies of Billy's big mouth and hires his best hitman to take the writer out. The assassin, Rawhead, turns out to be a schoolfriend Billy hasn't seen for twenty years, so he spares Billy's life and hides him away in an old dark house. After Priest learns that Billy is still alive, he lays a trap for Rawhead. As the violence escalates, Billy discovers that his old friend is a terrifying psychopath who will literally stop at nothing to protect him. And when Rawhead takes an interest in Billy's career, no one - not even in the publishing world - is safe...
In their gripping eighth mystery, Kincaid and Jones investigate murder and racial tensions in 1960s Notting Hill. On a winter's evening in Notting Hill, Dawn Arrowood drives home after a doctor's appointment confirming her preganancy. She is terrified. Her older husband has made it clear that he wants no children, and Dawn is not even sure that the child is his. But as Dawn arrives home, she is attacked from behind as she gets out of her car. In the ensuing struggle, her assailant whispers in her ear 'I'm sorry'. And he cuts her throat. Gemma Jones and Duncan Kincaid are called to the crime scene. The gripping case that develops forces them to investigate 1960s Notting Hill and its racial tensions, the Russian mafia and a possible serial killer... And at the same time, Gemma, pregnant herself with Kincaid's child, has to cope with her own rollercoaster of emotions in a case that is rather too close to home for comfort.
This omnibus contains three stories from Dick Francis in one combined edition, involving the world of racing with plenty of action, suspense, greed and secrets.
Contains
Nerve,
Blood Sport
In the Frame
From the Author
I've spent some time in Afghanistan, both during the Soviet occupation and since the September 11 attacks. I was in Kandahar in February 2002 when I had the idea of writing a thriller about what REALLY happened to Osama bin Laden..
Kinsey Millhone, employed by Nord Lafferty to drive his daughter home from her incarceration at the Californian Institute for Women, marvels at the simplicity of the task. But Reba Lafferty emerges feisty and rebellious, and Kinsey is soon fighting to prevent her charge from breaking the conditions of her parole. As she finds herself befriending the ex-gambler, ex-alcoholic and excon, Kinsey discovers that Reba had taken the fall for her boss, also her lover, when he conducted a highly-crafted money laundering scam. Alan Beckwith has so far escaped the clutches of the FBI. Now they believe he is laundering money for a Columbian drug cartel - they just need the proof. When Kinsey is asked by the police to persuade Reba to unveil crucial evidence guaranteed to put Beckwith behind bars, she doesn't expect cooperation. But when she hears of shocking new information about her lover, Reba is suddenly all too eager to do everything she can to ruin him. Embroiled in a cunning challenge of wits, and meanwhile bemused by her own blossoming romance, Kinsey must try to control the bitter, angry Reba as she launches her dangerous revenge...
In her most traumatic case yet, Harriet Martens finds herself placed in grave danger at the hands of a deft and cunning poisoner. Whilst relaxing with her husband at the Majestic pool one hot August Bank Holiday, Harriet does not expect the refreshing glass of Campari soda at her side to conceal a deadly drug. When she awakes from a doze she is no longer by the water, but in a hospital bed recovering from a near fatal dose of Aconitine. As Harriet makes her slow recovery, she tries to come to terms with the terrible fact that someone wanted to kill her. Even more difficult for her to face is the knowledge that she must find the person responsible, if anything for her own peace of mind. But no sooner has she mustered enough energy to begin making tentative enquiries and initial investigations, than the poisoner strikes again. And this time he is successful... Will Harriet have the strength of mind and body to find the murderer before he finds another victim and before the local population begin to panic? As the murderer's actions become more evident and clues begin to float to the surface, she must put her personal trauma as far behind her as possible, and prepare to reveal the horrible truth...
The three Kettle sisters have been accidentally starring in public performances all their lives, affecting their audiences in more ways that they'll ever know. This time, however, they give a particularly spectacular show when a raucous birthday dinner ends in a violent argument and an emergency dash to the hospital.
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A redundant TV producer has taken on a Victorian mansion on the Welsh border to use for murder mystery weekends. Convinced that the mansion is the site of Conan Doyle's Baskerville story, he invites trouble when his meddling in the spiritual realm attracts an unwholesome force that is far from fictional.
It's 1540, three years after Shardlake's mission to Scarnsea. It is the hottest summer of the sixteenth century. Shardlake is trying to keep a low profile, believing himself to be out of favour with Thomas Cromwell but trying to maintain his London-based legal practice. He has been pulled, against his better judgement, into defending Elizabeth Wentworth, charged with murdering her cousin. But Elizabeth refuses to plead either guilty or not guilty. As a result she will be crushed under weights until she pleads or dies. Shardlake is powerless to help the girl yet she is suddenly granted a reprieve - courtesy of Cromwell. The cost of the reprieve to Shardlake is two weeks once again in the service of Cromwell. Cromwell, however, is no longer the triumphant, irresistible force he once was, not least because of the ill-fated marriage he arranged for the King with Anne of Cleves. Cromwell is running out of options, but he has one more card to play: Greek Fire, an ancient weapon considered lost long ago, which has turned up again in the hands of two alchemist brothers. This is the kind of gift to guarantee the King's favour, it is also the kind of gift that people kill for...