Harriet Martens Mysteries
7 primary works
Book 1
Harriet Martens is a tough cop, but she must now muster all her strength to prevent a serial killer completing a gruesome plan of revenge. Detective Chief Inspector Harriet Martens has earned the nickname the Hard Detective - but she's had to be unyielding to make it in a man's world. It was, after all, this toughness that inspired her successful Stop the Rot campaign, that has so provoked local criminals. But now two of her officers have died within hours of each other. Harriet comes to believe both have been murdered - and a disturbing idea follows. For the circumstances of each death echo words from the Book of Exodus: Life for Life, Eye for Eye . . . Has a killer chosen this gruesome ritual to tell Harriet she has been pushing too hard? And if so, can she prevent the six deaths that will surely complete the quotation? Beginning with Tooth for tooth . . .
Also in this series: The Rich Detective, The Good Detective, The Bad Detective and The Soft Detective.
'One of his best...It really is a top-notch story.' Birmingham Post
Few who pick up this latest offering from a master will be disappointed by the superior fare on offer here.' Crime Time
Book 2
Detective Chief Inspector Harriet Martens is nicknamed the Hard Detective for her tough stance. So no one, least of all Harriet , expected her to fall - dangerously - in love while investigating the murder of a tennis star . . .
It was six-thirty in the morning when DCI Harriet Martens took a phone call that would change her life . . . For the call is to inform her that Britain's number one tennis star, the beautiful Bubbles Xingara, has been murdered in the grounds of her luxurious house. Harriet is now in charge of a case that will have the world's media - already massing for the start of Wimbledon - out in force. But it is not the investigation that is about to explode Harriet's life. Or the string of murder suspects - including Bubbles' stepfather and coach Peter Renshaw, her assistant Fiona Diplock, or even the French gangster, Pierre le Fou, who had been stalking her. No, it is the handsome figure of Detective Inspector Anselm Brent. For Harriet Martens - wife and mother, nicknamed the Hard Detective by the press and her colleagues - has fallen madly and passionately in love with a fellow officer . . .
Book 3
Book 4
Summoned to the office of her new Chief Constable, Harriet Martens does not expect to be greeted with the words 'Who killed the preacher?', and entrusted with an unsolved case dating back to the 1960s. The Imperial Hotel, scene of the brutal murder of the Boy Preacher over thirty years ago, is about to be demolished, and the Chief wants Harriet to take one last look at the scene.
Seven people had waited outside the ballroom where the Boy Preacher was to begin his sermon, shortly before he was found brutally strangled. Now, with the use of DNA, the suspects clothes are to be scientifically examined. The Chief Constable is intending to close this case once and for all.
As she waits for the DNA results, Harriet decides to interview the suspects and make her own mind up about the Boy's killer. However the case is not as simple as she expects, and the DNA results do not tally with Harriet's own mounting suspicions.
Soon the case is taking over her life and invading her sleep and the Hard Detective begins to worry that this time, she will not be able to give the Chief the answers he wants . . .
Book 5
In her most dangerous case yet, Harriet Martens finds herself the victim of a 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 . . .
Book 6
Book 7
