A Monika Paniatowski Mystery
5 total works
Monika Paniatowski knows exactly who the killer is - but there's no way she can tell anyone else!
DCI Paniatowski's team are increasingly convinced that the girl found dead in the woods is the victim of a ritual killing, carried out by a secret society which has been established in the very heart of Whitebridge. Their problem is that without Paniatowski there to back them up, they find it impossible to persuade the ambitious DCI 'Rhino' Dixon that treating it as a mere domestic murder will get them nowhere. And so Meadows, Crane and Beresford find themselves out on a limb - cutting corners, ignoring procedure, and running the very real risk that their careers could be brought to an abrupt and dramatic end.
Meanwhile, Monika herself knows not only who the killer is, but also that he is stalking Louisa, her beloved daughter. But as she is one of the killer's victims too, and is lying in a coma - hearing everything, but unable to move or speak - there is nothing she can do about it!
DCI Monika Paniatowski investigates the killing of an American guest - and uncovers a link to a 50-year-old murder.
When the body of an American woman is found in the Prince Alfred suite at the Royal Victoria Hotel, DCI Monika Paniatowski is faced with one of the most baffling cases of her career. The woman who called herself Mary Edwards had been a guest at the hotel for the past two weeks, having paid cash in advance. But who was she really - and what was she doing in a small town like Whitebridge? If Monika could discover why the dead woman had come to Lancashire, she would be one step closer to catching her killer.
The investigation takes an intriguing twist when Monika learns of a possible link to a fifty-year-old murder - but the only person who could tell her why it's relevant is lying in a coma.
The discovery of a body on a local allotment site re-opens an unresolved cold case for Monika Paniatowski and her team.
He was going to have to terminate Monika, he decided. It was a pity, but there it was.
The body has lain buried for years, and has no face and no fingertips. Monika Paniatowski's team have no real leads, but when they discuss the case at her hospital bedside - where she lies paralysed - Monika begins to see possible links with a case she closed four years earlier.
Are the two cases connected? Did the first murder make the second almost inevitable? She doesn't know, but she does know that she is being watched by an old enemy who will kill her if he decides there is ever any chance of her sharing her thoughts and information with her team.
DCI Monika Paniatowski faces an old enemy - and makes a fatal mistake with the potential to poison her whole career.
Jordan Gough is an important man. He's the town's biggest benefactor. He is the proprietor of the Whitebridge Evening Telegraph. He owns the local football team.
He is also, DCI Monika Paniatowski thinks, as bent as a corkscrew - and if she had any evidence, she'd put him away like a shot. A single encounter with him as a young detective sergeant left an impression she's never forgotten. And neither, she is certain, has he.
So when Jordan calls and demands to speak to Monika - and only Monika - she is on immediate high alert. He claims someone's trying to kill him, but why has he destroyed the evidence? Why turn for help to an officer he hates?
Certain she's the target of a twisted practical joke, Monika makes a terrible mistake - one that could destroy everything she holds dear.
The fourteenth DCI Monika Paniatowski mystery is a powerful and dark tale of revenge, secrets and lies, which grips you tight as it reveals twist after stunning twist.
DCI Monika Paniatowski is forced to think the unthinkable: could a good friend and long-standing colleague be guilty of murder?
On the day of her official retirement from the Force, DCI Monika Paniatowski looks at the two men and one woman who are no longer her team and thinks: Whatever the future holds, I will always be proud of you. She raises a toast. And just like that, her career as a homicide detective is over.
Then, fifteen years later, Monika's former sergeant, Kate Meadows, makes a terrible mistake.
Monika doesn't hesitate when Kate turns to her for help. She owes her, and she can hardly let her old friend go down for a crime she didn't commit.
But as Monika gets deeper into the investigation, she's forced to ask herself the unthinkable: is Kate really innocent, or is she helping her old friend get away with murder?
Packed with twists that will make you gasp out loud, the fifteenth - and final - DCI Monika Paniatowski mystery is a stunning conclusion to the long-running series. If you haven't met Monika yet, you're in for a treat.