Jon Spicer
4 primary works
Book 1
Manchester, 2002. The Commonwealth Games are coming to town and the city is alive with possibilities. Caught up in the commercial feeding frenzy is Tom Benwell, account manager at an advertising firm. The pressure is getting to Tom - too many deals to make and lies to tell, and the passion for his job is waning. Meanwhile his friend, DI Jon Spicer, is on the fast track, showing a commitment to the job that borders on obsession, or so his girlfriend Alice tells him.
Then, in the aftermath of the Games, a series of brutal killings shatters the city's new found spirit. Jon Spicer gets the case. Each victim has been murdered in the same bizarre and grotesque manner, yet the lack of motive leaves the police utterly baffled.
With the race on to catch the killer, both men find themselves caught up in a nightmare where the most innocent action can cost the highest price. In this nail-biting crime thriller, Chris Simms draws us into the shadows that lurk behind the city's shiny new exterior, then plunges us into the mind of a madman.
Book 2
'The Butcher of Belle Vue' has struck again. Like the first two victims, the third has been partially skinned and dumped on waste ground, her muscles, tendons and ligaments exposed to view. Only this time, her face has also been removed. Jon Spicer and his new partner, Rick Saville, are on the investigating team. The case is waiting for its first breakthrough when a woman approaches Jon insisting that she heard 'The Butcher' claiming his third victim in the next-door room of a run-down hotel in Belle Vue. But all she has to back up her story is a business card that she recovered from the empty room the following morning - it's from a local escort agency and the name 'Alexia' has been scrawled on the back. Jon's investigation takes him into the twilight world of Manchester's escort agencies and the unscrupulous cosmetic surgery industry, ultimately forcing him to confront the propensity for violence that is inherent within each of us - even within himself.
Book 3
The body of a woman with her throat ripped out is found on Saddleworth Moor, near Manchester. She is discovered in an area where several sightings of a mysterious large black cat have been made. When analysis shows that hairs caught under the victim's nails are those of a panther, it is assumed that the animal has killed its first human prey. But then a man DI Jon Spicer is investigating as part of an entirely different case is murdered in exactly the same way. Only this time the body is found in a secluded car park - a popular gay rendezvous far closer to the city centre. Soon DI Spicer finds himself hunting a killer dubbed The Monster of the Moor, a creature whose stealth and savagery strike terror into the local population and way beyond it to the whole of the north west ...
Book 4
The deliberate torching of a church creates outrage across Manchester. And when a charred corpse and satanic symbols are found in the smoking ruins, DI Jon Spicer and the city's Major Incident Team are called in. Jon Spicer quickly finds himself drawn into the depths of a horrifying underworld he didn't know existed. Soon, fresh killings bring the realisation that those responsible are prepared to commit unspeakable acts of evil in homage to their God. DI Spicer knows the atrocities must be halted, but even in his worst nightmares he could never imagine how close to his own home the investigation will take him. As the case threatens to engulf Manchester in fires of hatred, can Spicer and those he loves escape unharmed?