The TV Detective
5 primary works • 6 total works
Book 1
The first book in the TV Dectective crime series by Simon Hall.
The TV Detective finds television reporter Dan Groves newly assigned to the crime beat, and in a state of angst about it. He needs a crash-course in police work; the solution is to shadow Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen on a high-profile murder inquiry, which doesn't go down well with some members of the police force.
The victim is a notorious local businessman, Edward Bray, a man with so many enemies that one of the problems the inquiry faces is having a surplus of suspects. Bray is killed at a prearranged meeting, in a lay-by on a dark and storm-lashed night, by a blast through the heart from a shotgun. Adam investigates and uncovers a tantalising question, which seems to be at the heart of the case: why was the killing planned for a different day, but put off apparently because the weather was sunny?
Tensions abound between Dan and the police, and he comes close to being thrown off the case - until the detectives come to realise he might actually be helpful, in using the power of television to tempt the murderer into a trap.
Book 2
A dying artist creates a series of ten paintings – The Death Pictures – which contain a mysterious riddle, leading the way to a unique and highly valuable prize. Thousands attempt to solve it. But before the answer can be revealed, the painter is murdered.
A serial rapist is working through a series of attacks. He isn’t shy to make clear his hatred of women, and taunting of the police. He leaves his calling card, a witch’s hat at the houses he breaks into, each numbered from a pack of six.
The detectives face baffling questions. Why kill the artist when he would die naturally in just a few weeks time? What to make of the attempted break in at his house just before his death? Could it be connected with the rapes, all of which have been carried out in the area around his home?
The media interest in the cases is intense, and Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen again turns to his friend, TV Crime reporter Dan Groves to help him handle it. Dan does – at the price of some great scoops, and an involvement in the case that eventually leads him to effectively talk to the rapist, using the stories he broadcasts to lure him into a trap, and finally, discover the extraordinary solution to the riddle.
Book 3
Adam and Dan are hunting a psychopath, a once brilliant man, demented by memories of war and the death of his best friend. And utterly bent on teaching society a lesson …
A masked man breaks into women’s homes, never speaking and stealing nothing of value, only a document bearing their name. Soon, he leaves behind a sinister note, boasting of plans to commit a great crime; a crime that will shock the country.
A police marksman kills two men in separate but frighteningly similar shootings. But is it murder?
Another woman is attacked, another document taken, another note left. It claims each contains a code revealing the `great crime’. And it’s growing closer, hour by passing hour.
Why does the attacker steal only documents with women’s names on? How to solve the riddle contained in the notes? Time is running out. As each riddle is cracked, the man is always one step ahead of the police – until the increasingly desperate search converges on Dartmoor …
Simon Hall is the BBC Crime Correspondent for the Devon and Cornwall area. Evil Valley is the third novel in his TV Detective series, following the highly successful The Death Pictures. Simon is 38 years old and lives with his wife in Plymouth.
Book 4
The fourth title in Simon Hall's TV Detective series.
A terrorist outrage in a sacred building shocks the country. But that is just the start of the scandal which is about to unfold.
Television reporter Dan Groves lies unconscious in a hospital bed. Outside, Britain is transfixed by the bombing, a radical Islamic plot, a secret service double-cross, and a murderous cover-up.
And two questions – What role could Dan have played in exposing the scandal, when he lay sedated as the story broke? And where does the Balance of Guilt lie?
Praise for Simon Hall:
“Fiendishly clever” The Scotsman
“A compelling thriller … difficult to put down.” New Books Magazine
Book 6
The race is on for crime-fighting reporter Dan Groves and his detective friend Adam Breen as they are caught in a blackmailer's web of sordid sex secrets which has already forced public figures to take their own lives...
The Judgement Book is just a pocket diary, but festering with so much sin and scandal.
First an MP, then a senior police officer, kill themselves after The Book exposes their sordid sexual secrets.
Scores more prominent people wait fearfully to see what will be revealed about the darkness of their own lives.
Crime-fighting reporter Dan Groves, and Detective Adam Breen discover they too are in The Book and are forced into a desperate race to find the blackmailers, to stop them exposing the secrets which would destroy their own futures...
Simon Hall is the BBC Crime Correspondent for the Devon and Cornwall area. Evil Valley is the second novel in his TV Detective series, following the highly successful Plymouth.