Thackeray & Ackroyd
4 total works
DCI Michael Thackeray knows you can never truly become inured to the sight of death. Especially when there are children involved. On entering the kitchen he is faced with the bloody bodies of a mother and her young daughter, still clutching her teddy bear. And outside the horror continues; a trail of crimson in the white snow leads them to another victim, a girl, who, by chance, is still alive. With Scott, another young child, missing, and the father gone, the police come to the inevitable conclusion that this cruel tragedy is the result of a domestic row turned violent. Whilst Thackeray concentrates on finding the children's father, Gordon Christie, his journalist lover Laura Ackroyd begins to wonder just who the missing man is. With the home devoid of any personal items and no traceable records of a man with that name, she suspects that this case could turn out to be more complicated than it first appears. It is a viewpoint, Thackery comes to share when he finds that his investigation is blocked at every turn, driving him to the brink of resignation and Laura to despair.
As things fall apart, the tangle of violence Laura and Thackeray uncover turns lethal, and their lives hang in the balance as the full tragedy of the elusive Gordon Christie is eventually uncovered...
As things fall apart, the tangle of violence Laura and Thackeray uncover turns lethal, and their lives hang in the balance as the full tragedy of the elusive Gordon Christie is eventually uncovered...
In the dark of the night, two girls are running for their lives. Terrified, one falls and, unable to get up, she forces her friend to go on without her, to save herself. For her, there is no escape as the attackers close in...The following morning the body of a young girl is found in the canal. DCI Thackeray, recently returned to the force after a bungled kidnapping operation left him near death, is put on the case. But with the entire town's attention focused on the football team's upcoming match against Chelsea, no one seems to be able to tell the police anything about how the girl died, let alone identify her. Thackeray's girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd, also has much to investigate. The appointment of a female chairman at the football club has annoyed many people, in particular the men who dominate the shareholders and who will apparently stoop to any depth to force her out. Thackeray and Ackroyd soon discover that their two stories are linked, and the common denominators are the shady dealings of the club's directors and the unsavory goings-on at the infamous post-game parties.
But as Laura becomes more and more involved in the case, does she risk putting Thackeray's job and her life in danger?
But as Laura becomes more and more involved in the case, does she risk putting Thackeray's job and her life in danger?
Laura Ackroyd, the journalist girlfriend of DCI Michael Thackerary, becomes drawn into the plight of Jenny Holden and her daughter Anna when she writes an article about domestic abuse. Suffering violence at the hands of her husband, Jenny takes flight to a women's refuge. But her dreams of a safety are shattered when young Anna goes missing...Meanwhile, Mohammed Sharif, known as 'Omah' to his colleagues, is finding it increasing difficult to keep his balance on the tightrope he walks between his family's traditional Muslim beliefs and his job as a policeman.When his young, newly married cousin Faria Aziz disappears, Mohammed tries to trace her to ease the worry of his family. But his unofficial inquiry soon becomes a police matter when a bloated and badly lacerated corpse is pulled from the river. If it is that of Faria, Thackerary and his team must tread a careful path to discover whether she died by accident, suicide or murder. A tense, gripping and emotional mystery, "By Death Divided" delves into the murky and complex dynamics of two very different families, each of which suffer in the cause of pride, passion and family honour.
Journalist Laura Ackroyd has a lot on her plate. Having recently discovered she is pregnant, she must now gather her courage to tell her partner, DCI Michael Thackeray. So she could have done without the task of profiling Sir David Murgatroyd, the wealthy venture capitalist taking over a local school, especially as, apart from learning from learning of the tragic suicide of his mother, Laura finds him to be an elusive subject. Gradually, Laura discovers more about Murgatroyd, his beliefs, and his power to persuade those around him to his way of thinking. But is there a more sinister side to him that Laura has yet to discover? Meanwhile, Thackeray, in the dark about his impending fatherhood, is busy with the disappearance of Karen Bastable, a young woman who went missing after an illicit meeting in the local forest. As the two parents' careers collide, a web of secrecy is revealed, and Laura must think of her own safety as she becomes entangled in a reality that is far darker than she could have ever imagined.