Clare Hart

5 primary works

Daddy's Girl

by Margie Orford

Published 1 March 2011

Friday evening. A deserted street below Table Mountain. A six-year-old ballerina waits alone for her mother to fetch her. Then an unmarked car approaches, and she is gone.

With no trace of where, or why she's been abducted, suspicion falls on her divorced father, Captain Riedwaan. The boss of Cape Town's gang unit, Riedwaan is tough and ruthless, a man accustomed to being in control. But now he is powerless. Suspended from the squad for wasting police time, Riedwaan watches helplessly as the search for his daughter is called off.

In desperation, Riedwaan turns to investigative journalist and police profiler Dr Clare Hart, whose brutal TV documentary about Cape Town's missing young girls has made her something of a local celebrity. Clare has seen how aspiring gangsters in the Cape Flats ghetto prove their worth by tormenting children. She knows that the odds of a victim's survival worsen with each passing minute. She understands that finding the child without police involvement will be difficult, dangerous, and probably illegal.

But she also knows she'll do anything to help this heartbroken father - even if it puts all their lives at risk.

Like Clockwork

by Margie Orford

Published 1 March 2009

When a beautiful young woman is found murdered on Cape Town's Seapoint promenade, journalist and part-time police profiler Dr Clare Hart is drawn into the web of a brutal serial killer. As more bodies are discovered, Clare is forced to re-visit memories of the brutal rape of her twin sister and the gang ties that bind Cape Town's crime rings. Is her investigation into human trafficking linked to the murders or is the killer just playing a sick game with her?

Like Clockwork is a dark and compelling crime story which exposes the underbelly of porn and prostitution in today's South Africa.

Blood Rose

by Margie Orford

Published 1 March 2010

As part of a cross-border policing initiative, Dr Clare Hart is sent to profile a possible serial killer in Namibia. Working with Tamar Damases, the woman who heads up the town's Sexual Violence and Murder Unit, Clare is glad for the distraction. Until a few days ago, her budding love affair with Captain Riedwaan Faizal seemed to be going very well indeed - but she has just discovered that he is more married than she had thought...

As the two women trace older crimes that may be related to the recent killings, they discover that nothing is as it had seemed at first. And as Riedwaan joins Clare to help with the investigation and to try to salvage their relationship, she realizes that it's not just their relationship that is in danger: their very lives - and the lives of others - are at stake...

Gallows Hill

by Margie Orford

Published 27 February 2014

Water Music

by Margie Orford

Published 27 February 2014

A terrified, frozen child is found close to death on an icy Cape Town mountainside. But no-one reported her missing. Where does she come from? Who does she belong to? Profiler Dr Clare Hart is baffled – but when a young woman disappears, Clare sees a frightening pattern beginning to emerge.

Rosa is a gifted but troubled young cellist, and her grandfather is at his wits end. Why did she walk out of her music school that day? Where has she gone now?

As winter tightens its grip, Clare must find Rosa and unravel her secrets… all the while carrying a secret of her own.