Detective Eleanor Raven
3 primary works
Eleanor closed her eyes tightly against the image in front of her. Another innocent life taken, another family left grieving.
Detective Inspector Eleanor Raven arrives at the derelict power station briefed on the murder scene inside. A beautiful young woman has been found, her body posed and a cherry-red lipstick painted across her mouth. But when she catches sight of the engagement ring crusted with blood on her delicate finger, Eleanor pushes back on the grief it provokes. Lydia Greystein had so much to live for. The only way Eleanor can help now is to find the killer responsible, and she and her team immediately set to work.
And when another woman is found, bound in the same ritualistic stance and wearing the same bright red lipstick, Eleanor’s case becomes more twisted and urgent than ever. But struggling to unpick the killer’s motivations, the team is at a loss until Eleanor finds a link between the victims and a cold case, an unsolved death with a connection to her own personal life. To follow the clues now risks bringing her secrets into the open.
But as Eleanor begins to understand the killer, he starts to understand her too.
Eleanor must solve this case before more women are taken. Could the secrets she keeps from those closest to her be the final clue in this case… or will they ultimately cost Eleanor her life?
A fast-paced, tense and completely gripping mystery thriller that will keep you hooked until the final page. Karen Long will be the newest favourite crime author for fans of Lisa Regan, Angela Marsons and Robert Dugoni.
Cry for Mercy was previously published as The Safe Word.
Book 2
The little boy played with his toy trains in the bedroom, keeping quiet so as not to wake his mother. He stayed silent as he watched his window creaking open and heard the whisper from outside. A minute later, Tommy and the trains were gone.
An unrelenting heatwave sweeps the country and starts a fire which uncovers the charred remains of a young woman. But when DI Eleanor Raven attends the post-mortem it reveals some disturbing details—the girl was dead long before the fire, her body had been lovingly preserved before being dressed up, her hair perfectly arranged, and a lime-green scarf knotted around her neck.
With little evidence surviving the fire, Eleanor and her team have no solid leads. But back on duty after six months’ enforced leave, Eleanor is determined to prove herself fit for service, and she won’t accept that this case could prove impossible.
Following a tenuous link to an old missing-persons case, Eleanor discovers the poor woman’s identity: Giselle Baker was a young dancer at a local bar before she disappeared two years ago, leaving behind a worried roommate and, concealed amongst her things, a curious wooden carving of a snake. Before Eleanor can uncover the significance of the toy though, another woman goes missing, and then, a little boy… It seems that someone is collecting a family for themselves.
As Eleanor battles her own demons, she pushes herself to the limit to find the killer. But her fight to save his last innocent victim may become a battle to save herself…
A totally gripping, fast-paced mystery thriller that will leave your jaw on the floor. The next rollercoaster read for fans of Lisa Regan, Angela Marsons and Robert Dugoni.
Perfect Little Dolls was previously published as The Vault.
Book 3
The brand new thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the author of The Safe Word and The Vault.
Winter is settling on Toronto and a series of seemingly unconnected murders are weighing heavily on DI Eleanor Raven. When an army veteran holds his family hostage, leaving chaos and an unidentifiable skeletal human hand in his wake, Raven is left tangled in a web of leads, lies and secrets, with each thread leading her closer to the all too terrifying truth.
But with time running out, Raven needs to re-connect with her past life – the one she thought she’d finally escaped from – if she’s to find out who the killer is before they strike again . . .