The lifeless body of a woman wearing an evening dress is discovered in the party room of the wax museum. Everything would suggest suicide, but DCI Eric Shaw, team chief at the Forensic Services of Scotland Yard who’s investigating the scene with crime scene investigator Adele Pennington, immediately notices a few similarities with the case of a serial killer nicknamed Plastic Surgeon, closed three years ago with the arrest of Robert Graham.
Perhaps someone is emulating Graham, or he had an accomplice, but there is a third possibility that especially concerns Eric, who, being convinced of Graham’s guilt, tampered with the physical evidence to ensure his conviction.
What if he made a mistake and sent the wrong person to jail?
After eleven months, and despite her reluctance, he once again finds himself working with DI Miriam Leroux from the Murder Investigation Teams. Now they have to race against time to follow the trail of the elusive murderer.
This is possibly Shaw’s final major case before a promotion to superintendent. The other contender for advancement being DCI George Jankowski, a man who is not afraid to weed out the dirty secrets of others to get what he wants.
And Eric and his pupil hide an unspeakable secret.
The destiny of DCI Eric Shaw is about to be fulfilled.
What is the difference between dedication and obsession?
While investigating the murder of two known offenders with connections to a notorious, recently escaped London drug trafficker, the Scotland Yard forensic team headed by DCI Eric Shaw becomes involved in a child abuse case. A nurse had accused a mother of a series of violent, feverish attacks on her ten-year-old son, Jimmy. The woman would exasperate the condition of her child to draw the attention and compassion of health workers at the hospital.
Eric learned of this accusation by chance because he is dating Catherine Foulger, the paediatrician looking after the child. She is an old flame, and he is seeing her again in the hope of putting some order back in his life after discovering the identity of the serial killer nicknamed Black Death.
But this is a relationship his former partner Adele Pennington, still working as an investigator in Forensic Services, has not really accepted.
DCI Eric Shaw, leading a forensic team at Scotland Yard, together with DI Miriam Leroux from a Murder Investigation Team, is investigating the death of a known offender. Killed by two gunshots: one to his neck, execution style, but preceded by another to his groin, implying a more personal motive.
Shaw’s attention at work is often distracted by a young forensic investigator, Adele Pennington, who is a beautiful woman over two decades his junior. However, his attraction to her is unreciprocated.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the London police, an anonymous blog describes the details of a very similar crime. The author of the blog signs herself as Mina, like one of the victims in a case Shaw investigated many years ago.
Twenty years ago Eric saved her.
Who will save him now?
It was 10 a.m. when undercover agent Amelia Jennings arrived at the law firm Goldberg & Associates for a job interview. Her mission was to investigate a series of murders involving some well-known lawyers in the City. Her target, an elusive hired killer who had been of interest to the police for months.
But her plan is doomed to fall apart before it even starts.
In less than twenty-four hours Amelia will be the prey in a man hunt and her destiny will become entwined with Mike Connor’s.
Their intentions, apparently similar, may prove to be opposite, but the affinity binding them goes beyond what they think they know about each other.
Twenty years ago Eric saved her.
Who will save him now?
Detective Eric Shaw, chief of a forensics team at Scotland Yard, together with Murder Investigation Team detective Miriam Leroux, is investigating the death of a previous offender, killed by two pistol shots: one at his neck, in a style recalling an unusual execution, but preceded by another shot at his groin, which seems having a more personal implication.
However, his attention at work is often distracted by criminologist Adele Pennington, a beautiful woman more than two decades his junior, by whom he realises he is attracted, though his feelings aren’t returned.
Meanwhile, the details about a very similar crime are described in an anonymous blog, unbeknownst by the London police. The author of the blog signs herself Mina, like one of the victims in a case Shaw investigated many years ago.
This is the first book in the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, but can also be read as standalone.
#1 Amazon Bestseller on the Kindle Store in USA, UK, and Australia (October 2015).
Over 170,000 readers around the world.
Available as audiobook starting from $9.94 at Amazon.
Available in paperback starting from $29.40 at Amazon.
This book is no longer available as ebook.
Check out the new edition of The Mentor including a brand new translation (publication: 30 November 2022)!
RED DESERT - BACK HOME (Red Desert, #4)
Earth.
It's their home, they were born and raised there, but at the same time they've never set foot there. And so the deep feelings that Anna and Hassan have as they return to their own planet, after almost five years, are mixed with the marvel of the foreign entity they bring with them, as it lands on a new world.
The two survivors of the Isis mission are welcomed as heroes, but they can't enjoy the adulation. The intent they are pursuing has priority over everything else.
Besides the internal battle between the new Anna and the old, two more conflicts consume her: the one against the hidden dangers brought by Earth itself, not to mention its inhabitants, and a more complex one involving her own feelings, which will force her to make an important choice affecting her future. In the meantime, on the Red Planet, Melissa finds herself deepening her exploration of human nature, torn between dread and disdain against it, and a growing sense of belonging.
But someone, intrigued by the sudden acceleration of the whole Isis program, is beginning to have suspicions. Now that the adventure on Mars is over, what will Anna's choice be? What will become of Earth?
The joy of finding the small community living in Ophir is soon shattered by the news coming from Houston about the loss of contact with Station Alpha. In fact for more than a day now, no life signs have been detected inside the habitat.
So, together with Jack, Anna sets out for Lunae Planum again. She’s assailed by dread about Robert’s and Hassan’s fate, and also by doubts concerning their involvement in the death of both the Isis mission commander, and most of all, his wife.
However, having to face Michelle’s murderer is only the first of her problems.
Torn between the desire to return to Earth and the ambition of getting the credit for her scientific discoveries, Anna will see her feeble certainties waver several times, until the revelation of a more devious danger concealed by the Red Planet: an invisible enemy, whose mysterious intent menaces her existence and the one of the only person who is still at her side.
After 995 days on Mars, the enthusiasm of the Isis crew has turned into frustration and intolerance. Their research hasn’t provided the hoped for outcomes, the resources at their disposal are insufficient, and NASA had previously cancelled the launch of a second mission, which would have brought more colonisers and equipment to the planet.
Relationships among the five members of the expedition have become difficult. Station Alpha is home to a complex web of conflicts, secrets, alliances, and rivalries.
Now a new launch window is about to open, but the news from Houston isn’t reassuring at all. While the finding of a possible ice sac might give a positive turn to the events, Anna, embittered by the unusual behaviour of Robert and the cold war against Hassan, is considering the opportunity to return to Earth.
When death strikes amongst the five inhabitants of Mars, Anna finds her only possible choice is a solitary escape. But Mars has got an incredible discovery in store for her, a key to a mystery hidden in the depths of Valles Marineris.
Thirty years after the Mars exploration mission Hera, whose crew died in mysterious circumstances, the ensuing political issues that slowed NASA's race to conquer space have finally ended. This time the five members of the new Isis mission will not travel the 400 million kilometres for a short visit. This time they are destined to become the first colonisers of the Red Planet.
The science fiction series “Red Desert”, set in the near future, includes four books.
The first one, “Point of No Return”, is a novella.
In what looks like a suicide attempt, Swedish exobiologist Anna Persson, crew member of the Isis, secretly leaves Station Alpha at the crack of dawn to travel deep into the Martian desert in a pressurised rover.
As she journeys to the limit of her two day oxygen supply, she shows us memories of events from her past leading up to the mission. Little by little, as time and oxygen run out, she reveals the real Anna. Whatever her goal, wherever it is, will Anna reach her destination?
Type: novella
Genre: hard science fiction, technothriller, mystery
