A Very Private Murder

DI Charlie Priest is the kind of officer who likes to get on with the job, though his unorthodox ways have held him at inspector level for a record-breaking length of time; however Priest does get results.

When Charlie suspects a businessman, with a background of extortion and GBH, of involvement in an international art fraud, he's taking on an enemy with friends in high places. But Charlie can be persistent to the point of recklessness and no threat will stop him...

When Dr Clive Jordan’s dazzling career is brought to an abrupt end by a bullet, his colleagues are devastated especially the female ones. Meanwhile Charlie has another case on his hands that is proving difficult to solve although he’s traced the alleged attacker, something isn’t quite right...

Charlie knows for certain there’s a killer on the loose and almost certainly a rapist as well. The chances of bagging either of them seem slim, but Charlie’s a lot tougher and smarter than his affable manner indicates.

D.I. Charlie Priest of the East Pennine force is officially on sick leave, but this brief break from work comes to an abrupt end when Mrs Norris’s chauffeur is found dead from unnatural causes namely a blast to the head from a Kalashnikov. Her husband, an American tobacco tycoon, is distinctly unfazed.

Meanwhile, big-time drug smugglers on the Hull to Rotterdam run demand his attention. When Charlie discovers the connection between his previous inquiry and the drug smugglers he realises that he’s on very dangerous territory indeed.

Laura Heeley was just an average mother of two, but at the age of thirty-eight her life was swiftly taken from her, stabbed in the back on her way home from bingo. Colinette Jones was a popular, attractive and intelligent student, but she has been strangled, her body dumped on the roadside. What is the connection between the two victims? Detective Inspector Charlie Priest must solve the mystery, though with no clear motive and police movements constricted by foot-and-mouth disease, this proves an increasingly frustrating task. As the number of victims mounts, it becomes clear to Priest that this could be his biggest challenge yet...

Joe Crozier, a businessman with a decidedly shady past, is enjoying being wined and dined, but refusing his host's request costs Joe more than he could ever have imagined... Bound and gagged, he takes a silent and deadly dip in the nearby river.

Meanwhile, DI Charlie Priest is called to another murder scene, only to find that the victim is an old school friend of his, the famous mountaineer, Tony Krabbe. But what could this amiable lecturer have done to deserve being attacked with his own ice-pick? And could the two cases be linked?

When salesman Tony Silkstone confesses to murder, the top brass of the Heckley police are keen to convict and close the lurid case. But Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is not convinced that things are as simple as they seem. A hitman turns up in town, a juvenile car thief wreaks havoc and Charlie complicates matters further when he starts dating one of his colleagues.

As links between his case and another murder emerge, Charlie pursues the trail and finds himself faced with questions about his own friends and his feelings towards them.

The sun is shining in Heckley, and DI Charlie Priest is wise-cracking his way through the daily routine. Work is, if not quite relaxed, at least stress-free. The biggest case on the books? A petty thief pinching underwear from the washing-lines of unsuspecting housewives. Charlie's pretty confident he can handle it.

But all good things come to an end and it's not long before the clouds roll in. Two people nearly die after eating contaminated food from a local supermarket. The media is alerted, a national scare ensues and it's clear that if Charlie doesn't act fast he could be dealing with a murder enquiry.

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest’s day hasn’t started well. Late for the first time in twenty years, thanks to a hangover, he’s got a grisly workload to face.

Hartley Goodrich has been found dead in his armchair, right beside the flowerpot that caused the gaping gash to his head. There’s little doubt that this was murder, and when Charlie discovers that Hartley’s financial advice had lost his clients a small fortune, there’s no shortage of suspects either.

But is the case all it seems?