NEW BOOKS CONSTABLE 1997

Jessica Mann. Hanging Fire. Constable July 97 0 09 477370 X £16.99
Journalist Tess Redpath, has been busy. She has just commissioned a piece on the marriage of
a glamorous television soap star to a Prince and is researching articles on the anniversary of the
tragic suicide of feminist Luisa Weiss and a horrific cult massacre in the States. Minutes after meeting her new boss however, Tess is devastated to find herself out of a job. Life without deadlines is empty. Then Tess decides to continue working on the pieces she's just started, and some strange connections begin to appear. When someone ransacks her flat and tries to burn it down, Tess gets the feeling she has stumbled on something really big.
Hanging Fire is an elegant, compelling mystery from an author at the peak of her talent.
Jessica Mann's previous novel, A Private Inguiry, was shortlisted for a Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger Award and attracted extremely good reviews. Her other titles include Telling Only Lies, Faith, Hope and Homicide, Death Beyond the Nile and A Kind of Healthy Grave. 

Roger Ormerod. The Night She Died. Constable Aug 97 0 09 477480 3 £16.99
At first, retired detective Inspector Richard Patton doesn’t recognise his unexpected visitor. Then, suddenly, he remembers violence, a storm, murder. . .
It was ten years ago, almost to the day. Sylvia Thomas, the mistress of shady businessman Harry Martin, was found bludgeoned to death in her home. Connie Martin knew of her husband's infidelity. She had already been seen publicly threatening Sylvia, her thumbprint was found on the dead womam’s watch and it didn't take long to find her guilty Now Connie has served her sentence, but still protests her innocence. She has come to persuade Richard Patton to re-investigate, to piece together what really- happened that fateful night, and to find the real murderer. 

Peter Robinson. Dead Right. Constable Aug 97 0 09 477490 0 £16.99 See Review

On a rainy night in Eastvale, a teenager is found kicked to death in an alley. Detective Chief Inspector Allan Banks and Detective Constable Susan Gay quickly learn that the victim, Jason Fox, was a member of a white power organisation known as the Albion League. Who was his killer? The Pakistani youths he had insulted in the pub earlier that evening? The shady friends of his business partner mark Wood? Or could it be someone from within the Albion League itself, someone who resented Jason's growing power within the organisation? Then Banks makes a discovery that not only turns the case on its head, but also threatens to end his career. 

Patricia Hall. Perils of the Night Constable Sep 97 0 09 477580 X £16.99 See Review
Reporter Laura Ackroyd finds herself on a collision course with Detective Chief Inspector Mochael Thackeray when she takes on a rash assignment in Bradfield's red light district and ends up in the cells. With the street girls besieged by vigilantes and two brutal murders in the neighbourhood, Ackroyd and Thackeray find their loyalties stretched and their lives at risk. With a charismatic vicar who is not all he purports to be, impoverished students supplementing their grants in ways their mothers would not like, and the tabloid press prying into dark corners of family lives, Patricia Hal1's latest novel offers a skilful mix of contemporary issues and emotional dilemmas which ends in a climax of blood and tears.
Jacket illustration Terry Pastor

Nicholas Rhea Confession Constable Sep 97 0 09 477600 8 £16.99 See Review
When a young man loses control of his bright red sports car and, with his dying breath, confesses to a murder, Detective Sergeant Mark Pemberton is baffled. No suspicious deaths have been reported recently. The only unsolved cases on the police books are the murders of several prostitutes, the work of the so-called `sandal strangler', who always takes the away the shoes of the dead women. Could the car crash victim be a serial killer?
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor

Maureen O'Brien Mask of Betrayal Constable Jan98 0 09 978090 0 £16.99
When the police discover the badly decomposed body of a woman in the Kentish Town home of actress Kate Creech, who hasn't been seen for some time, they immediately set about finding her killer. But Kate Creech soon turns out to be alive and well, acting in a production of Medea in
Coventry. She claims to have no idea who the dead woman might be, who might have been using her house in her absence, or why, and she appears to have an unbreakable alibi. The wily Detective Chief Inspector Bright suspects that Kate's not playing quite fair with the police, which indeed she is not. Fearing that both killer and victim are part of her circle of friends, Kate goes on the run to do some detective work of her own, and to find out who has betrayed her. 

Jonathan Ross. This Too, Too Sullied Flesh. Constable Oct 97 0 09 477680 6 £16.99
The body of an unknown man is found in the grounds of the exclusive Farquharson Country Club, and Detective Superintendent Rogers is called to investigate. He promptly becomes involved not only in that murder but another when a woman resident is strangled in one of the oases under the club's sub-tropical glass dome. Rogers reveals connections with the suspicious death two years earlier of a rich businessman, his newly widowed and very wealthy wife disappearing with another man who had been reprorted missing. With the definite smell of a further murder and suspected blackmail in the air, and faced with the untangling of a mesh of possible suspects, DS Rogers has his work
cut out.
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor. Design: Splash Studio

Janie Bolitbo. An Absence of Angels. Constable July 97 0 09 477350 5 £16.99
Minutes after Dee Mercer is discovered brutally stabbed to death her lover is arrested for murder, but why does some gut instinct tell Detective Chief Superintendent Roper that the case is not as straightforward as it seems? Dee Mercer's daughter Kelly has not been seen since she suddenly left home three years ago. Could she hold the key to Dee Mercer's death? 

Frank Palmer Murder Live Constable Nov 97 0 09 477650 4 £16.99
Chief Superintendent Phil Todd is assigned to a murder that gripped the nation - the shooting of a journalist on a live television programme produced, to the great embarrassment of the Home Office, with the full co-operation of the police. His enquiries take him into the darkest corners of a lovely cathedral city - drugs smuggling, safeblowing, fabricated evidence and blue movies - and the bright lights of showbiz . . . 

David Craig. The Tattooed Detective. Constable Jan98 0 09 478000 5 £16.99
Panic has gripped Cardiff Bay. As money pours into redeveloping the area the local villains are looking for big gain, everyone’s scrambling for survival, supremacy, and loyalties are shifting. Against this background of mayhem the body of seventeen-year-old prostitute Olive Rice is discovered. It is up to policemen Dave Brade and Glyndwr Jerkins, whose personal mission is to save the area, to find out who killed Olive, and why.
As usual David Craig (who also writes as Bill James) shows `insight into the minds of the hunted, the hunters and the protectors (which) is utterly convincing' The Times 

Brian Battison. Jeopardy's Child. Constable Aug 97 0 09 477530 3 £16.99 
Detective Chief Inspector Ashworth and Detective Sergeant Holly Bedford can only guess at the scale of the depravity at work on their patch when the body of an eight-year-o1d girl is found in a shallow grave. Eventually, with the help of a dauntless and public-spirited local woman, an arrest is made. But can they make the charge stick? Clearly they will get little help from Superintendent Newton, who seems to be willing Ashworth to make a slip so that the annoying Chief Inspector can be jettisoned once and for all. Then another child is abducted and every second counts if they are to find her alive. Battling against the obstinate Superintendent, Ashworth and his team can only pray that they are not too late.
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor

Anthea Cohen. Dedicated Angel. Constable Oct 97 0 09 477690 3 £16.99
To have her lover's latest book dedicated to her - and such a dedication, too - was like a dream come true to Agnes. But if Bill, her husband, read it, it may ruin their comfortable, stable marriage. So it must be changed, and changed it is. But the alteration to another name sparked off a tragic chain of events, including the death of someone who knew, too much and was prepared to use that knowledge. As readers of Anthea Cohen's previous books featuring Agnes Carmichael, now Agnes Turner, are only too aware, crossing Agnes endangers your health.
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor. Design: Splash Studio

Barrie Roberts. Sherlock Holmes and the Man from Hell. Constable Oct 97 0 09 477090 5 £16.99
When Lord Backwater, a wealthy and reclusive philanthropist, is found murdered, two striking
tattoos are revealed on his forearms. `They signify', Holmes tells Watson, `that Lord Backwater's past was more varied than the obituarists imagined.' The Great Detective must unravel a forty-year-old secret and pit himself against a ruthless opponent before the mystery can finally be solved. Sherlock Holmes and the Man From Hell is the third highly accomplished Conan Doyle pastiche by Barrie Roberts in which Holmes and Watson are impeccably recreated.
Barrie Roberts has spent most of the last thirty years working as a criminal lawyer for two firms in the West Midlands, including work on the appeals of the Birmingham Six. He is the author of two other Sherlock Holmes novels: Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Grail and Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac.
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor. Design: Splash Studio

Anthony Masters The Men Constable August 97 0 09 477140 5 £16.99
The three men have been closely bonded ever since they made a remarkable escape from Occupied
France in 1940. Now, in leafy Surrey, the Festival of Britain is being celebrated but the atmosphere in the village where they all live is tense. A young gardener has been found with his throat cut. Tim Groves, who had a nervous breakdown after the war, is persuaded by his wife Lucy to return to France in an, attempt to retrace the dark events that broke him. His two ex-army friends try to prevent him from going. The journey has its own tragedy for Tim, and Lucy Groves' own life is soon under threat. 

Aline Templeton. The Trumpet Shall Sound. Constable Nov 97 0 09 477590 7 £16.99
Anna Harrington is obsessed with her late father, Eden, and is determined that the music festival he started will continue. When she announces that she is prepared to sacrifice everything to keep it going, however, there is no shortage of people with a vested interest in stopping her. Then Anna is found with her throat cut, and the brilliant young conductor who took over from her father is arrested for murder. Set on a collision course with the police, the young conductor's wife investigates, enlisting the help of the world-famous pianist recently arrived to prepare for his concert. But has obsession with his genius blinded her to other, darker sides of his complex character . . . ? 

Barrie Roberts The Victory Snapshot Constable Nov 97 0 09 477670 9 £16.99
Police axe baffled when an elderly man, living alone, is murdered. The killing shows signs of a professional hit but the old boy was harmless and apparently had no criminal connections. In fact, he was once a copper. Then the old man's granddaughter arrives, having received a strange letter asking her to come quickly. If her grandfather is dead she will be given an explanation by his solicitor, Mark Tirroll. Mark, however, knows nothing. The two begin to investigate and together are sucked into a mystery which involves another killing, government agents, burglaries, frame-ups and fire bombs, before finally unravelling the secrets of a faded photograph and a long-forgotten crime. 

Bill Knox Deadline for a Dream Constable 0 09 4776601 Nov 97 £16.99 
A crime reporter, a gun, a money-worshipping girl-friend and inside knowledge of a factory pay-roll car’s movements are a recipe for disaster in the very first appearance of Chief Inspector Thane and Inspector Moss of the Glasgow CID, first published in 1957. After careful planning the reporter brings off the hold-up and carries away a large amount of untraceable used notes. But in the panic of the raid he shoots a young policeman dead and a full-scale murder hunt is launched.
Bill Knox takes his readers stage by stage through the ingenuous planning of the crime and the dragnet of the investigation that follows, seeing them through the eyes of both pursued and pursuer.
Jacket illustration: Terry Pastor. Design: Splash Studio.