New Book: THIS COLD NIGHT

Yes, I’ve written another crime novel. It’s the third in my Cold Case series, featuring my detective Rosanna Quillan.

She first appeared, as a detective constable, in BETHULIA, published by Diamond Crime, when I had no idea of writing a series. But since I decided to stick with my disillusioned Rosanna, after she left the police, I have re-released Bethulia (new cover and all) as BEST SERVED COLD, volume one of the series. It was followed by COLD IN THE EARTH, Vol II. and now, here comes THIS COLD NIGHT, to join them as Volume III.

In the first of the series, Best Served Cold (think Jacobean Revenge Tragedy), Rosanna is driven to nag away at a case that the police have officially closed. What drives her is the memory of her mother, victim of coercive and controlling behaviour, bullied into suicide by Rosanna’s father. That’s an issue that continues to drive her in the second book, Cold In The Earth, where, as a private detective, she is commissioned to find the mother of a serial killer who murdered at least five girls. The mother would receive no sympathy from Rosanna, if her own memory of her own mother did not continue to haunt her.

Now, in book 3, THIS COLD NIGHT, Rosanna’s own childhood is still pushing her on. At sixteen, she had walked out on what was left of her family, so she instantly relates to a girl called Lianne, who left home in 2008, aged just fifteen. She traces her last known movements to a religious community in 2011, but what became of her then? Never mind the suspect motivations of the aunt now looking for Lianne, or the guilt of those who failed to look for her before. Rosanna wants the truth acknowledged, even if Lianne is no longer alive to benefit.

There is a small problem. It’s the same problem that arose in my first ever novel, A TIME FOR SILENCE. Investigation can be very deceptive, and what appears to be the truth can turn out to be a complete pack of lies. Perhaps, in the end, the most important truth tat Rosanna learns is the real meaning of family.

Kindle Version of THIS COLD NIGHT available now