Showing results by author "Simon McCleave" in All Categories

Three years ago, DCI Laura Hart was the top hostage and crisis negotiator for the Greater Manchester Police. Then her husband was kidnapped. Despite her best efforts to reason with the criminals, he was brutally murdered. Now living on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, Laura is slowly healing. Then she gets a call: armed drug dealers have seized a tourist boat—and her 10-year-old son Jake is on board. There’s no other negotiator available, and the police need her to step up.

Diary of a War Crime is the first book in the DI Ruth Hunter crime prequel series. If you like chilling police procedurals, true-to-life characters and psychological twists, then you’ll love Simon McCleave’s addictive thrill ride. London, 1997. A series of baffling murders. A web of political corruption. DC Ruth Hunter thinks she has the brutal killer in her sights, but there's one problem. He’s a Serbian War criminal who died five years earlier and lies buried in Bosnia.

Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter is still struggling to deal with her stress. So when the body of a businessman washes up on a secluded North Wales shore, the former London cop is anxious to prove she can lead the local investigative team and nail the killer. But as she digs into the dead millionaire’s business affairs, DI Hunter discovers a disturbing link to an infamous Liverpudlian drug lord....

When a London journalist is run off the road and killed, it seems that his death might be linked to his investigation into plans for a nuclear plant. Is the murder linked to an American power company with a dark past who want to bury the story? There are also locals who stand to make millions from the plant’s construction. However, it soon appears there might be an event in Jake’s past that might provide the clue.

Starting a new life in Snowdonia was always DI Ruth Hunter's dream. Until a twisted killer turned it into her worst nightmare. Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter lives with the pain of her partner’s mysterious and unsolved disappearance. About to hit 50, the veteran police officer trades in the crime-ridden streets of London for a more peaceful life in rural North Wales. But Ruth has barely settled into her new position in North Wales Police, when the body of a brutally murdered woman is discovered...with strange symbols carved into her skin.

DI Ruth Hunter and her partner, DS Nick Evans, must decide if a local man is the victim of a Liverpool gangland hit. Ruth and Nick are called to a gruesome discovery at the beautiful Lake Vyrnwy, but have little to go on to identify the grisly remains.

When the remains of a missing teenager are uncovered, DC Ruth Hunter presumes the 40-year-old murder is linked to a knife fight between South London gangs in the 1950s. However, as the investigation widens, Ruth and her impetuous partner DC Lucy Henry, discover a disturbing connection to the dark criminal past of a prominent knight of the realm. Narrowing down their investigation to an infamous South London club, Ruth begins to uncover a complex web of historic police corruption, brutal protection rackets and celebrity gangsters.

A dangerous Islamic terrorist. A safe house in the middle of Snowdonia. Can DI Ruth Hunter and DS Nick Evans deliver the suspect safely before there is a deadly rescue attempt?

Detective Ruth Hunter’s ongoing quest for her missing partner has taken a dramatic twist as she continues to live her life away from London in Snowdonia. When a popular rugby coach is brutally murdered, and a young woman vanishes, Ruth must examine the secret lives of a local community in shock. As Ruth and her sidekick DS Nick Evans begin to uncover a confusing mesh of dark deception, she realizes that the answer might lie in the victim’s own clandestine life.

Ruth and Nick are called to a fatal shooting at Chirk Castle, a well-known tourist spot in North Wales. The only witness to the murder is Daniel, the 10-year-old son of the victim. Ruth discovers that the victim was a small-time drug dealer and it seems that his killing might be linked to stolen drugs. However, when a local girl is also brutally murdered, Ruth has to change the focus of the investigation as it is clear that the murderers will go to any lengths to cover their tracks.

A missing ex-partner. A web of corruption. Can DI Ruth Hunter locate and rescue the woman she loved before she vanishes again - this time forever? Having disappeared off the face of the Earth seven years ago, DI Ruth Hunter has been unable to give up the search for her missing ex-partner, Sarah. Following a series of new clues, Ruth flies to Paris in a desperate attempt to find Sarah before she is trafficked out of the country...or worse!

A young couple on the run. A trail of death and destruction. Can DI Ruth Hunter stop Snowdonia's answer to Bonnie and Clyde before another innocent victim is murdered?

When the body of a local boat tour operator is found on the beach beside Llandudno Pier, it seems that her murder might be linked to an ongoing rivalry with a new boat tour company. However, when it is discovered that the victim had recently started a relationship with a much younger man, the focus of the investigation changes.

An inmate at Tonsgrove prison is murdered in her cell, but no one is willing to talk to the police. DI Gareth Williams is receiving pressure from above to solve the case – and quickly. Then, a local seventeen-year-old girl vanishes from her home. The close-knit community is shaken and they each have a different theory. Gareth knows that time is of the essence. With two major cases being investigated at the same time, the Beaumaris force is stretched thin. Frustrated at the lack of progress Gareth’s colleague and fiancée, DI Laura Hart, decides to take action: going undercover at the prison.

Two months since ex-Police Negotiator Laura Hart was forced back into action after her son’s kidnap, she has re-joined the force as a DI. On her first day, an anonymous tip-off leads to the discovery of a skeleton in a crumbling castle ruin near the seaside town of Beaumaris, Anglesey. Laura can’t wait to prove herself by solving the case and when the investigation leads her to MI5 and the Real IRA, she knows she’s on the trail of something truly explosive. But some people will do anything to stop their secrets coming out – as the rising body count shows.

When local teenagers discover a body at the disused Denbigh Asylum, it seems that his murder might be linked to a modern slavery ring trafficking young people from the Indian subcontinent. However, social media then reveals that the victim was involved in a toxic relationship which may provide a clue to his death. When there is another murder, the focus of the investigation switches again. With time running out, Ruth and the Llancastell CID team must find the killer before they flee the country and disappear.

The beautiful Isle of Anglesey has been rocked by the brutal murders of three female students at a local college. DI Laura Hart is called in to track down the murderer – who the papers have dubbed the Anglesey Ripper – before he strikes again. She quickly identifies a suspect but just as she is about to pounce, he slips through her fingers. Laura and the Beaumaris CID must pursue the serial killer across the island in an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse – but he’s always one step ahead of them. And soon, the hunters will become the hunted.

Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter has resolved to put the grief of her missing partner behind her and continue to make a life away from London in Snowdonia. When a 16-year-old girl, Rosie, mysteriously vanishes, the case brings up unresolved issues from the past for Ruth. Ruth realises that the key to Rosie’s disappearance might lie within a violent battle for control of a local prison.

When ex-soldier Ashley Campbell is brutally murdered outside a Peckham nightclub, Ruth's first thought is that it is gang related. Yet, as the investigation progresses, it seems that the victim's time as a recruit at Cranleigh Barracks might hold the key to the true identity of the murderer. As Ruth and Lucy uncover a brutal culture of bullying, racism and sexual abuse at the barracks, it seems that several officers in the British Army will go to any lengths to protect their identity.

A fanatical religious cult. A growing list of missing teenagers. Can DI Ruth Hunter and DS Nick Evans uncover the dark secrets of Solace Farm before there is another ritual killing?