Wire In The Blood

Dr Tony Hill has finally persuaded the police to reopen the case of Maggie Thomas – his long standing child-killer patient, in order to try and recover the bodies for the victims’ families. Carol is less than impressed to discover that Tony has enlisted the help of one of his students, the bright and extremely attractive Laura Webster. But Laura’s abilities at criminal psychology become seriously challenged when her best friend Hattie is abducted. Tony very swiftly finds that the price for bending the rules with Laura to help her understand crime on the Maggie Thomas case gives her too much access to the work to find her friend. Loyalties fray as Tony finds himself in the middle of the unpredictable and unobtainable triangle of himself, Carol and Laura – and in so doing drives Maggie away from him. Meanwhile Hattie’s abductor has taken another victim, and while the police’s attention focuses on that, Maggie Thomas decides that she’s had enough of not being taken seriously, and Carol finds herself with another victim on her hands. Tony and Carol have become close to each other in their joint career, but do they always know when they are telling the truth?

When bodies are discovered at Norton Hotel during the digging of new foundations, Carol is sent in to work oversee whether they were in any way suspicious, or a legacy of the hotel’s previous incarnation as part of the local Abbey. But the discovery of the bodies coincides with the hotel being burned to the ground, and Carol realises that she’s got a very current case on her hands. She calls Tony in when it becomes apparent that someone is killing people now in a way that Norton hasn’t seen since it burned witches, like the rest of the country, back in the middle ages. Needless to say, Brandon isn’t too chuffed to have nothing to brief the press with but Tony’s theory that the same killer could somehow be reaching a long arm over five centuries of murder – Carol and Tony have their work cut out. The Darkness of Light forces Tony and Carol to challenge all that they thought they knew, as it is a case rich in the inexplicable. This killer forces them to test not only their science and experience, but also their very beliefs.

Carol is promoted to Detective Chief Inspector, but her new rank brings her no comfort as another tricky case lands on her desk. She is baffled when a murder takes place with all the hallmarks of killer and Bradfield gang boss Gavin Cochran, who is already banged up on remand for a murder that he is awaiting trial on. She needs Tony to work out whether he thinks this second murder is connected to the one Gavin has already committed. But events in Tony’s life are keeping him from his work with the police – Carol can’t believe it when she discovers that Tony is getting married – he didn’t even invite her to the wedding. Nonetheless, the killing goes on, and only their team work is going to stop it. Carol’s inquiry goes into freefall when she arrests Gavin’ s brother on suspicion that he is killing on the orders of his brother – but the arrest ends in a tussle that puts the suspect in a coma, and Carol on effective probation in her new rank. It also allows her prime suspect, Gavin Cochran, out on compassionate leave to see his brother in hospital, and while he is out another murder is committed. This killer seems to be untouchable, and although Tony devises a plot to ensnare him, it is dependant on Carol perjuring herself in court. She’s only just made DCI after a lifetime of trying; does she trust Tony enough to do it?

Carol’s investigation into a domestic murder takes a darker twist when the victim, who had been recovering well in hospital, is murdered. The crime has graduated from being something that happened in the heat of the moment to something with far more premeditation. As a precaution, Carol orders post mortems of other patients who had died in that hospital of “natural causes”, and finds out that she has a lot more murder on her hands than she’d bargained for. Tony begins to establish that this killer may believe they are healing their victims in some way killing for religious belief – but the thought of some form of compulsory euthanasia killer brings little comfort to the investigative team, or the victim’s families. Tony and Carol begin to unearth the undercurrents and tensions that lie within the hospital structure, but that only yields more suspects, rather than narrowing the search. The investigation suffers a further thread when MI5 get involved, as Islamic terror becomes one of the lines of inquiry. Carol finds herself with another layer of command above her that has to be constantly satisfied, and when Brandon finds himself in need of medical attention, Carol loses her only political protection. Tony and Carol are forced to follow their instincts, but with Merrick and Kevin concentrating on who will succeed Carol’s old job of DI, they’ve got no one but themselves to turn to for help.

Tony Hill and the police search for a serial killer who has resurfaced after five years time and targets children from abusive homes. DCI Jordan is in hospital after being mugged and hit by a car.

Tony Hill works with the police to solve the murder of the Johnsons, who were butchered in their flat. When a second victim, Sarah Maynard, is similarly killed they realize they have a serial killer on their hands. William MacAdam, a one-time killer is now one of Tony's students and these new murders are very similar to the ones he committed 30 years ago. He was released from prison as he was considered rehabilitated and has lost the use of both hands due to severe arthritis. Tony is convinced that MacAdam is their man, but he is quite shrewd and it will be very difficult to get the evidence required.