A fine and private place

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Peter Lovesey

"Two police officers are about to head home after a long night shift when they receive one last call: a suspicious nude person has been spotted in the wee hours of the morning. En route to the call, the patrol car spins off the road, killing one of the exhausted cops instantly and leaving the other in critical condition. Whenever a police car is involved in an accident, the matter must be taken very seriously. Inspector Peter Diamond is assigned to look into the case. His supervisor is desperately hoping Diamond will not discover that the car was speeding or that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol--that would make the police look very bad indeed. Instead, Diamond discovers something even worse--a civilian on a motorized tricycle was involved in the crash, and has been lying on the side of the road by the accident for hours undiscovered. Diamond administers CPR, but no one can say whether the man will pull through. If a civilian has been killed by a police vehicle, the department has very big problems on its hands. Meanwhile, Diamond has become suspicious of the civilian victim, and begins a private inquiry. Why was he out in the middle of the night, carrying a funeral urn of ashes? Diamond's somewhat illegal and highly secret break-in into the man's house only exposes increasingly awful information, and leads Diamond to a trail of uninvestigated deaths. As the man lingers on life support, Diamond must wrestle with the fact that he may have saved the life of a serial killer"--

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Peter James

For LA producer Larry Brooker, this is the movie that could bring the fortune that has so long eluded him. For rock superstar, Gaia, desperate to be taken seriously as an actor, this is the role that could get her an Oscar nomination. For the City of Brighton and Hove, the publicity value of a major Hollywood movie being filmed on location, about the city's greatest love story--between King George IVth and Maria Fitzherbert--is incalculable. For Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of Sussex CID, it is a nightmare unfolding in front of his eyes. An obsessed stalker is after Gaia. One attempt on her life is made days before she leaves her Bel Air home to fly to Brighton. Now, he has been warned, the stalker may be at large in his city, waiting, watching, planning.

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Nicholas Rhea

Detective Inspector Montague Pluke, of CID, is England's most superstitious police officer. With crime at its lowest level for years, he decides to conduct a cold-case review. But there are no major unsolved crimes so, alerted by his wife, Millicent, to a large number of recent deaths - all attributed to natural causes - his expert knowledge of superstitions and folklore lead him to identify areas of suspicion sufficient to justify re-opening a case. Could an undetected mass-murderer be operating in Crickledale? His inquiries reveal that many of the deceased had been attended by Crickledale Voluntary Carers and he quickly produces a list of possible suspects. Indeed, the entire team of carers falls under suspicion - and Detective Inspector Pluke's wife, Millicent, is one of them.

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Anne Perry

When low-life moneylender William Weems is found murdered, there are few to mourn his passing. But when Inspector Pitt finds a list containing the names of some of London's most distinguished gentlemen in the murdered man's office, he recognizes the smell of blackmail. Fortunately, Pitt's clever, well-born wife, Charlotte has entree into London's best society. And at glittering balls and over gossipy teas, she observes a world of passion, power, and greed, that is closed to police inspection...