Wednesday, 29 August 2018
Kiss of Death by Paul Finch
Series: Detective Mark Heckenburg #7
Release Date: 9th August 2018
Publisher: Avon
Publisher: Avon
Genres: Crime / Thriller
Don’t let them catch you…
A Deadly Hunt
DS ‘Heck’ Heckenburg has been tasked with retrieving one of the UK’s most wanted men. But the trail runs cold when Heck discovers a video tape showing the fugitive in a fight for his life. A fight he has no chance of winning.
A Dangerous Game
Heck realises that there’s another player in this game of cat and mouse, and this time, they’ve not just caught the prize: they’ve made sure no one else ever does.
A Man Who Plays With Fire
How far will Heck and his team go to protect some of the UK’s most brutal killers? And what price is he willing to pay?
Could this be the end for Heck?
The Sunday Times bestseller returns with an unforgettable crime thriller. Fans of MJ Arlidge and Stuart MacBride won’t be able to put this down.Don’t let them catch you…
A Deadly Hunt
DS ‘Heck’ Heckenburg has been tasked with retrieving one of the UK’s most wanted men. But the trail runs cold when Heck discovers a video tape showing the fugitive in a fight for his life. A fight he has no chance of winning.
A Dangerous Game
Heck realises that there’s another player in this game of cat and mouse, and this time, they’ve not just caught the prize: they’ve made sure no one else ever does.
A Man Who Plays With Fire
How far will Heck and his team go to protect some of the UK’s most brutal killers? And what price is he willing to pay?
GUEST POST
OPERATION SLEDGEHAMMER
One of the things in KISS OF DEATH
that has most attracted interest is Operation Sledgehammer, in which the Serial
Crimes Unit joins forces with the Metropolitan Police’s Cold Case team in order
to track down the 20 most dangerous British criminals still on the loose and
believed to be residing in the UK.
It’s a work of fiction, of course, so
this involved me having to come up with my own list of infamous characters. But
someone asked me recently, ‘who would be on a list like that in real life?’
This was a chilling but fascinating
question, though one which, ultimately, would be impossible to answer because
UK law enforcement doesn’t keep an official catalogue of the ‘Most Wanted’.
However, it struck me that it
wouldn’t be difficult to put together a similar list, perhaps a list of the 10
most dangerous British criminals of the 21st century to date. Not
those who are still at large, but if they had been, those whose crimes would
definitely have necessitated the involvement of Operation Sledgehammer and
pursuit by a cop like Heck.
And so, in no particular order, here
they are …
Steve Wright: The murderer of five prostitutes in Ipswich during the final
months of 2006. More of a spree killer than a traditional serial killer, Wright
was nevertheless referred to as the Suffolk Strangler, and created a
short-lived county-wide panic. Now serving a full-life prison sentence, he is
still being investigated in connection with several other unsolved sex murders.
Gary Vinter: A 6ft7in giant classified as ‘one of the most dangerous
individuals in the UK prison system’. Two times killer Vinter, a Middlesbrough
native, first murdered a work-mate back in 1995 by stabbing him 13 times. A
decade later, he also stabbed his estranged wife to death. Sentenced to a
full-life term, he’s been a model of violence ever since, half-blinding one
fellow lifer and attempting to murder another.
David Bieber: A US-born bodybuilder, wanted for a fatal shooting spree in
Florida, who recommenced his life of crime after smuggling himself into the UK
in 1996. In 2003, his stolen car was stopped by three unarmed police officers,
whom he opened fire on with a pistol. Two were badly wounded, one of whom
Bieber then executed as he lay on the floor, for which callous murder he is now
serving a 37-year jail term.
Levi Bellfield: One of the most brutal serial killers of modern times,
Bellfield was already a prolific offender when, in 2008, he was charged with
murdering two women in southwest London, having struck both with a hammer, and
attempting to murder a third by hitting her with his car. In 2011, he was also
convicted of the rape and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler but was already
serving a full-life sentence.
Glyn Dix: A Redditch man, who in 2005 resolved an argument with his wife about
what to watch on television by cutting her to pieces with a knife, a hacksaw
and a pair of scissors. The victim’s family had known that Dix was an
ex-jailbird but were infuriated to learn that he’d been convicted of shooting a
woman dead in 1979, claiming no one had warned them. Dix was detained for life
in a secure hospital.
Mark Martin: A Nottingham serial killer who, just for the fun of it,
strangled three homeless women in 2004 and 2005. Martin had set out with the
express intention of becoming a serial killer, Nottingham’s first in fact, and
in the process called on two equally vicious accomplices, John Ashley and Dean
Carr. The two henchmen received lengthy sentences, but Martin, the ringleader,
was issued with a whole life tariff.
Mark Hobson: A rampage killer, who already had a history of serious
violence, when, in 2004 he beat his girlfriend to death in their North
Yorkshire house. He then invited her twin sister around, and tortured and murdered
her as well, mutilating the two corpses. He later entered the home of an
elderly couple and slaughtered them both. A massive police-hunt finally netted
him, and he too was given life without parole.
Kenneth Regan / William Horncy: Two for one here in a pair of
gangsters who, back in 2003, didn’t just murder a Wiltshire businessman to take
over his freight company in order to supply drugs, but also butchered his
entire family, five victims in total, including two young children. Regan was
the boss and Horncy the sidekick, but both were deemed equally culpable, and
both sentenced to serve full life terms.
Anthony Hardy: Infamous as the ‘Camden Ripper’, the full tally of Hardy’s
victims has never been established, but it is thought to be several more than
the three he was finally convicted of. His downfall came in 2002, when the
dismembered corpses of two prostitutes were found in the bins serving his
Camden flat. After a trial that read more like a horror novel, he too joined
the ranks of the never-to-be-released.
Joanna Dennehy: The only woman on the list, but she’s right at home here. A
classic serial killer, Dennehy killed three men in Peterborough, in 2013, by
stabbing them, purely for pleasure, having first selected them for their
convenience. Her ambition was to slay nine to rival Bonnie & Clyde, but
despite attacking five before her arrest, two survived. She is one of only two
British women still serving full life sentences.
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