Author: LJ Ross
Published: Kindle Edition
Category: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Book Review
He thought he was invincible, but he was wrong…
When an old man is found dead inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Northumbria CID are called in to investigate. With no apparent motive, it’s their job to unravel why he was murdered – and this time they’re forced to do it without their star detective…
Detective Chief Inspector Ryan and his wife Anna, have left Northumberland for Italy in pursuit of Nathan Armstrong, the psychopathic killer who first made his appearance in Dark Skies. Ryan is determined to bring him to justice once and for all but is hampered by the slower pace of the Italian policing system and Armstrong’s celebrity status as the author of an international best seller. Armstrong has an inflated sense of self-worth, money and connections which give him a feeling of invincibility, a conviction that he will always be able to stay one step ahead.
Ryan and Anna are staying at the luxurious Ryan family villa in Florence, mainly because it’s surrounded by high walls and has the best security system money could buy. Safety was important, especially since Anna was with him.
Back in Northumberland Phillips and MacKenzie are investigating the mysterious death of Edward Charon. His body was discovered in the hermitage, an old priest’s dwelling carved into the cliff on the northern bank of the River Coquet in Warkworth. The only way to reach the hermitage was by boat and Charon was one of the boatmen who ferried people across the river.
The sun had risen higher in the sky, burning away the misty fret that had rolled in from the North Sea to shroud the village, leaving a clear, crisp morning in its wake. Stone-built cottages and shops lined the main village square and the castle towered proudly above it all in the wintry landscape, its pale gold walls sprinkled with a layer of frost that shimmered like diamonds as it melted in the gathering heat.
“Pretty place,” Phillips said. “What did you say the old feller’s name was?”
“Charon,” MacKenzie told him “Edward Charon.”
“Why would anybody hurt some old codger who manned a rowing boat?”
MacKenzie frowned as she pulled into the castle car park. “That’s what we’ll have to find out, Frank.”
Louise was born in Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law at King’s College London and studied abroad in Paris and Florence. She spent much of her working life in London, where she was a regulatory lawyer for a number of years before taking the decision to change career and pursue her dream to write.
