POISON ON THE LEVELS

A YOUNG WOMAN SNATCHED FROM A FESTIVAL

A POISON PEN LETTER WRITER DESTROYING THE PEACE OF AN IDYLLIC VILLAGE

Treachery and murder await in the most deceptively picturesque of surroundings. 

Tammy Logan is snatched in broad daylight by a mystery assailant after leaving the Glastonbury Music Festival. The pretty young woman disappears without trace. 

At the same time, a peaceful village on the Somerset Levels is torn apart by a vindictive poison pen writer, who gleefully sets out to exploit a seemingly respectable community’s unsavoury secrets. The letter writer is driving people to take their own lives.

Kate has her work cut out solving the two cases.

Probing deeper, she soon finds herself caught up in a dark, complicated web of deceit, wagging tongues and false trails.

She realises that a shadowy figure seems to be watching her every move and is prepared do everything he can to cover his tracks — even commit murder.

Then when village residents start to die in suspicious circumstances, Kate finds that her stubborn, irascible boss, Detective Inspector Ted Roscoe, is in denial. He refuses to authorise the necessary criminal investigation. 

In a heart-stopping finale Kate must find the missing young woman and will risk everything to save her life.

DISCOVER A BREATH-TAKING NEW SERIES OF MYSTERIES THAT YOU WON’T WANT TO PUT DOWN

Perfect for fans of Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza, Mel Sherratt, Angela Marsons, Colin Dexter or Ruth Rendell.

THE DETECTIVES

Kate is a feisty, young police detective, with a dynamic approach to her job. She is plucky and tenacious, but prone to being impetuous and headstrong, which often lands her in tight spots and does not exactly endear her to her crusty boss, DI Ted Roscoe.

In stark contrast to Kate, her detective partner, Hayden, is an overweight, untidy ex-public schoolboy, with a pompous, laid-back attitude, which drives her to distraction. But he is also highly intelligent, with a keen, analytical mind and a practical, reasoned approach to everything, which, with a prevailing wind, can sometimes act as a brake on his partner’s more impulsive actions. 

THE SETTING

A patchwork of fields, peat moor and marshland, dotted with picturesque villages and criss-crossed by man-made irrigation ditches or rhynes, the Somerset Levels covers an area of about 160,000 acres between the Mendips and Quantock Hills, in the County of Somerset. Sparsely populated outside the local towns of Bridgwater, Glastonbury and Street and prone to flooding, it is a haven for wild life, a wild, secret place with an atmospheric brooding stillness, which creeps into the very soul; a place where the booming call of a bittern or the beating of an owl’s wings in the mist is bound to fire the imagination of any self-respecting crime novelist, whose thoughts will invariably turn to… murder.

THE AUTHOR

A former police superintendent, with thirty years’ service. Since ‘turning to crime’, he has received critical media acclaim, including a welcome accolade from Inspector Morse’s creator, the late great, Colin Dexter, and he is now a prolific novelist with eleven published crime novels and an autobiography on his police career to his credit. His previous police experience has enabled him to provide a gritty realism to his thrillers and his Somerset Murder Series, featuring feisty female detective, Kate, and her partner, Hayden, has gone from strength to strength, attracting interest in the United States as well as in the UK. 

DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN MYSTERY SERIES

Book 1: MURDER ON THE LEVELS

Book 2: REVENGE ON THE LEVELS

Book 3: FEAR ON THE LEVELS

Book 4: KILLER ON THE LEVELS

Book 5: SECRETS ON THE LEVELS

Book 6: DEATH ON THE LEVELS

Book 7: POISON ON THE LEVELS

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