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Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton wants to solve the 15 year old murder of Muriel Brown before he retires.
Pemberton is well liked and respected in the force, yet a dark and thrilling mystery unravels under his watch when one of his detectives is replaced by Inspector Hadley.
Vic Hadley has been on sick leave and needs undemanding work - so handling the admin for the murder case seemed ideal.
He is left in charge of processing data for the case and seems to be productive and content with his role… for the time being.
However, some members of the force are unsettled by this new addition to their branch.
It is public knowledge that Hadley had shot and killed a man during an armed raid, and the subsequent allegations of murder and a cover-up had caused his breakdown.
Initially Pemberton is willing to accept Hadley’s version of events and makes him feel welcome and supported.
However the rumours surrounding Hadley refuse to go away, some known criminals regularly voice their hostility towards him and the press have sensationalised the matter.
The investigation that followed the shooting seems to be inconclusive and there are plenty of people who think Hadley has a lot to answer for.
Police officers don’t think he is to be trusted.
Suddenly Hadley’s withdrawn and lonely lifestyle causes alarm and in order to satisfy himself of Hadley’s innocence, Pemberton decides to investigate the man’s past.
He finds himself having to reevaluate his personal and professional attitude as further deaths are discovered and new evidence emerges concerning Hadley …
'A gripping page-turner' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'.
For the last 30 years, Nicholas Rhea has been writing books, drawing on his experiences in the police force, his never-ending enthusiasm for Yorkshire and his continuing interest in crime fact and fiction. His best known work, the Constable stories, provided the inspiration for the hugely popular Heartbeat TV series, and he remained involved with the series as a consultant until filming ended in 2009. His books include 'Confessions' and 'A Well-Pressed Shroud'.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
Pemberton is well liked and respected in the force, yet a dark and thrilling mystery unravels under his watch when one of his detectives is replaced by Inspector Hadley.
Vic Hadley has been on sick leave and needs undemanding work - so handling the admin for the murder case seemed ideal.
He is left in charge of processing data for the case and seems to be productive and content with his role… for the time being.
However, some members of the force are unsettled by this new addition to their branch.
It is public knowledge that Hadley had shot and killed a man during an armed raid, and the subsequent allegations of murder and a cover-up had caused his breakdown.
Initially Pemberton is willing to accept Hadley’s version of events and makes him feel welcome and supported.
However the rumours surrounding Hadley refuse to go away, some known criminals regularly voice their hostility towards him and the press have sensationalised the matter.
The investigation that followed the shooting seems to be inconclusive and there are plenty of people who think Hadley has a lot to answer for.
Police officers don’t think he is to be trusted.
Suddenly Hadley’s withdrawn and lonely lifestyle causes alarm and in order to satisfy himself of Hadley’s innocence, Pemberton decides to investigate the man’s past.
He finds himself having to reevaluate his personal and professional attitude as further deaths are discovered and new evidence emerges concerning Hadley …
'A gripping page-turner' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'.
For the last 30 years, Nicholas Rhea has been writing books, drawing on his experiences in the police force, his never-ending enthusiasm for Yorkshire and his continuing interest in crime fact and fiction. His best known work, the Constable stories, provided the inspiration for the hugely popular Heartbeat TV series, and he remained involved with the series as a consultant until filming ended in 2009. His books include 'Confessions' and 'A Well-Pressed Shroud'.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
- GenresFiction
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1995
32 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 30, 2019
DS Mark Pemberton is still worrying over an unsolved murder from 15 years ago. Resources aren't going to stretch to keep a full staff of detectives investigating so the powers that be assign only one inspector to help Pemberton.
There's only one catch .... Vic Hadley is still on medical leave. He was involved in an armed raid and would up shooting and killing a man. Hadley swore the man appeared holding a sawed off shotgun and was preparing to shoot another detective .. so he did what he thought was best.
However, when all the smoke cleared, the dead man had no gun. According to the criminals arrested, the man was not a part of their gang. The dead man's family is screaming about a cover-up as the young man had quite a history with the police, although he was never charged with anything. The accusations and doubts of the public ... and some of the police ... drove Hadley to his sick bed with stress.
As Hadley begins his new duties, Pemberton needs to satisfy himself of Hadley's innocence. While investigating Hadley in the past, further deaths occurred; new evidence emerged about Hadley's actions at the shooting and forced Pemberton to re-evaluate his personal and professional attitude to colleagues and his law enforcement role. Pemberton is forced into an armed and dramatic conclusion.
Meanwhile, men are being shot with a sawed off shotgun ... the same gun that was used before. All these men have had serious charges leveled at them ... but not charged or jailed.
Is Hadley guilty of the first crime .. and now these more recent killings? Is this a case of vengeance? Is someone setting him up to take a fall? But who would do that ..and why? And how does anyone prove his guilt or innocence?
This is a well-written police procedural first published in 1995. It's a riveting read from start to finish. The characters all stand out in one way or another. Twists and turns pop up here and there, just enough to keep the reader wanting more. The ending was explosive!
Many thanks to Agora Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
May 30, 2019
DS Mark Pemberton is still worrying over an unsolved murder from 15 years ago. Resources aren't going to stretch to keep a full staff of detectives investigating so the powers that be assign only one inspector to help Pemberton.
There's only one catch .... Vic Hadley is still on medical leave. He was involved in an armed raid and would up shooting and killing a man. Hadley swore the man appeared holding a sawed off shotgun and was preparing to shoot another detective .. so he did what he thought was best.
However, when all the smoke cleared, the dead man had no gun. According to the criminals arrested, the man was not a part of their gang. The dead man's family is screaming about a cover-up as the young man had quite a history with the police, although he was never charged with anything. The accusations and doubts of the public ... and some of the police ... drove Hadley to his sick bed with stress.
As Hadley begins his new duties, Pemberton needs to satisfy himself of Hadley's innocence. While investigating Hadley in the past, further deaths occurred; new evidence emerged about Hadley's actions at the shooting and forced Pemberton to re-evaluate his personal and professional attitude to colleagues and his law enforcement role. Pemberton is forced into an armed and dramatic conclusion.
Meanwhile, men are being shot with a sawed off shotgun ... the same gun that was used before. All these men have had serious charges leveled at them ... but not charged or jailed.
Is Hadley guilty of the first crime .. and now these more recent killings? Is this a case of vengeance? Is someone setting him up to take a fall? But who would do that ..and why? And how does anyone prove his guilt or innocence?
This is a well-written police procedural first published in 1995. It's a riveting read from start to finish. The characters all stand out in one way or another. Twists and turns pop up here and there, just enough to keep the reader wanting more. The ending was explosive!
Many thanks to Agora Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
May 30, 2019
DS Mark Pemberton is still worrying over an unsolved murder from 15 years ago. Resources aren't going to stretch to keep a full staff of detectives investigating so the powers that be assign only one inspector to help Pemberton.
There's only one catch .... Vic Hadley is still on medical leave. He was involved in an armed raid and would up shooting and killing a man. Hadley swore the man appeared holding a sawed off shotgun and was preparing to shoot another detective .. so he did what he thought was best.
However, when all the smoke cleared, the dead man had no gun. According to the criminals arrested, the man was not a part of their gang. The dead man's family is screaming about a cover-up as the young man had quite a history with the police, although he was never charged with anything. The accusations and doubts of the public ... and some of the police ... drove Hadley to his sick bed with stress.
As Hadley begins his new duties, Pemberton needs to satisfy himself of Hadley's innocence. While investigating Hadley in the past, further deaths occurred; new evidence emerged about Hadley's actions at the shooting and forced Pemberton to re-evaluate his personal and professional attitude to colleagues and his law enforcement role. Pemberton is forced into an armed and dramatic conclusion.
Meanwhile, men are being shot with a sawed off shotgun ... the same gun that was used before. All these men have had serious charges leveled at them ... but not charged or jailed.
Is Hadley guilty of the first crime .. and now these more recent killings? Is this a case of vengeance? Is someone setting him up to take a fall? But who would do that ..and why? And how does anyone prove his guilt or innocence?
This is a well-written police procedural first published in 1995. It's a riveting read from start to finish. The characters all stand out in one way or another. Twists and turns pop up here and there, just enough to keep the reader wanting more. The ending was explosive!
Many thanks to Agora Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
May 23, 2019
I don’t usually like police protocol books. Something about them doesn’t usually gel with me. However this book was better for me. I don’t know if that’s because if was a little bit darker. But I found myself actually enjoying reading this book.
July 22, 2019
It seems i am going through a rough patch with thrillers. I keep stumbling into books with what appears to me as interesting synopsis only to be rather disappointed by the whole story.
A man, supposedly an innocent bystander, was shot during a police raid by an Inspector; A series of murders targeting non-convicted criminals. The common point between these two is the inspector involved or suspect to be involved in them, Vic Hadley. Detective Pemberton, his supervisor, was just trying to find the truth about Hadley and the various killings.
I really found it rather tedious to go through this book and i considered abandoning it many times. The first 30% were so slow, nothing was happening and aside from introducing the various characters, there was little else aside from recounting on and on what happened on the shooting that involved Vic Hadley.
Then, with the series of murders, a new line of inquiry opened. It failed however to revive the story, at least it felt that way for me. There were "endless" descriptions of the actions taken during the investigation, sometimes it is something like asking for witnesses, then the amount of calls they receive, the details from some information and how it all was useless for the advancement of the investigation; all this repeated two or three times as it went through the hierarchy of the Departement and one character informed the other. This occurred a lot and it bothered me a great deal.
It would have been easier if i actually cared for any of the characters, which i didn't. I actually disliked Detective Pemberton a lot, and found Vic Hadley rather annoying also
I hate being so negative about a book, and it is only because i found the last 10% more engaging that i gave the book 2 stars.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for this free copy in exchange of an honest review.
A man, supposedly an innocent bystander, was shot during a police raid by an Inspector; A series of murders targeting non-convicted criminals. The common point between these two is the inspector involved or suspect to be involved in them, Vic Hadley. Detective Pemberton, his supervisor, was just trying to find the truth about Hadley and the various killings.
I really found it rather tedious to go through this book and i considered abandoning it many times. The first 30% were so slow, nothing was happening and aside from introducing the various characters, there was little else aside from recounting on and on what happened on the shooting that involved Vic Hadley.
Then, with the series of murders, a new line of inquiry opened. It failed however to revive the story, at least it felt that way for me. There were "endless" descriptions of the actions taken during the investigation, sometimes it is something like asking for witnesses, then the amount of calls they receive, the details from some information and how it all was useless for the advancement of the investigation; all this repeated two or three times as it went through the hierarchy of the Departement and one character informed the other. This occurred a lot and it bothered me a great deal.
It would have been easier if i actually cared for any of the characters, which i didn't. I actually disliked Detective Pemberton a lot, and found Vic Hadley rather annoying also
I hate being so negative about a book, and it is only because i found the last 10% more engaging that i gave the book 2 stars.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for this free copy in exchange of an honest review.
June 4, 2019
I knew Nicholas Rhea's Constable and was happy to discover another side of this very good writer.
It's an engaging and well written police procedural that will keep you hooked till the last pace.
It's atmospheric, full of twists and turns, and it's not easy to guess the culprit.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It's an engaging and well written police procedural that will keep you hooked till the last pace.
It's atmospheric, full of twists and turns, and it's not easy to guess the culprit.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
September 18, 2019
This was a slow to start book but the ending was great and I thought it was a decent story all around.
Inspector Mark Pemberton is told that a man named Vic Hadley is coming to work on his team in the CID. Hadley has been on long term sick after a shot a man during a raid a couple of years before. Now they have to work together to find a vigilante killer.
This book is definitely written with a lot of notes about police procedure and sometimes it can be a bit slow when Nicholas Rhea is explaining the exact details of what happened and how they do things. I feel it could have used less of this but it was still interesting and I kept reading.
I don't think this book is supposed to be very suspenseful so don't go into it expecting a thrilling chase because it's not that. It's a methodical book that goes through an investigation from start to finish and I find the procedure to be something different.
Overall, an average read but I would definitely check out more of Rhea's work in future.
Inspector Mark Pemberton is told that a man named Vic Hadley is coming to work on his team in the CID. Hadley has been on long term sick after a shot a man during a raid a couple of years before. Now they have to work together to find a vigilante killer.
This book is definitely written with a lot of notes about police procedure and sometimes it can be a bit slow when Nicholas Rhea is explaining the exact details of what happened and how they do things. I feel it could have used less of this but it was still interesting and I kept reading.
I don't think this book is supposed to be very suspenseful so don't go into it expecting a thrilling chase because it's not that. It's a methodical book that goes through an investigation from start to finish and I find the procedure to be something different.
Overall, an average read but I would definitely check out more of Rhea's work in future.
March 21, 2022
This police procedural novel, Suspect, kept me guessing until the very end. Well-written with very good characters made this quite enjoyable.
Synopsis:
Detective Inspector Mark Pemberton has been haunted by one case for his entire career. The brutal murder of Muriel Brown is the only case he never solved, and Pemberton is determined to crack it before handing in his badge. But when aging detective Hadley is added to his team, the investigation doesn’t go as planned.
Driven to sick leave by allegations of murder on the job, Hadley has finally been cleared and is back on the force. But as Hadley assists with the case, Pemberton’s suspicions rise, and he embarks on his own investigation into Hadley’s past.
Synopsis:
Detective Inspector Mark Pemberton has been haunted by one case for his entire career. The brutal murder of Muriel Brown is the only case he never solved, and Pemberton is determined to crack it before handing in his badge. But when aging detective Hadley is added to his team, the investigation doesn’t go as planned.
Driven to sick leave by allegations of murder on the job, Hadley has finally been cleared and is back on the force. But as Hadley assists with the case, Pemberton’s suspicions rise, and he embarks on his own investigation into Hadley’s past.
June 1, 2019
Detective Inspector Mark Pemberton has been haunted by one case for his entire career. The brutal murder of Muriel Brown is the only case he never solved, and Pemberton is determined to crack it before handing in his badge. But when ageing detective Hadley is added to his team, the investigation doesn’t go as planned.
This is a well written who dunnit.
Good story line and plot that is very well written.
I enjoyed the characters and the ride they were on in this journey.
All in all a really good police procedural.
Recommend reading.
Many thanks to Agora Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
This is a well written who dunnit.
Good story line and plot that is very well written.
I enjoyed the characters and the ride they were on in this journey.
All in all a really good police procedural.
Recommend reading.
Many thanks to Agora Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
May 31, 2019
Really enjoyed this book, wish there was another !
June 2, 2022
A very stodgy book that once put down did not get picked up again.
Want to read
May 22, 2019Netgalley
first pub 1995
re-pub date May 30, 2019
Agora Books
first pub 1995
re-pub date May 30, 2019
Agora Books
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews