Detective Alana Mack

The scrap of paper looked as if it had been torn from a diary. The words written in faint pencil. The letters rounded, almost childlike. Please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me. When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn't expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after the little girl. This mother doesn't want to be found. Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother and solve another missing person's case… a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home. Forced to ask her ex-husband and child psychiatrist Colm for help, through Forensic Art Therapy, Alana discovers that whatever darkness lies behind the black windows in Casey's crayon drawing, the little girl was terrified of the house she lived in. Then a bag of human remains is found in a bin, and a chilling link is made – the DNA matches Casey's. Alana and her team must find the body and make the connection with the missing newsagent fast if she is to prevent another life from being taken. But with someone in her department leaking confidential details of the investigation to the media, can Alana set aside her emotional involvement in this case and find Casey's mother and the killer before it's too late? Heart-pounding and totally addictive, The Puppet Maker is the first in the Detective Alana Mack series that will have fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and LJ Ross racing through the pages late into the night.

10am: A mother rushes for a train after dropping her daughter at school but is reported missing when she doesn't return to pick her up. 2.47pm: The same train causes the death of a young woman; her body bound and placed on the tracks. When Detective Alana Mack discovers the missing mother has vanished from the same train that claimed the life of the young woman, she fears the worst. A killer is on the loose, targeting women and leaving their broken bodies scattered across Dublin's Dart train line. The victims appear to have no connection to one another, but their murders bear the same chilling hallmark – identical single red roses left at each of their crime scenes. And that's not all… Every trace of the women's lives has been extinguished from their homes. Their bedding replaced with pristine white sheets, photos of loved ones and precious keepsakes all eradicated. With little to go on in the sterile environments left by the killer, Alana and her team must desperately try and uncover the link between the women. But when another body is found, this time with a different, rare variety of rose, Alana's instincts tell her this tiny clue could crack the case open and lead them to the twisted individual. Then Alana receives a chilling message: 'Roses are red. Blood is too. One and two are on me. Number three and four are on you.' The killer is hiding in plain sight and playing a sick game with her. If she doesn't find them soon, more innocent lives will be taken. A heart-stopping thriller that will keep fans of Angela Marsons, Ann Cleeves, and Patricia Gibney glued to the pages and racing through Roses for the Dead in one sitting. Read what everyone is saying about the Detective Alana Mack series: 'Didn't expect to spend my day reading this but once I started there was pretty much no stopping me. Was devastated I had to go out for a few hours and leave it.' Reader Reviewer, ???? 'An amazing start to the Detective Alana Mack series. This was jam packed with action and suspense and I loved all the twists and turns. I don't want to give any spoilers but this has everything you would want in a thriller and more, you won't want to put it down. I couldn't wait to find out who the culprit was and I can't wait for the next in the series.' Reader Reviewer, ???? 'Fantastic… an explosive read. Looking forward to more of this detective and her team.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'An amazing read!... I just couldn't put it down!' Reader Reviewer, ???? 'Ooh what an absolutely thrilling book. I love all the new characters, they come fully formed and jump off the page.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'Wow! … had me glued to my Kindle till the very end! … I can't wait for more!' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'A brilliant plot with plenty of twists and turns, I was totally gripped.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'Wow – tense and intense! I was completely gripped.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'One of the best starts to a series I ever read… a page turner that I didn't want to put down. I'm excited for the next instalment.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'Ooh what an absolutely thrilling book.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'Fans of Val McDermid, Ken Bruen and John Connolly should pick this up.' Reader Reviewer, ????? 'A brilliant start to a new series. I adored Alana she's a strong woman working 3 different cases which all seem to come together… The characters were strong well written and have left me needing to know more about them… a fast paced crime thriller.' Reader Reviewer, ?????

As the last pot breached the surface of the water, the fisherman's anticipation curdled to dread. No crab clattered within—inside the cage, where his catch should be, were a pile of human bones. When the bones of a victim are found in the bottom of a crab pot, the bizarre case proves to be Detective Alana Mack's toughest yet. She and her team must rely purely upon forensic clues to identify the elderly woman's remains. As Alana negotiates the complex web of genetic links at the heart of the case, she finds herself the target of a seemingly random attack. Her arm shattered and wheelchair damaged, she has no choice but to call her ex-husband for help. Reeling from her assault but determined to stay on the case, Alana makes a chilling link between the crab pot victim and an infamous cold case adoption. Ciara Buckley, the sole survivor of a deadly house fire as a teen, appears to share DNA with the unidentified woman—yet believes both her parents perished in the traumatic blaze that scarred her childhood. Then the estranged brother of the fisherman who discovered the bones is found dead in his home. And Alana and her team make a startling discovery—the brothers were adopted as young boys and their mother disappeared without trace decades ago. Alana is close to decoding the cryptic forensic clues and unearthing dark family truths—secrets the killer is determined to erase. Can Alana stop more surviving relatives from being targeted before she becomes the next victim? An absolutely gripping stay-up-all-night crime thriller for fans of Angela Marsons, Ann Cleeves, and Patricia Gibney.