Martha Gunn

Coroner Martha Gunn is among the first to be called to the scene when a man's body is found in a small cottage fronting the river. Floating face-down in the rising water, it appears to have been raised from the cellar by the flood. In the dark and fetid cottage, Martha's instincts tell her that this is a homicide - a hunch borne out by the post mortem. But there are many questions about the dead man's identity. He is initially thought to be James Humphreys, a respectable, middle-aged businessman who had rented the cottage a couple of months ago, and had recently gone missing. The corpse certainly fits his description. Yet when Mr. Humphreys' wife, Cressida, comes to identify the body, she is adamant that it is not her husband. So who is it? Why has he been murdered? And where has the real Mr. Humphreys gone?

Callum Hughes has been labelled a killer and a psycho - by the press, by his classmates and by the family of the boy he stabbed. Roger Gough has been labelled a victim. He is described by everyone as a sporty, funny and popular boy who was brutally murdered by Callum. But things are rarely so black and white. When Callum is found dead in his cell just two days after his arrest, it is accepted that he simply could not cope. But was such a timid and intelligent boy really capable of murder? Or of taking his own life? Coroner Martha Gunn dares to dig a bit deeper, unravelling a truth far more disturbing than anything the papers could have made up...

When a woman arrives in A&E clutching a child in a pink blanket, Martha Gunn is not quite ready to make the discovery that the evening has in store for her. The baby has been mummified. A post-mortem reveals the child to be a newborn boy, deceased for over five years. As always coroner Martha Gunn reserves judgement until she is able to question the mysterious woman who brought in the body...