Showing results by author "Roy Lewis" in All Categories

A skeleton buried on a lonely Northumberland hill? Nothing wrong with that. Garrigill was once an ancient burial ground. Archaeologist Rena Williams is here to excavate the site. She is an old friend of Arnold’s. And with his help, her team have uncovered more than a few old bones already. But never like this. The bludgeoned skull, the modern dental work…nothing about this death feels accidental. Or even all that old. Who was the dead man, and what did he know that was worth killing for?

Arnold Landon steps out with his lady friend, hunting for relics on the deserted dig site where he works. Before long, they stumble on something under a bridge. The mangled remains of Arnold’s fellow historian. His chest gapes open, his insides arranged in a pair of bloody wings. Arnold’s no expert, but he knows a blood eagle when he sees one—the handiwork of a berserker warrior. Mad with blood lust and out for vengeance.

Takeover by a big American drug company spelt trouble for Coburn Pharmaceuticals, a small English outfit concentrating mainly on research. Personal tension between the English chairman and the American director responsible for security rose sharply when one or two rivals came out with similar products. Could the formulae have been leaked? The Coburn board called in industrial espionage experts Quarmby and Hood. While Quarmby worked outside, getting the history of employees and checking their references, Hood posed as a management consultant and worked inside. Being an unattached bachelor, ...

Murder is not a subject investigated by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education in the normal course of their duties. It was certainly not something Robert Fanshaw, technically retired HMI, was prepared for when he inspected Sinclair School in Northumberland, even though it was what used to be known as an Approved School. Its sixty boys were among the toughest delinquents from the Midlands, and their presence amid the peaceful beauty of the Northumbrian hills was fiercely resented by many local residents who were anxious to see Sinclair closed, or at least in the hands of a more hard line ...

A young woman is found dead in a college while the students demonstrate. It turns out she was the principal's secretary, and there was more to her than meets the eye. Who wanted her dead and why? And what does it have to do with the student revolt led by a charismatic firebrand from Iraq? Inspector John Crow is called in and has little doubt who's responsible, but a series of surprises will make him reconsider everything. Many of the faculty seem to have things to hide.

From the moment Karen Stannard comes striding in the door, Arnold Landon knows his workplace will never be the same. Now, he is saddled with a project he never wanted: the Ridgeway Viking Trust. Its shady leaders tell him there’s treasure buried in the rolling Northumberland Hills—they just need one more payout to reach it. But is there more to the Trust than meets the eye? Muck-raking journalist Alan Crickley seems to think so. He’s got the scent of corruption and he’s on the trail... Until the day he drives his car into a ditch, a stone’s throw from the dig.

The fishing boat slipped into harbour under cover of darkness but the Malaysian Crime Prevention Unit was waiting; after tracing the cargo of illegal immigrants to Keluang it seemed that Chief Inspector Abdullah’s case was all but closed. But Chakundra Lal escaped the net and soon it was a case of murder in Malacca. Abdullah is hampered in his investigations by an Urdu-speaking sergeant called Salim Kadir but he decides to use Kadir to help trace the fugitive. Racial tensions arise, an escape from a court hearing leads to a search that extends from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru and Malacca,...

Nine-year-old Jenny Carson is brutally murdered in Kenton Wood on her way from school. Then Charles Lendon is found stabbed to death with a skewer through his heart. He was a ruthless lawyer and something of a womanizer. Jenny's father blamed him for her murder. As the local police struggle, Inspector Crow is called in. Can he connect the two killings? He discovers that several of those closest to Charles Lendon had good reason to hate him: his housekeeper lover, her unstable brother, even the boyfriend of his attractive young colleague Cathy Tennant.

Eric Ward has a new client: Dieter Barschell. He’s an ex-professional footballer charged with dealing drugs at a Newcastle racecourse. Eric secures bail for his client. He also precipitates a murder investigation. While defending Barschell, Eric antagonizes one of the prosecution witnesses, DCI Charlie Spate. Can the two men work together to try to resolve this mess?

Sam Turiff is a loan shark preying on the most vulnerable people in Newcastle. Detective Eric Ward’s investigation runs into a brick wall trying to bring down the callous criminal. No one will give evidence against him. They are frightened what he’ll do to them. Then Kate Geraghty is kidnapped. She is the granddaughter of local tycoon Liam Geraghty, and there’s a link to the loan shark. But who carried out the kidnapping and why? The case soon turns into a murder investigation, and Ward finds himself up against a Northern crime empire.

Eric Ward agrees to represent the interests of a local environmental campaign. Then an explosion at the industrial-waste plant leaves his client dead. Joe Paulson wasn’t exactly a criminal. But his after-hours activities—gathering the secrets of everyone from politicians to high-flying businessmen—created a long list of enemies. But who feared the nightwalker enough to kill him? And could Ward be next? When an old favor is called in, Ward may have no choice but to put his own life in danger.

Eric’s wife, Anne, has followed the advice of handsome lawyer Mark Fenham and invested a small fortune in a merchant bank also involved in underwriting marine insurance. Now her company must pay out a vast insurance claim for the Sea Dawn, a ship sunk in Spanish waters. Eric Ward smells fraud. His wife could lose everything. And then, one by one, people connected to the Sea Dawn start to die. The murderous trail takes Ward to sunny Spain—where he comes face-to-face with his arch enemy. Will Ward uncover the truth about the sinking of the Sea Dawn?

An influential shipping firm, Goldwaters, pays Eric Ward a large retainer to work for them, much to his surprise. Then one of the Goldwaters fleet, the Sierra Nova, is “arrested” and is unable to leave port. The reason? A crew member, Edwards, has been caught in possession of drugs and is accused of smuggling—but now he’s been removed from the ship, why can’t the voyage go ahead? Then Edwards is murdered on his way to the courtroom. Ward soon finds himself sinking into the dangerous world of international conspiracy and modern-day piracy.

Eric Ward thinks he is happily married—until he discovers that his wife, Anne, has been spending rather too much time with a business associate. Suspicious and angry, Ward finds comfort in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But when his new lover is found dead, he must do everything he can to avoid becoming the focus of a murder inquiry that could wreck his future. As police pressure looms, Ward makes his own inquiries. Increasingly desperate to find the girl’s killer, he begins to learn more about a shady Tyneside world of drugs, dodgy property deals, and illicit nightclubs.

A dangerous killer with a penchant for the Zodiac symbols is abducting, torturing, and murdering women. Eric Ward and Sharon Owen are in court defending the man accused of these crimes, and due to a technicality, the suspect walks free. But is he really guilty? Meanwhile, DCI Charlie Spate is tracking the alleged Zodiac Killer but loses his trail. Eric receives an urgent call asking him to go to a remote Northumberland farmhouse to meet the man who walked free, but when he arrives, it’s carnage.

Farmer Paddy Fenton faces financial ruin as a result of foot and mouth disease among his flock. Then he gets an offer that he can’t refuse: ready cash to rent one of his outbuildings. He doesn’t enquire too closely as to what is happening there until a police raid uncovers a sinister operation. Eric Ward agrees to represent Fenton and soon finds himself in a bitter turf war. The criminal network stretches far beyond the local Northumberland countryside.

Charlie Rutland, a womanizing journalist, is found brutally murdered. He worked for a muck-raking gossip magazine and therefore had many enemies. Detective Crow is assigned to Yorkshire where he must eliminate a long list of suspects. And where does the German businessman Conrad Gunther fit in? Mysterious lights at Lockyer Tarn, a homeless man hiding out on the Yorkshire Dales, a stolen Volvo, and a former Gestapo officer are all seemingly linked in some manner. And then the British spy services get involved....

Eileen O’Hara isn’t used to hearing “no”. She’s the stunning chairman of Broadlands construction. But now she is facing a management takeover, with rivals bidding for control of her company. Both are crooked with old scores to settle. Who will she choose? She calls on lawyer and financier Eric Ward for advice. Eric’s head is turned, much to his wife’s chagrin. His conscience tells him he can’t walk away—whatever the implications for his marriage. Aided by Anne, he begins digging into the murky pasts of both bidders.

When wealthy Colonel Delamere dies after a botched burglary, it’s up to Eric Ward to manage his estate—and catch the killers. But the Colonel’s will contains perplexing instructions for the disposal of an ancient Egyptian statuette, first discovered by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. The artefact was supposed to be handed to the Foreign Office—but it was stolen by the burglars. The allegedly cursed statuette could change the course of the entire Middle East.

A counter-terrorist organization stops the murder of a French politician in the Pyrenees. The would-be assassin is killed at the scene. He has a disturbing tattoo on his arm. Eric Ward meets Ben Shaw at a bankers’ dinner. Ben hires him to look into his old rival and Eric’s ex-wife’s probable new lover, Jason Sullivan. Jason’s disappeared and so has the money for a project he was working on.