The Cornish Detective

A pensioner is found drowned on a beach used by naturists. An autopsy shows his death was violent, that he'd been sexually molested. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kettle is a grieving widower of three years. The last time he visited this beach was with his wife. Already running investigations into human trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and weapons, Neil's enquiries into the victim's life reveal links to a shady millionaire car dealer, Rupert Mansard, a man who's risen from nowhere to prosperity.

A serial killer, known as The Watcher, is terrorizing the small market town of Liskerrett, Cornwall, and the surrounding area, taking victims seemingly at random and with great expertise. Neil Kettle is running a major murder investigation as he struggles with depression, a delayed reaction to the accidental death of his wife four years ago. Three people have been murdered - a child, an old woman, and an American tourist - all dying by different methods.

It's a long, hot summer — good for Cornwall, which depends on tourist income — but bad for crime. The heatwave drives people mad, and two corpses are found on Bodmin Moor. No one has missed the victims. The corpse of a mysterious elderly woman is found floating in a flooded quarry. Dressed in a 1950s ballgown, she carries no identification and can't be traced.

Who is acting as judge, jury, and executioner? Someone is running a campaign of retribution against people with lax morals. Kidnapping, arson, and blackmail are bad enough, but then the head of a convicted paedophile is found wedged onto a road signpost at a location where ancient public executions took place. Various local businessmen and politicians have been blackmailed with incriminating evidence, fined £20,000 to encourage them to improve their behaviour.

Murder victims are like buses - they arrive together. Two corpses are found within minutes of each other in Saint Ives Bay. DCI Neil Kettle is a keen amateur painter, so the bizarre death of an arts graduate, found underwater encased in a concrete statue, enrages him. And is she linked to a down-on-his-luck Latvian trawlerman washed up on the rocks of Godrevy Island Lighthouse, his throat cut?