Bad Press

Is the reporter breaking the news... Or making it? A killer's targeting Birmingham's paedophiles: a big story, and ace crime reporter Matt Snow's always there first - ahead of the pack and the police. Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss has crossed words with Snow countless times. Though his hang-'em-and-flog-'em views are notorious, Bev still sees him as journo, not psycho. But a case against the newsman builds. Maybe Snow's sword is mightier than his pen? Through it all, Bev has an exclusive of her own...a news item she'd rather didn't get round the nick. DS Byford knows, but the guv's on sick leave. As for sharing it with new partner DC Mac Tyler - no, probably best keep mum... Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss is having a hard time. Struggling with the aftermath of a vicious attack, she can scarcely trust her own judgment. Her lover is moving on, the guv is losing patience, and her new partner has the empathy of a house brick. Then another police officer dies and a ransom note arrives. And hard doesn't begin to cover it. The fourth gritty police procedural in the acclaimed series which began with Working Girls. ""Birmingham Sergeant Bev Morris juggles a complicated personal life, the murder of a police officer, and a mysterious ransom note in the fourth in the series.""-Library Journal ""Bev Morriss, the outwardly tough-as-nails British police detective who's wracked by inner turmoil, returns in another hard-eged thriller.... As usual, Carter writes with a bluntness that perfectly suits the material, and Morriss, who is still trying to come to terms with an incident that nearly destroyed her, is a multilayered, completely sympathetic, and engaging protagonist - not unlike Maureen O'Donnell in Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy.""-Booklist. Bev Morriss' life is in a bit of disarray.... When, due to her own outspoken nature, she is taken off a high-profile rape case and reassigned to a seemingly pointless baby kidnapping, Bev's mood plummets even lower. Soon she is fighting not just to save a missing child but also to salvage her own career. Carter writes like a longtime veteran, with snappy patter and stark narrative, and her series should appeal.""-Booklist Bev Morriss, the tough but vulnerable British cop, returns. Her life is in a bit of disarray: she has just moved to a new house and, at work, Detective Inspector Mike Powell is cockier than ever, having survived his misconduct hearing. When, due to her own outspoken nature, she is taken off a high-profile rape case and reassigned to a seemingly pointless baby kidnapping, Bev's mood plummets An abandoned baby, a kidnapped five-year old, a dead police officer and Detective Sergeant Bev Moriss thinks she's having a hard time! Bev doesn't do fragile and vulnerable, and struggling to cope with the aftermath of a vicious attack, she is desperate not to reveal the lurking self-doubt. But her lover has decided its time to move on and the guv is losing patience Bodies are bad for business so when one is dredged up the Midway Port developers want it buried. But Humility found the body and she won't let it go until she finds out who the killer is. But it leads her into a world where she's unsure anyone is who they claim to be and where one death leads to another Despite a growing weight of evidence, DS Bev Morriss is certain that ace reporter Matt Snow is not a murderer. Proving it is another matter, especially when her own hormones and emotions are like the River Trent in full spate. This is the fifth novel in the hard-hitting Bev Morriss series. Elderly women are being attacked by a gang of vicious thugs in Birmingham. When retired doctor Sophia Carrington is murdered, it's assumed she is the gang's latest victim. But Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss isn't convinced. She is sure the victim's past holds the key to her violent death Second in the Sergeant Bev Morriss series, Bev follows her hunch that the violent murder of an elderly doctor is more than it appears. This is the first in this future-crime series when Humility can't let go of a murder at the Midway port development.