Voices From The Dead
The brand-new gripping crime thriller in the popular Detectives Roy and Roscoe series.
A murdered beauty influencer. A buried secret waiting to surface. A killer who’s already one step ahead.
In the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge, a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room looking for peace from the chaos of her great-nephew’s rowdy thirtieth birthday party. But to her horror she witnesses a brutal crime from her balcony — a young woman strangled in the room opposite.
Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy — staying at the same hotel after attending a nearby wedding — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.
Roy’s boss, DCI Gavin Roscoe, takes charge of the investigation, and as the pair follow the trail, another brutal killing tears through the town. Roy is sure there’s a link between both murders, but Roscoe isn’t convinced.
But as Roy digs deeper, she closes in on a secret so dangerous someone will kill to protect it.
Because in this town, the past never stays buried — and even the dead still have a voice.
Purchase Links
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G2MB79M9/
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2MB79M9/
Extract:
{In Chapter 9, Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy and Detective Inspector Tom Vickers travel to Gloucester to interview Craig Goodhope. He is the husband of social media star Candy Goodhope, who has been murdered while staying at a Warwickshire hotel in the company of a boyfriend, Jack Bayliss}
Sunita glanced briefly across the room at Vickers.
‘There’s something that probably hasn’t been mentioned to you before,’ she continued. ‘The point is that. . .’
‘Your wife wasn’t booked in alone,’ Vickers explained.
‘How do you mean?’ said Goodhope.
‘There was someone else with her. The hotel register has the names Mr and Mrs Goodhope.’
The bereaved husband frowned and looked down at the plain, beige carpet.
‘I see,’ he said.
A heavy silence hung in the air.
’Well, it definitely wasn’t me,’ he said, glancing at them both in turn. ‘Do you know who it was?’
‘Yes, we do,’ said Vickers. ‘Were you aware your wife might be having an affair?’
‘I won’t lie. There were one or two little signs.’
‘Such as what?’ asked Vickers.
‘Well, things haven’t been right between us for a while. She sometimes hid her phone. I came back once and she’d left her laptop on. I sat down beside it. She rushed over and slammed the lid down.’
‘I see,’ said Vickers.
‘So, who is the bastard?’
‘We can’t really give you his name at the moment. He’s obviously a key witness.’
‘Maybe he killed her,’ Goodhope suggested.
Sunita interjected to say, ‘We’re keeping an open mind at the moment.’
She turned round in her seat so that she was directly facing Goodhope.
‘Maybe you already know who this man is,’ she hinted.
Goodhope said nothing. He simply gazed out of the window.
She repeated her question, but their host merely shook his head.
‘What we don’t want is for you, all keyed up over the death of your wife, having any rash, spur-of-the moment thoughts,’ she told Goodhope. ‘In other words, we don’t want you deciding on your own to go looking for this person and take some kind of citizen’s justice − you know, taking some kind of retribution. That wouldn’t be right. It's for the police to investigate these kind of crimes, find the real perpetrator and for the court to dispense justice.’
‘All right, I’ve got the message,’ said Goodhope. ‘But this doesn’t apply to me, does it? Because I haven’t a clue who this guy was that, according to you, was staying at the hotel with Candy.’
‘So long as our advice to you is understood,’ she added. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of who killed your wife. It may not be quick. But we’ll get there and we obviously don’t want anyone taking the law into their own hands.’
Vickers leaned forward in his seat.
‘Mr Goodhope, can we ask where you were last night between five and seven?’
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I went to Gloucester with a couple of mates. We went to the Blue Anchor and the Dog. I think its full name is the Dog and Partridge.’
‘If you could give us your friends’ names and addresses, that would be very helpful. Did you have a meal over there or just drinks?’
‘Just drinks.’
‘Mr Goodhope,’ said Sunita, ‘can you think of anyone with a reason to harm your wife?’
He shook his head and quickly replied, ‘No.’
‘Perhaps you’d like to think about the question,’ she continued.
He paused as his eyes wandered around the room. He shook his head again.
‘I know there’s a lot of rivalry in the beauty business,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of people on social media who were envious of Candy’s success. But I can’t think any of them would have felt strongly enough to go over to Queensbridge and kill her. She told me she’d received a few funny messages but said that that went with the turf.’
The detectives exchanged glances.
‘All right. I think it’s time to go,’ Sunita said as the pair stood up.
‘Are you sure you’ll be OK?’ Vickers asked their host. ‘I mean, is there a neighbour or relative you can. . .’
‘I’ll be fine,’ he insisted getting up. ‘As I say, my brother will be here soon. He’s always been a good support to me in difficult times.’
‘We’ve got your phone number,’ Sunita assured him. ‘As soon as we get any positive news, we’ll call you.’
‘Yes,’ said Vickers, shaking his hand. ‘We’ll try to keep you regularly informed of what’s going on.’
Goodhope wrote his friends’ details on a scrap of paper, which he handed to Vickers. Then he led his visitors back through the hallway and the inspector drew open the door.
‘We’ll be in touch,’ he assured the husband. Sunita paused. She was glancing down at a small table where a small notepad and pen lay beside a landline phone.
‘Come on, Sunita,’ he said as Goodhope shut the door behind them. ‘Let’s go and get some lunch.’
‘I’m coming,’ she retorted, running behind him towards the open lift door. The pair quickly returned to the car.
‘I know he was upset,’ she said. ‘But I was surprised how lucid he was.’
‘Grief strikes different people in different ways,’ muttered Vickers as he started the car.
‘By the way, you didn’t notice what I saw on the writing pad by the front door, did you?’ she said.
‘What’s that?’
‘The registration number of Jack Bayliss’s car.’
Author Bio –
Tony Bassett is a former journalist who worked on regional and national newspapers in Britain for more than 40 years. He mainly reported on crime, show business, human interest and consumer topics. Now retired, he writes crime fiction.
Tony is best known for his series of novels set in the West Midlands featuring Detective Chief Inspector Gavin Roscoe, an experienced detective and family man, and his sergeant, law graduate and resourceful problem-solver Sunita Roy.
His latest novel, VOICES FROM THE DEAD (Book 8) begins in the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge where a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room from a rowdy birthday party, looking for peace. But to her horror, through a window, she witnesses a brutal crime — a young woman being strangled in the new wing of the building.
Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy —attending a wedding in the same hotel — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.
The fifth book in the series, HEIR TO MURDER, was judged first in the Mystery and Suspense (Police Procedurals) category in the American Fiction Awards in June 2024.
Other books in the series (in order) are: MURDER ON OXFORD LANE; THE CROSSBOW STALKER; MURDER OF A DOCTOR; OUT FOR REVENGE; and IT NEVER RAINS.
A collection of the first three books was published in May 2024 under the title THE MIDLANDS MURDERS: Detectives Roy & Roscoe box set (Books 1 – 3). The whole series has been released by London publishers The Book Folks, part of Joffe Books.
Tony has also written a stand-alone thriller, SEAT 97, about a man shot dead at a London concert hall (published by The Book Folks) while two further works (the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway and the spy novel The Lazarus Charter) were published by The Conrad Press.
Tony first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he produced a junior school magazine. A few years later, his local vicar in Tunbridge Wells staged his play about Naboth’s Vineyard. At Hull University, Tony was judged Time-Life Magazine student journalist of the year in 1971.
Tony, who has five grown-up children, is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives in South-East London with his partner Lin.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/tony.bassett.92505
https://www.instagram.com/tonybassettauthor/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-bassett-380baa237/
Thanks very much for publishing the extract from my crime novel VOICES FROM THE DEAD. Very kind of you. Tony
ReplyDelete