In the brooding alleys of Leek, Detective Jessica Ryan unearths the towns dark past when a homeless man is discovered brutally stoned to death in a ritualistic style murder; the crime scene adorned with biblical messages, thrusting Jess into a gritty investigation. The echoes of his murder reverberate through the derelict St. John the Evangelist church, revealing a tapestry of revenge, betrayal, and fanaticism that transcends time. As Jess delves into the shadows, she stumbles upon a relentless present-day killer with a chilling connection to an abandoned children's home. Haunted by a Priests chilling confession diary, the uncooperative homeless community, and a drop-in centre run by the secretive Catholic Church, Jess races against time to uncover the truth about three decades of child abuse - can she find the killer before another victim is sacrificed in God's name. Dive into the heart of darkness where...

Widowed detective DI Tom Blake sets off a chain of events that change his life forever, when the brutal murder of an alcoholic skinhead, and arrest of a vicious Turkish loan shark, unwittingly disrupts an international gang’s daring plans to steal the world-famous Staffordshire Hoard. In a cruel twist of fate, Blake’s daughter is kidnapped and the trail propels the bereft detective on a personal quest to Miami to save her life. Operating outside the law, he enters into an illicit showdown with a mysterious artefacts Collector, almost costing him his life. As the body count rises, Blake and his team struggle to unravel the conspiracy of a shadowy killer who leaves no trace. With only circumstantial evidence against each of the suspects, they hit a wall, until twenty-six-year-old photographs linking them to the murdered skinhead emerge. It seems the victim’s depraved past is the key to identifying the killer. Can the police uncover the truth through all the lies and deception, and crack the case before someone else gets killed? And will they recover a legendary national treasure, worth millions, before it’s lost forever? **Fans of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne will enjoy this book as will fans of Angela Marsons' Kim Stone.******