Priscilla Masters

Where's Nora Selleck? Nurse Florence Shaw investigates when a mysterious stranger walks into her patient's life - and then she disappears . . .Nurse Florence Shaw is worried about her patient and friend, elderly widow Nora Selleck. When she encounters Nora in the market town of Stone seeming confused, Florence decides to pay her a visit in more familiar surroundings. But at Nora's house she meets Ben Evans, a mysterious young stranger who has befriended Nora. Who is Ben, and why is he encouraging Nora to miss her surgery appointments?Florence doesn't trust Ben. She's sure he doesn't have Nora's best interests at heart and is a threat to her vulnerable patient. But no one else, not even Nora's doctor, shares her concern. Until, one day, Nora suddenly disappears . . .

A young woman with a pushchair spotted teetering on the edge of a steep rock face on the Staffordshire moors draws Joanna Piercy into a disturbing new case.A young woman is moving dangerously close to the edge of the rock face, pushing a stroller with a child strapped in it towards the steep drop. She has blood on her clothes. Is she a victim or a would-be killer?Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy takes on the case when a walker discovers the pair, but the young woman is mute. Is she traumatized or unwilling to speak? Was she about to commit a terrible crime?As the questions mount, forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget is called in to help. Can she persuade the woman to talk? Joanna desperately needs a breakthrough. But when it comes, her investigation takes a shocking turn . . .

A missing woman.A jilted lover.A baffling murder. Beatrice Pennington lives a seemingly quiet life. Married and middle-aged, she's a part-time librarian and an enthusiastic member of Leek's cycling club.So when her husband Arthur turns up at the police station, frantically claiming Beatrice is missing, Detective Joanna Piercy can't help but think the woman probably just got bored with her own life.Maybe she ran off with another man? Certainly nothing serious could have happened to her.But as the days pass there is still no trace of Beatrice. DI Piercy begins to worry - could there have been foul play after all . . . ?Then a body is found. Strangled and dumped under a hedge on a moorland road.As DI Piercy investigates she unearths a dangerous web of lies. When does unrequited love become stalking? And when does stalking end in murder?

Something is amiss at the local village school.A man is seen lingering outside the gates - and parents and teachers are getting worried . . .Joshua Baldwin doesn't think he's doing any harm. With no family of his own, he just gets a bit lonely.Piercy tracks him down and warns him off. He's definitely weird. But harmful? She doesn't think so.Then five-year-old Madeleine Wiltshaw goes missing.It's the last day of term before Easter. No one saw her disappear in the playground at the end of the day. What if Baldwin was a threat after all?The team start up a desperate search for the little girl, but Madeleine could be hidden anywhere on these moors.The clock is ticking. Can Detective Piercy find Maddie before it's too late?

A young woman with a pushchair spotted teetering on the edge of a steep rock face on the Staffordshire moors draws Joanna Piercy into a disturbing new case.A young woman is moving dangerously close to the edge of the rock face, pushing a stroller with a child strapped in it towards the steep drop. She has blood on her clothes. Is she a victim or a would-be killer?Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy takes on the case when a walker discovers the pair, but the young woman is mute. Is she traumatized or unwilling to speak? Was she about to commit a terrible crime?As the questions mount, forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget is called in to help. Can she persuade the woman to talk? Joanna desperately needs a breakthrough. But when it comes, her investigation takes a shocking turn . . .

A dead farmer.His son killed too.A massive search to find the missing daughter.There's a sweltering heatwave in Staffordshire. DI Joanna Piercy arrives at a quiet stone farmhouse on the highest, most remote part of the moor to find a gruesome scene.Aaron Hardacre and his son Jack have huge holes blasted through their chests. A shotgun is left, propped up by the door.But Aaron's daughter Ruthie is nowhere to be found. Is she also dead? Or is she the killer?DI Joanna Piercy knows she must find the missing girl before it's too late.

It's the milkman who notices something is wrong at Nan Lawrence's house. The old lady always leaves her empties on the step.Peeking through the curtains, he sees Nan's body on the floor. There's blood spatter all over the tapestry she was embroidering.DI Joanna Piercy is rushed off her feet investigating a spate of robberies. A gang of youths is targeting elderly women - and their attacks are becoming increasingly violent. But have they resorted to murder?Then a pair of stolen candlesticks turns up in Nan's wardrobe. What are they doing in a dead woman's house?DI Piercy realises she must untangle a complicated web of lies to find the truth - and the killer.

A missing lawyer. A strangled nurse. A killer that DI Joanna Piercy must track down before they strike again.Jonathan Selkirk is a ruthless, powerful lawyer. He thinks he's untouchable. Until he receives a letter.'JONATHAN SELKIRK, MAKE YOUR WILL.'It's a threat.Hours later, Selkirk is recovering in Leek Cottage Hospital from a suspected heart attack.But the next morning his bed is empty. And there's a trail of blood down the corridor. DI Joanna Piercy can't believe Selkirk left under his own steam.Then a body turns up in Gallows Wood. Pyjama-clad, hands bound, a bullet hole in the back of the neck.And one of the nurses from the hospital is found strangled to death with her own nylon stocking.With a ruthless killer in their midst, Piercy will be pushed to her limits to keep the town safe.

She's not the first. Will she live to be the last?Jennifer Lomax is twenty-one, but she's already taken some hard knocks in life. So when older, reserved and enigmatic widower Steven Taverner asks her to marry him, she's desperate to believe she's found true love. That her lifelong dream could finally become a reality.But Jennifer also knows there's something not right about Steven. What secrets is he hiding about his dead wife, Margaret, and why does he refuse to talk about her?Jennifer decides to uncover the truth about Margaret. She soon wishes she hadn't. Is she about to make a devastating mistake?