Sirens

"Yes, again I picked the first one because I’ve read all three. This is less police procedural because it features a detective called Aidan Waits who tends to go off piste. It’s very dark, very gritty. The book starts with a girl going missing and he’s brought on to the case to try and find her. It brings him into a shady world of prostitution and organized crime. I absolutely love Aidan Waits. There’s definitely a theme here: another dark, disturbed man who you’d never want to go out with but you’d probably want to sleep with. I love that. And I love the way that Joseph Knox writes him in these stories. It’s a fantastic series. I deliberately made them all standalone, but there are some events that happen in the first book that are referenced throughout. So Seen to be Believed is the fourth book in the Butler and West series, which follows DS Robin Butler and DC Freya West. When they meet in the first book, neither of them are in a great place. Robin had a sister, basically his only family, who died in a car accident. We quickly learn that the man Freya was having an affair with is the victim in the murder they’re investigating. So that’s the set up for the first book and it forges a bond which continues in the others. Seen to be Believed begins as a woman is attacked in her home. It’s a mystery because the attack is brutal but they’re not sure of the motive. The guy who did it hasn’t made any attempt to conceal his identity. He hasn’t taken anything of great value. Robin starts to think it might be related to the company that the husband—who wasn’t home at the time—owns called Hamilton Grace. It’s a virtual reality software company based in the middle of nowhere, where there are lots of secrets. So they start to investigate it further… Yes, it’s very unusual for me as well. I tend to kill quite a lot of people! It’s very strange. I thought about it, but I came to the conclusion it would make it nastier than it needed to be. It was just killing someone for the hell of it. It makes a better story in this case if nobody dies. It’s written! It’s with my editor at the moment. It’s the last book in the series and it was deliberately designed as a five-book run in terms of the character arc between Freya and Robin. I always knew where I wanted to go with the two of them, so you’ll have to keep reading to find out!"