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‘A born storyteller.’ PETER JAMES

The SUNDAY TIMES bestseller returns with the second book in the PC Lucy Clayburn series - a must for all fans of Happy Valley and M.J. Arlidge.

As a female cop walking the mean streets of Manchester, life can be tough for PC Lucy Clayburn. But when one of the North West’s toughest gangsters is your father, things can be particularly difficult.

When Lucy's patch is gripped by a spate of murder-robberies, the police are quick to action. Yet when it transpires that the targets are Manchester’s criminal underworld, attitudes change.

Lucy is soon faced with one of the toughest cases of her life – and one which will prove once and for all whether blood really is thicker than water…

[Extract 10 from Chapter 11, pp.99-100]

Lucy went through the usual motions, inserting her card, tapping in a key number and then waiting patiently. From somewhere behind, there came the echoing double-thud of what sounded like a door opening and closing. She withdrew her card and a couple of tenners, before it occurred to her that what she’d just heard could well have been the support car.

She spun around.

The figure was only about fifteen yards away.

It had approached silently along the terrace from its eastern end. It wasn’t especially impressive in height or breadth, but it wore a black, heavy cape, too big for it really, which covered it from shoulders to ankles like a voluminous, waterproof shroud. The hood was pulled down over the face, which could not be seen in any case because the head was bowed.

Even under normal circumstances, the sudden sight of this spectre in such close proximity might have made Lucy jump. It did more than that now: a yelp caught in her throat and she stumbled backward, bracing herself against the cashpoint ledge with her hand. And yet the figure came straight on towards her, the cape so long that it was almost gliding.

Though momentarily transfixed, Lucy caught movement in the corner of her vision. She assumed it would either be Tucker or Smiley emerging from the alley on the far side of the Green, having seen what was happening before she had. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the advancing form, which now was only five yards away. With escalating alarm, she noticed that both its hands were concealed. She tried to say something, but her mouth was too dry. Belatedly, she stuck her hand into her anorak pocket, scrabbling for her CS spray. She could now sense someone running full-pelt across the Green, but still at least a hundred yards off.

The figure now stopped directly in front of her, slowly lifting its head, and at the same time drawing one of its hands from under its capacious folds.

About the author. 

Paul Finch is a former cop and journalist, now turned full-time writer. He cut his literary teeth penning episodes of the British TV crime drama, The Bill, and has written extensively in the field of children’s animation and for Dr Who. However, he is probably best known for his work in thrillers, crime and horror. His most successful works to date are the six-novel DS Heckenburg crime series, and the new Lucy Clayburn series, the first instalment of which, STALKERS, reached no. 7 in the Sunday Times best-sellers chart.

           

Paul lives in Lancashire, UK, with his wife Cathy and his children, Eleanor and Harry. His website can be found at www.paulfinchauthor.com, his blog at www.paulfinch-writer.blogspot.co.uk, and he can be followed on Twitter as @paulfinchauthor.