Then days later, another boy is found dead, surrounded by wild flowers next to beautiful Ladystown Lake.
On the hunt for a twisted individual with a terrifying calling card, Lottie must uncover the web of secrets within Mikey’s circle of friends. Someone is hiding something but who are they protecting and can Lottie find out before it’s too late? Lottie is desperate to catch the killer before he strikes again because this time her own child could be in terrible danger…
If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Abbott, you’ll love the latest heart-stopping thriller from Patricia Gibney. Tell Nobody will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Get it here!
Final Betrayal
Detective Lottie Parker Book 6
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‘She lifted the flap of the envelope and pulled out the single white page. As she opened it up she stared, open mouthed. Four words were typed on the page. I am watching you.’
When Amy Whyte and Penny Brogan leave a local nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and don’t arrive home, their families are beside themselves with worry. Conor Dowling has just been released from prison, a man full of hatred for Amy, the girl who put him behind bars in the first place.
The case is given to Detective Lottie Parker, when the girls’ blood-soaked bodies are found, days later, in a derelict squat. Chillingly, both girls are clutching silver coins in their hands – what message is this killer leaving behind? All the signs point to Conor but his alibi is water tight.
As Lottie examines Penny and Amy’s final days alive in a desperate search for clues, two more girls are found stabbed to death in a luxury apartment complex. Caught up in what is fast becoming her toughest case yet, Lottie is unaware that somebody is watching her every move.
Then Lottie’s two daughters, Katie and Chloe suddenly disappear from the town centre. Terrified that the killer has her girls, the stakes have never been higher for Lottie.
But as Lottie puts everything on the line to find her daughters and solve the case, she’s about to find herself in terrible danger – someone has a personal axe to grind with her and they know the best way to get to her is to hurt the ones she loves the most.
If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Abbott, you’ll be hooked by this heart-stopping thriller from Patricia Gibney. Final Betrayal will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Get it here!
Broken Souls
Detective Lottie Parker Book 7
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‘She shivered, though the kitchen was warm. Icicles of foreboding trickled down her spine. With trembling hands she whipped back her hair at the nape of her neck. As she turned away from the window, she missed the shadow passing by.’
One dark winter’s morning, bride-to-be Cara Dunne is found hanging in her home, dressed in her wedding dress, with a lock of hair removed. Detective Lottie Parker is first on the scene. Looking at Cara’s bruised and battered body, she wonders who could have hated her enough to kill her at the happiest time of her life.
The case takes a darker turn that afternoon with another shocking discovery – the broken body of a second young woman, pushed from the roof of the hospital where she worked. Fiona Heffernan was also due to be married, and her body is clad in a wedding dress, a lock of her hair cut off.
The killings seem so personal that Lottie is convinced the girls have been killed by someone they knew. When she goes to break the news to Fiona’s family, she’s on the alert for anything suspicious. But then she makes a discovery that causes her blood to run cold – Fiona’s eight-year-old daughter Lily didn’t return home from her dance recital that afternoon. Terrified that Lily will be the next victim of a twisted and dangerous individual, Lottie takes the case into her own hands, risking her life when she comes face-to-face with the killer…
If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Caine, you’ll be hooked by this heart-stopping thriller from Patricia Gibney. Broken Souls will keep you guessing until the very last page!
Get it here!
Acknowledgements
I want to start by thanking you for reading Buried Angels, and to everyone who continues to follow Lottie’s journey, thank you for reading my other books too.
I want to sincerely thank my agent Ger Nichol of the Book Bureau, who works tirelessly on my behalf and has become a true confidante. Also thanks to Marianne Gunn O’Connor. Thanks to Hannah at the Rights People for sourcing foreign translation publishers for my books.
Lydia Vassar-Smith is the most patient and professional editor I could wish for. I am lucky to have her working with me. Thank you for helping me bring Buried Angels to life.
Thank you to Kim Nash, head of publicity at Bookouture, for all the PR work and your encouragement and support. Thanks also to Noelle Holten and those who work directly on my books at Bookouture: Alexandra Holmes (production), Leodora Darlington, Alex Crow and Jules Macadam (marketing). I’m also forever grateful to Jane Selley for her excellent copyediting skills.
I want to wish Olly Rhodes best of good luck as he leaves Bookouture. Thanks, Olly, for all your support and for taking me on as a debut author three years ago. Look where we are now! Best wishes in your new ventures and adventures. Congratulations to Jenny Geras on taking the role of steering the ship.
Thank you to Sphere, Hachette Ireland and Grand Central Publishing, who publish my books in paperback, and to all my foreign translation publishers for bringing my books to readers in their native languages.
Michele Moran is the incredible voice on the audio format of all my books, bringing Lottie to life in the ears of those who listen on audio. Thanks, Michele, and your team at the Audiobook Producers.
Book bloggers and reviewers, book shops and libraries, thank you. You help readers to find my books, and I am grateful to every reader who has posted a review, because you all make a difference. The writing community is very supportive of me and my work. Thank you to all who have listened to me, chatted and advised me, especially my fellow Bookouture authors.
Special thanks to John Quinn for his speedy responses to my pleas for clarification and advice. I write crime fiction and seek advice where necessary, but inaccuracies are all my own. I tend to fictionalise police procedures to move the story along. It is fiction after all!
Shane Barkey, thank you for demonstrating how a drone works. I really had no idea until you showed me.
My friends keep me going when I am knee-deep in writing and edits. I am blessed to have good people around me. Antoinette Hegarty, Jo Kelly, Jackie Walsh, Niamh Brennan and Grainne Daly, thank you for your words of encouragement, trips away and of course the retail therapy and crystals.
This year my mother and father celebrate sixty years of marriage, so I want to congratulate them. My parents have been the constant throughout my life. Thank you, Kathleen and William Ward.
Thanks to my mother-in-law, Lily Gibney, and her family, who have been in my life since the day I met Aidan. I dedicate this book to Lily.
My sisters and brother support me in all that I do. Thank you, Cathy Thornton, Gerry Ward and Marie Brennan. Special thanks to Marie for helping me with edits and proofreading Buried Angels.
I want to say a special thanks to my children, Aisling, Orla and Cathal. As young teenagers, they lost their dad, Aidan, to cancer. They had to work their way through the dark days and rough times, and have come out the other side three beautiful, caring and considerate adults. If Aidan was alive today, he would have a big smile on his face telling them how proud he is of them. I want to say now how proud I am, and thankful to have you in my life. And thank you for bringing me pure joy with my four grandchildren, Daisy and Caitlyn, Shay and Lola. I love you all.
All the characters in my books are fictional, as is Lottie’s town of Ragmullin. Mullingar, situated in the heart of Ireland, is the town of my birth, my home town, and I’m forever grateful for the support that I’ve received from everyone there.
I won’t delay you any longer. I have to write book nine in the series!
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Patricia Gibney, 2020
Patricia Gibney has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-661-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Books by Patricia Gibney
Contents
Dedication
Prologue
*
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
*
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
*
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
*
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Epilogue
Patricia’s Email Sign-Up
Books by Patricia Gibney
A Letter from Patricia
The Missing Ones
The Stolen Girls
The Lost Child
No Safe Place
Tell Nobody
Final Betrayal
Broken Souls
Acknowledgements
*
Copyright
Buried Angels Page 36