Denial can play no role in this case as these women are not only similar in age but the near likenesses of one another. Where will these dangerous inquisitions find Grace? Will he have stumbled across a serial killer’s plot that has spanned through decades? The previous book was the first one I read in the Roy Grace series, and I found the book quite good. So good that I was really happy for the chance to read the sequel. You Are Dead begins with a woman who disappears without a trace from the car park below the apartment building where she lives. In another part of the town, the remains of a woman buried thirty years ago are discovered in a park. Nothing indicates that the cases have something in common. But, then another woman disappears and Roy starts to notice similarities between the victims, could the corpse have been the first victim of a serial killer? Dead Man’s Time calls Roy Grace in once more. This time it’s for a burglary that has taken over a million pounds worth of loot. It has also left an elderly man who lives there dying. As Grace shows up on the scene, it’s clear that the family does not care so much about the valuables so much as one valuable in particular. They will do anything to get it. They don’t care about breaking the law and Grace is thrown into a hot pursuit that takes him through Europe and eventually all the way to New York. and Norman is trying to cope with the grief of losing his fiancé Bella by working all the hours that god sends. His 1992 novel Prophecy was adapted into the first episode of the 1995 Chiller TV series. Since 2021, his Roy Grace series has been adapted into the ITV series Grace, starring John Simm.

The 11th Roy Grace novel is a very good, intriguing and gripping read for the most part. On one night a young woman is abducted and at the same time a decades old skeleton is unearthed. Is Roy correct in his hunches that the abduction and unearthed skeleton are linked? A lot of old faces are here in this tense read which really kept my interest to the end, wanting to know how it would all work out. My heart just went out to poor Norman, grieving for his fiancé Bella and working as hard as possible to try and keep himself busy. However, I have to say that I did realise who the culprit was pretty much as soon as he appeared and even what was going on behind the scenes, so to speak. If you read the book you will realise what I mean by that cryptic comment. On balance I would have liked to have been kept in the dark a bit longer and with an alternative suspect or two to keep my mind working. Bestselling author Simon Toyne interviewed Peter James at Thrillerfest in 2015 as part of his continuing series of conversations with authors. Here is the Toyne/James’chat:

Publication Order of Cold Hill Books

I think we are fascinated by how the most seemingly normal people often are the most monstrous criminals. You mention the UK’s worst ever serial killer, Dr. Harold Shipman, and he is a classic example, but there are many more. One aspect that particularly fascinates me is just how many of the worst violent criminals are, outwardly, such seemingly innocuous people. Shipman was a much loved family doctor, who just had a penchant for killing his patients, and murder up to 350 of them. Ted Bundy, one of the US’s worst criminals, raped, murdered, and butchered over 35 women, yet was witty, bright, charming, and had worked as a lawyer for the Republican party. The UK’s James Lloyd, who inspired my 6th Roy Grace novel, Dead Like You, brutally raped as many as 126 women, then took their shoes as trophies, yet was a family man, with two children who adored him, a responsible job; he was a Freemason, and a pillar of his community.

On the same day a young woman disappears from the car park under her apartment building, leaving behind her mobile phone and her neatly parked car, workmen digging up a footpath unearth the remains of a woman in her early twenties who has been dead for more than twenty five years. I had the pleasure of talking to Peter James about his latest book and even managed to squeeze in some questions about writing and his career as well.Opening: Logan was driving fast in the pelting rain, hurrying home, glad that her shitty day which had gone from bad to worse, and then progressively worse still, was nearly at an end. We can understand the motives of many murderers. A partner who kills their loved one in a fit of jealous rage. A ruthless armed robber who shoots out of greed. The terrorist who kills out of warped ideology. The professional hit man who kills for a fee. The husband who buries his wife beneath the kitchen floor because he’s fallen in love with someone else. But it is the serial killer intrigues and chills us the most. The person who kills for sheer pleasure or satisfaction, the gratification derived from the act, driven by a mindset that is sometimes beyond comprehension, sometimes alien – and always repugnant to decent human beings. And the scariest thing about most of these is their cunning. Serial killers who get away with it for years–and sometimes decades–are often highly intelligent chameleons who blend into society, unsuspected by family and friends. I can’t not mention the fact that there are developments in the story of Sandy; Roy’s first wife who has been missing for 10 years and is now presumed dead with Roy now happily remarried to Cleo and the proud father of baby Noah. I can’t help feeling a little niggle of disappointment about how this was left at the end of this book and that little niggle is all to do with Roy’s behaviour. I enjoyed You Are Dead and whilst I don't think it is one of the best in the series it is certainly an above average read. It starts with with two separate incidents, the discovery of skeletal remains buried under a footpath which was constructed 20 years ago and the potential abduction of a young woman, Logan Somerville. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say the two cases become linked and lead to the hunt for a serial killer. There is no apparent connection between the two crimes; but then another young woman, remarkably similar in appearance to the first, goes missing and another body from the past surfaces.

I’m not sure where to start. Peter James is a bit of a Legend in my eyes. He is one of those authors that everybody knows; the man is most certainly one of my favourites. The one small problem I have, and have continued to have with the last few books is the ongoing storyline involving his missing wife Sandy. Now for people wanting to start the series from the beginning and haven’t yet got around to it, please don’t carry on reading my review because it will no doubt contain spoilers (this also applies to people who haven’t read the latest book as things mentioned in my review refer to those events, and I HATE a spoiler. This is probably my least favourite Peter James book so far. In saying that it is still a good read, though I wasn't "gripped" by it as I have been by the others in the series. You’ve had a long and varied career, in film, TV, and writing. What was the “made-it” moment for this boy from Sussex? Or is it still to come?James was educated at Charterhouse and went on to Ravensbourne Film School. For a brief period of time whilst at film school, James worked as Orson Welles's house cleaner. Subsequently, he spent several years in North America, working as a screenwriter and film producer, beginning in Canada in 1970 working first as a gofer, then writer, on the children's television series Polka Dot Door. [1] Personal life [ edit ] The Roy Grace character is quite predictable as he has become well known to readers of the series to date. His former wife Sandy has been declared legally dead and he has married the attractive Cleo and they have a son Noah but is Sandy really dead? This conundrum spices up the story and coupled with the appearance of Assistant Chief Constable Cassian Pewe keeps the reader anxious about Roy’s future. At first, to Roy Grace and his team, these two events seem totally unconnected. But then another young woman in Brighton goes missing and another body from the past surfaces. Meanwhile, an eminent London psychiatrist meets with a man who claims to know a piece of information about Logan. Later Roy Grace makes the chilling realization that this one thing is the key to both the past and the present . . . Brighton has its first serial killer in over eighty years.