Showing results by author "Helen Phifer" in All Categories

When Detective Maria Miller walks up creaking stairs into the attic of the old brownstone she senses this isn’t an ordinary crime scene. The brutality of the murder is enough to shock even an experienced detective like Maria. But there’s something else. An unsettling presence seems to lurk in the shadows sending a chill through Maria’s bones, making her desperate to run back down the stairs and never return. The killing is identical to the murder of an actress sixty years before, a crime that tore a family apart and sent shockwaves through New York City.

When reports come in of a family trapped in a burning house, Detective Morgan Brookes rushes to the scene. But as soon as she enters the ruined home, she is devastated by what she finds. Tied to the kitchen table, Sally and David Lawson and their young son had no chance of escaping the flames and the smoke.... Neighbors all agree the Lawsons were the perfect family, and CCTV shows nothing suspicious. Morgan’s only clue is the silver crucifix necklace around Sally’s neck.

Running from a devastating relationship that almost cost her everything, Maddy Hart impulsively accepts a job as a live-in caretaker at imposing Lakeview House. She has no memories of having visited the crumbling mansion on the banks of Lake Thirlmere before, but when she arrives, something about the house feels familiar. The more time Maddy spends in the house, the more unsettled she feels. By day, she clears out the dusty rooms, but in the dead of night, it’s hard to explain away the eerie noises or crackly radio she hears hours after she turned it off.

When a concerned neighbor reports a woman missing, Detective Morgan Brookes squeezes through the stiff front door to find the woman dead. At first, the case appears unsuspicious, but something about the scene unsettles Morgan. Every clock in the house has been stopped, every mirror covered, and the woman seems physically unharmed except for one missing lock of hair.

The edge-of-your-seat fifth book in the Annie Graham crime thriller series * * * * Don’t go into the woods. Because you’re in for a big surprise… Annie Ashworth is currently off duty. With her baby bump growing fast, she is under strict instructions to stay away from police work and look...

On the banks of the River Rothay, as the first rays of sunshine hit the fast-flowing water, Melody Carrick’s body lies lifeless, red strangulation marks where her gold cross necklace used to hang. Detective Morgan Brookes is certain the killer was surprised by early-morning dog walkers, and she won’t rest until she unearths the evidence she needs to stop his next attack.

When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house, and unprepared for the nightmares it inspires about her childhood. When the DNA collected gives a positive ID, Morgan can’t wait to put the attacker behind bars. But the person it matches to is already in prison. How could the DNA of someone who has been locked up for over 20 years have shown up in Morgan’s crime scene? And then they make another close match - to Morgan herself.

Arriving at High Wraith cottage, Detective Morgan Brookes joins her horrified team, who have found a woman’s body chained and dangling from the gnarled branch of an old oak tree. It’s a race against time to preserve any evidence as heavy rain destroys the scene, but they’ve already identified the victim as a woman who once tried to kill her own family. Twenty years ago, Margery Lancaster went to prison for poisoning her husband and infant son. They both survived, and Morgan must treat the pair as her first suspects.

The thrilling fourth book in the Annie Graham crime thriller series A serial killer on the loose. A mystery that must be solved before time runs out. Elderly Martha Beckett is a prisoner in her own home, and has been ever since her older brother disappeared at just nine years old. * * * * Six...

'A ghost story and a police procedural all rolled into one with bags of tension… I couldn't read it in the dark!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A stunning Halloween read' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I finished it in the early hours as I needed to find out what happened!' Reader review...

Shortly before midnight, four teenagers broke into the old abandoned psychiatric hospital on Beacon Hill. Only three came out again. The missing girl—Riley Holt—is the seventeen-year-old daughter of the local police chief and she appears to have vanished into thin air. Called from Manhattan to take over the case, Detective Maria Miller and her partner Frankie Conroy uncover the sinister past of the abandoned hospital, which was once the hiding place of the notorious College Kid Killer, who never revealed the burial site of his final victim.

When the body of a teenage runaway is found hidden inside someone else’s grave in a small-town cemetery in the Lake District, an urgent call is made to forensic pathologist Beth Adams. Still traumatised by a recent attempt on her own life, one look at the beautiful girl’s broken body is enough to bring Beth out of hiding for the first time since her attack. She’s the only one who can help her trusted friend, Detective Josh Walker, crack the most shocking case of his career.

When the bodies of two teenage girls are discovered in a rundown New York City hotel room, Detective Maria Miller is called to the crime scene. The best friends were supposed to be at a sleepover miles away in the suburbs. With no record of the girls checking in and the room on the thirteenth floor closed off to guests, what were they doing there? Sinister messages on their phones suggest the girls were lured to the hotel, using its reputation for hauntings as bait. The killer left no DNA behind and Maria’s efforts to trace their identity leads to a dead end.

The discovery of a young student floating face down in Lake Windermere, her naked skin almost translucent in the freezing water, looks like yet another tragic teen suicide. But the victim’s lack of clothes make forensic pathologist Beth Adams investigate further. Anything to distract her from the arrival of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s body on the mortuary table that morning. With witnesses keeping tight-lipped and any clues washed away by the tides, it’s up to Beth to find the evidence her team needs. But then another girl is found in the lake, this time still clinging to life.

Eine leichte Brise wehte das blonde Haar über ihr Gesicht, und ihre glasigen Augen starrten ausdruckslos in den Sonnenuntergang. Die Gestalt wirkte klein und verloren neben der großen Eiche. Sie war zu jung, um zu sterben. Als die Leiche einer Frau an einem Baum hängend in ihrem Vorgarten gefunden wird, ist die frisch zum Dienst angetretene Detective Morgan Brookes als erste am Tatort. Für Olivia Potter kommt jede Hilfe zu spät und kurz darauf entdeckt Morgan auch die kalten Körper von Olivias Mann und ihren Töchtern im dunklen Keller, die Gesichter mit einem Tuch bedeckt.

A podcast for writer's wanting to unleash their creativity and set themselves free from being stuck inside the writer's closet. If you’ve always wanted to write a book, but not sure where to start then this is the podcast for you. I'll be sharing my publishing journey with you from that initial idea for a book to where I am now and all the very messy stuff inbetween.

Nach einem brutalen Angriff wird der leblose Körper einer jungen Frau an deren Bett gefesselt gefunden. Detective Morgan Brookes ist nicht vorbereitet auf das, was sie bei der weiteren Durchsuchung des Hauses entdeckt–und welche Erinnerungen an ihre eigene Kindheit dies hervorruft.

Two Northern women who both write books and share a love of all things writing, reading, life, tv and the witchy bits inbetween.