He thought he'd left his life as a detective behind. But the past has a deadly way of catching up.

Ten years after the brutal murder of Daphne Tolliver in Lowden Woods, the case still haunts Wiltshire Police. Retired Detective Inspector Gus Freeman is pulled back into service, asked to lead a new Crime Review Team tasked with uncovering what others missed.

As Gus and his team delve into the cold case files, they uncover puzzling inconsistencies and suppressed details. Where past detectives saw nothing, Gus senses vital leads that could unlock the truth.

But solving a motiveless killing is only part of the challenge. Gus is still reeling from the sudden loss of his wife Tess, finding solace in his allotment while grappling with the possibility of new companionship. His fledgling team bring their own struggles: DS Alex Hardy, confined to a wheelchair after a devastating crash, fights to prove his sharp mind is as valuable as ever, while the others learn to balance modern methods with Gus’s instinctive old-school approach.

Fatal Decision, the first instalment in The Freeman Files, blends the steady intrigue of a British police procedural with the rich, human stories of the detectives behind the desk. Perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, Peter James, and Ann Cleeves.

Praise for The Freeman Files:

????? A little Columbo, a little Perry Mason, a little Sherlock Holmes all rolled up into one!

????? Just when you think you have it figured out, wham!! You don't even have a clue.

????? I really couldn't put this down. Cold case files? Village life? Budding romances? I enjoyed every bit of it. Try it!

????? The Freeman Files are a compelling counterpoint to the typical adrenalized, Hollywood-influenced thrillers. Instead, Mr Tayler's stories feel authentic, genuine, and human.

????? I loved the characters. An aging attractive former DI closing cold cases, getting into romantic situations and learning new technology!

????? I’m usually quite good at figuring out mysteries, but not these… If you like Agatha Christie, you’ll like these

????? A cross between DCI Banks and Unforgotten.

????? It would make a great TV Series if Hollywood would wake up and take a look at it.

????? I already know that I will be reading all 20 in this series!!
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POE MEETS PUZO – THE WORLD’S
FIRST LOCKED-ROOM MOB MYSTERY!

Hard-hitting veteran reporter Deuce Mora is awakened in the pre-dawn hours and called to the scene of a gruesome hanging to identify the body of a dear friend, an FBI agent on the verge of taking down one of Chicago’s biggest Mob operations. Deuce knows it’s murder, but the authorities have no choice but to call it a suicide – the death scene was triple-locked from the inside.

And with that, author Heller, a former journalist and frequent Pulitzer nominee, takes her place with Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the great Edgar Allan Poe himself as one of the few authors ever to pull off a locked-room murder. In this one, half the fun is trying to figure out the locked-room puzzle. And the delight of finding one in a contemporary mob mystery.

The other half of course, is the tenacious Deuce herself, the tough, hard-boiled, and ever-human reporter who goes places the cops don’t even know about. And Heller’s intricate, action-packed mystery story.

The ill wind sweeping the Windy City has also whipped up two more unexplainable deaths – of perfectly healthy, able-bodied young mobsters,key witnesses about to flip on the top leaders of the Mob operation. Neither the Chicago police nor the FBI can come up with a cause of death – and they’ve looked at every kind of toxin – but our meticulous investigator, whose stock-in-trade is death-defying leaps of logic, fits together a couple of impossible puzzle pieces. The downside is that the bad guys figure out where their greatest exposure lies – and Deuce quickly becomes their new target.

Enter a Washington reporter who has been following the organized crime investigation for months at its source, in D.C. He and Deuce share a dark secret and he knows exactly where to apply pressure on her demons to keep her on the trail of her friend’s murderers. But as the Windy City begins to look more and more like the Chicago of Al Capone days, with bodies turning up in the river and shoot-outs in public places, Deuce discovers she couldn’t walk away even if she wanted to. Whoever is at the top – and this is Chicago, so the top is always way up – will stop at nothing to shut down this investigation.

WHO WILL LIKE IT: First of all, fans of puzzle mysteries and locked rooms! Followed closely by admirers of get-the-story-or-die reporters like Hank Philippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland and Kelly Lange’s Maxi Poole, Chicago private investigators VI Warshawski and Libby Fischer Hellman’s Georgia Davis, kickass female detective protagonists like Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone and Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan; and anyone who admires tough-minded women sleuths who’re good in a fight.

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The last thing she wants is to dig up the past…

When the body of a celebrated journalist is fished from the Edgartown Harbor, the official report rules his death accidental. But why was he alone on a senator’s yacht during a nor’easter? That’s only the first question London-based lawyer Kyra Gibson has when she arrives on the idyllic island of Martha’s Vineyard to settle her estranged father’s affairs.

She’s not looking for closure. She’s not seen him in decades since he left her with her aunt following her mother’s death. But as Kyra delves deeper into her father’s life, she learns he had many regrets and wasn’t as retired as she believed. The more Kyra discovers, the more questions she has. With the help of world-weary detective, Tarek Collins, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption involving a powerful senator, a dubious energy company, and brutal murder.

As they chase down clues, Kyra and Tarek flirt with danger and race against time to solve the murders and uncover the dark secrets lurking beneath Martha’s Vineyard’s picturesque façade of old money wealth and privilege.