'I think I've had a bit too much wine. How much did you drink?'

'About a gla.s.s.'

'And the bottle's empty.' He looked her full in the face. 'I'm not going to be able to drive.'

'I know,' she smiled at him, 'but fortunately there's a very nice place nearby that will be able to put you up for the night...' He frowned in protest. 'And it has several serviceable bedrooms.'

At least he had the grace to laugh. They turned and walked together away from the precipice and back through the woods to Mill Farm.

Have you read the other books in the gripping DCI Andrew Fenwick series?

If not, turn the page and read on for a taste of the thrills to come...

ELIZABETH CORLEY'S SPINE-TINGLING LATEST NOVEL.

Innocent Blood.

'When is a murderer not a murderer?'

Major Jeremy Maidment, former service man and pillar of the community, only wants to help when his neighbour is robbed by local conman Luke Chalfont. He convinces DI Bob Cooper to help him in setting a trap for the suspect. But the arrest goes rapidly awry when Chalfont threatens Bob with a knife and Maidment's 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy lands him in deep water. But are Maidment's actions as heroic as they seem? With a suspect near death and Maidment's possession of an unlicensed gun raising questions, it's time for the Suss.e.x force to draft in their secret weapon, Sergeant Nightingale; young, dynamic and determined to find answers...

Her colleague and close friend, DCI Andrew Fenwick, is also up against a tough case. The Choir Boy investigation, a project outside of ordinary police jurisdiction, aims to expose an infamous and increasingly powerful paedophile ring. Moreover, with thirteen-year-old schoolboy Sam Bowyers missing, every second counts. But is the investigation more complex than it initially seems? And could something buried alongside a child's corpse, twenty-five years ago, be a vital clue?

Tension mounts between Fenwick and Nightingale, and as they try to resolve their two cases they are plagued by the question: is innocence in the eye of the beholder?

PREVIOUS t.i.tLES IN THE DCI ANDREW FENWICK SERIES.

Requiem Ma.s.s.

When Debbie Fearnside, a young wife and mother, goes missing, police interest is minimal. She would hardly be the first woman to abandon a tired marriage. Four weeks later it is DCI Andrew Fenwick, back from compa.s.sionate leave, who notices the set of coincidences that should have transformed a routine missing person's case into a suspected abduction. And by then it's too late for Debbie.

With Kate Johnstone the situation is quite different. The popular schoolteacher has been murdered by someone who's an expert with a knife. When a WPC on Fenwick's team establishes an old connection between Kate and Debbie, the picture starts to change. It's more vital than anyone realises that they discover why the two cases are linked, for the killer has only just begun to take revenge for a long-forgotten death. And he is planning a cunning and spectacular finale that will put many lives at risk.

Fenwick is caught up in a desperate race against time to find the murderer before he completes his b.l.o.o.d.y vendetta. As the death toll mounts, Fenwick stares failure in the face unless he can draw the killer out of the shadows and into an unconventional and highly dangerous trap with the ultimate bait.

Fatal Legacy.

There was a cloying chemical smell in the car, which he recognised but couldn't name. The fear was back now, real, smothering fear that made him feel sick and caused his whole body to shake. He was so tired. He wanted to sleep but, more than that, he needed to understand.

'What's going on? Tell me please!'

The well-known face turned towards him and stared him straight in the eye.

'It's simple. You're dying. Sleep tight.'

When the managing director of the respectable firm Wainwright Enterprises dies in suspicious circ.u.mstances, his last will and testament throws the business and family into turmoil. Not only was he far, far richer than anyone had imagined, but, to the horror of his relatives, he has left the bulk of his estate to his nephew, Alex.

When Alex's wife Sally turns her sharp mind to the finances of the family firm, she exposes startling irregularities. She doesn't want the police involved but then the firm's accountant is brutally murdered and DCI Andrew Fenwick is called in. His investigations reveal a web of corruption reaching to the highest levels of the local community. As Fenwick closes in on the murderer, one of his children is abducted as a deadly bargaining chip. He finds his integrity stretched to breaking point as he races against the clock to prevent more killings and save his child.

About the Author.

ELIZABETH CORLEY was born and brought up in West Suss.e.x. Married, with a stepdaughter, she manages to balance her pa.s.sion for crime-writing with a successful position as Chief Executive, Europe for a global investment company, dividing her time between London, Germany and France. A one-time committee member and vice-chairperson of the Crime Writers' a.s.sociation, Elizabeth is an active member of the organisation yet still finds the time to pursue her outside interests of travel, gardening and music. Her previous t.i.tles include Requiem Ma.s.s and Fatal Legacy.

Also by Elizabeth Corley.

Fatal Legacy.

Requiem Ma.s.s.

Grave Doubts.

Innocent Blood.

end.