The QUINN-KING series brings together two of my passions: crime fiction and journalism. As we know, the relationship between the police and the media can be spiky. But compared with how my protagonists get along, it’s a match made in heaven.
TV journalist Caroline King is a thorn in the side of career cop, DI Sarah Quinn. Caroline’s emotional and impulsive, Sarah’s known at work as the Ice Queen. Do sparks fly? Is the blue line thin? Their first outing is in . . .
They heard the mother before they saw her. Two streets away through the open window of an unmarked police motor, and they could hear the screams. On what felt like the hottest day of a baking summer, the sound was chilling and incongruous. To Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn’s way
of thinking, the flawless turquoise sky called out for ice cream,
paddling pools, children’s squeals. Not this cry against nature.
REVIEWS
Crisply written with an electric pace – this story won’t soon leave you. Compare to Denise Mina. Library Journal
The settings – Birmingham in all guises – are vividly drawn, and the secondary characters are real, their entanglements and problems entirely believable. But it’s the antagonism between Quinn and King that dominates – it’s so vivid it crackles off the page like live electricity. This is a book I found difficult to put down, and I’m greatly looking forward to the second outing for Quinn and King in `Mother Love’.
I liked the pace of the story and could feel the pressure that the characters were under to get a result. Every parent’s worse nightmare played out in front of the press. With underhand shenanigans going on, Sarah Quinn’s resolve is tested. I look forward to reading the next instalment of DI Quinn’s cases.
Quinn and King next appear in . . .
MOTHER LOVE
She was resigned to dying. It was only a question of when,
and she almost welcomed the instant of oblivion when she’d
no longer have to suffer the taunts, the menacing whispers,
the veiled threats: ‘Why should I kill you? Death is so . . .
final. We have all the time in the world . . .’
But Olivia would die. She knew that.
REVIEWS
Carter excels at twisty, psychological suspense. Sophie Hannah readers will appreciate.
Library Journal on Mother Love
Humorous banter, plenty of red herrings, a twisty-turny plot and a surprise ending makes this an entertaining read. Booklist
All the emotional connections and feuds are skilfully woven into the story. And at the heart of it all, of course, are the protagonists, Quinn and King, this time forced to work together to find Olivia. It’s an inspired pairing – the antagonism between them fairly sizzles off the page, and drives this terrific plot along at a cracking pace.
Amazon reader review
Quinn and King’s third outing is in . . .
DYING BAD
The moon’s soft glow, just perceptible behind the cotton blind, barely penetrated the stark space. The girl lay on her back, stick-thin arms clamped tight to the side of her slight body. Though her eyes were wide open, she saw little in the near darkness, and too much when they were closed.
REVIEWS
A perfectly fine mystery. Booklist
The writing is vivid and fast-paced and the characters are real and believable. In all three books I’ve particularly enjoyed the on-going enmity between Quinn and King – that’s a really well-drawn and compelling anti-partnership, and it’s developed into some interesting areas in Dying Bad.
The fourth title is . . .
CHILD’S PLAY
When a schoolgirl fails to return home, DI Sarah Quinn soon realises this is no ordinary missing person’s case. How could a child vanish in broad daylight with no witnesses? Then a note arrives – and a taunting reference to a crime committed more than fifty years ago. Someone’s playing a childish – but deadly – game with the police. And to really make Sarah’s day, Caroline King has a head start on the story.
A gripping but unsettling read for dedicated Anglophile crime fans.
Booklist
Gripping . . . how the two crimes connect will shock most readers.
Publishers Weekly
The latest title is NEXT OF KIN
Ice-cool Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn and fiery reporter Caroline King lock horns once again in this latest intriguing mystery. When the body of a teenage girl is found in a local park, it is assumed she is the latest victim of a serial sex offender who has been plaguing the area. But when it transpires that the dead girl’s best friend is missing, DI Sarah Quinn is drawn into a complex murder investigation where nothing is as it seems. With the investigation heading nowhere – not helped by the hostility of the victim’s distraught father, nor by Sarah’s unsympathetic new Chief Superintendent who seems determined to undermine her. – a shocking series of events leads Sarah to question her own judgement. And that’s before she encounters her old foe, calculating TV journalist Caroline King.
REVIEWS
There is something about a Maureen Carter crime novel that makes you want to invite the characters in for a nice cuppa (or in most cases something a little stronger) and get them to dish the dirt.
Peppered with humour with gives relief to dreadful crimes – this is a brilliant read.
The plot kept me guessing, the action was fast and furious and kept me tapping my kindle to get to the next page like a woman possessed.
Plenty of intrigue and red herrings keep readers guessing. Publishers Weekly
Next of Kin is crime fiction writing at its best.If you only read one crime novel
this year make it Next of Kin. If you read any more make them the previous novels in the series.
This is a crime novel . . . about ordinary people becoming involved in extraordinary events, through the wrong decisions being made for what they think are the right reasons. [It is] . . . an intimate study of crime and human nature.
As the attacks intensify, there are a number of well-crafted, well-placed twists. Plot and counter-plot cross and merge until finally the shocking and surprising motives for the attacks is revealed.
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