Books by Jo Bannister

Something appalling happened in the wood. When Gabriel Ash comes to a young woman's aid, she thinks she's safe. But things aren't always as they seem. DCI Gorman thinks this is his worst nightmare: a predatory paedophile who's prepared to kill. And people have noticed that descriptions of the attacker fit Ash better than they fit anyone else.

Jo Bannister's gritty police novels featuring DI Liz Graham have been likened to Lynda La Plante's Prime Suspect. 'The whole bloody town's gone mad!' exclaimed Superintendent Shapiro as Castlemere reels after a forty-eight-hour crime-fest including a ram-raid, a hostage crisis, a shocking rape and more . . . Making no progress by conventional means, Detective Inspector Liz Graham and Detective Sergeant Cal Donovan go undercover in the search for leads. But neither could have imagined the frightening ordeals they are both about to endure. Ordeals that will test their courage, strength and commitment to the absolute, terrifying limit . . . 'The novel throbs with energy and the reader is absorbed from page one.' Yorkshire Evening Press 'Bannister keeps the suspense tight as a drum.' Publishers Weekly 'An example of what can be made of a traditional police investigation by a first-class writer.' Birmingham Post

Two people are hiring out their services in Castlemere - a prostitute with only hours to live, and a hired assassin with only hours to make his kill . . . When the naked body of a young prostitute is found on a narrowboat on the Castlemere Canal, police enquiries focus on the nearby Barbican Hotel. For with a sales conference in progress there's no shortage of men who could have met the girl there. But soon Superintendent Shapiro and his team have a great deal more to contend with. For the dead woman was not the only person to have hired herself out that night: a paid assassin is at large - and he is gunning for the conference organizer Philip Kendall. Jo Bannister's Castlemere novels are tough and very realistic - in the tradition of Lynda La Plante's Prime Suspect.

Dak Hamiko had never even heard of the Matrix. Nobody had, not for millennia, but The Matrix was not gone, only waiting. It had a purpose, in pursuit of which it was prepared to be every bit as ruthless as the imperialists of Tok-ai-Do. It was Dak's misfortune to be caught between two such irresistible forces, yet ultimately it was his plight which stirred the conscience of the Alliance and his flight which set the Twelve Circles afire with controversy. The Matrix is a fantasy of the far future in which everything is different except the people. Generous, ingenious, obstinate, optimistic, brilliant, brutal and brave, it is the people - in the widest sense of the word - who are the heroes of this tale. There are no villains.

Jo Bannister's startling and sinister tale of international intrigue, suspense, and terror. In a colourful mosaic that stretches from the quiet country lanes of England to the brutal torture chambers of South Africa, Bannister explores the darker sides of world politics and the human psyche. Joel Grant is an expatriot white South African who once fought side by side with his black countrymen. Two years ago he paid the price for his convictions-tortured at the hands of Joachim De Witte, head of South African Intelligence. Now, Grant has been kidnapped from his refuge in the English countryside by an agent of the South African government. It seems De Witte lies in a hospital bed close to death, and by a bizarre twist of fate his survival depends on Grant's return to Pretoria. Liz Fallon, the beautiful woman who nursed Joel back to health, is determined to save him once again. In Pretoria, she sets out to trace the web of blood and violence that binds together the two mortal enemies. And to unearth the dark, long-buried secret which will decide, at last, which man lives . . . and which man must die.

Clio Marsh is enjoying a friendly dinner with a few neighbours when one of them, David, is shot in the back by an unknown intruder. The group had been celebrating David's upcoming competition in the dangerous sport of horse-eventing, in which he had planned to compete on the fierce and supposedly unbeatable horse Gilgamesh. While David lies incapacitated and bleeding, a valuable painting is stolen. Coincidentally, the painting is also called Gilgamesh. As Clio's husband, Detective Harry Marsh, tries to piece together the facts, Clio forms her own theory about the motive behind the attack and robbery. Suddenly David's substitute is shot. Then Clio finds the missing painting in the most unlikely of places. So while Harry struggles to find the identity of the gunman, Clio begins her own ad hoc investigation. It seems that the key to discovering the perpetrator lies in understanding the chances of the proud horse Gilgamesh. Or so Clio thinks . . .

The idyllic peace of a remote Scottish anchorage is shattered by an explosion aboard a luxury cruiser, which kills the woman on board and brings to an abrupt end the restful holiday which Clio Marsh prescribed for her detective husband Harry. Was the wreck of the "e;Skara Sun"e; an accident? Was Alison MacAllister murdered, by the penniless young man sailing with her or by the rich older one to whom she was married? The local police investigate. Harry Marsh investigates. No-one who knows Clio would expect her to mind her own business. The savage beauty of the wild west coast forms a backdrop to, and ultimately plays its own role in the developing drama as Clio discovers that even deadly Corryvreckan can be friend in the face of human treachery.

It's nice to have a hobby. Detective Sergeant Donovan likes motorcycling. Mikey Dickens enjoys armed robbery. And their chance meeting in a Castlemere petrol station leads to a hot pursuit, an horrific crash and a remarkable act of heroism as Donovan pulls the teenager from the burning wreckage. The case against the young thief seems cut and dried, but the Dickens family are professional criminals and they concoct a clever defence. The tearaway, it seems, is going to walk . . . Donovan, supported by Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro and Detective Inspector Liz Graham, is determined to prove the boy's guilt. But has he finally met his match? For as he goes after Mikey for a second time, events escalate out of his control, leaving him fighting for his reputation, his career - and even his life . . . 'A superior police procedural with a strong cast.' Guardian 'Sensitive and intelligent writing produces a police procedural which ranks with the best of its kind . . . Highly recommended.' Yorkshire Post 'Gripping and original.' The Scotsman

Castlemere is under siege. Just one man is holding the town to ransom - to the tune of one million pounds. And if this demand is not met, no one will be safe from the frightening events he has in store. With the casualty rate rising, the pressure is on Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro to uncover the blackmailer. But this is a clever man; finding him in time may prove impossible . . . Meanwhile Detective Inspector Liz Graham's gentle art teacher husband comes under suspicion and the deserted boat belonging to her sergeant, Cal Donovan, is discovered near the tiny village of East Beckham, a flyspeck on the map where nothing and no one is quite what they seem . . . PRAISE FOR THE CASTLEMERE SERIES 'Well written, well plotted and exciting throughout.' Irish Independent 'Sensitive and intelligent writing produces a police procedural which ranks with the best of its kind . . . Highly recommended.' Yorkshire Post

Brodie Farrell finds things for a living, and when she's asked to locate the whereabouts of Daniel Hood, she sees nothing suspicious in the request. She finds the young man, passes the details on to her client, and commends herself on a job well done. But when the young man is found brutally tortured and left for dead, Brodie is overcome with guilt. Still blaming herself when Daniel asks for help, Brodie finds it impossible to do the sensible thing and walk away. He needs to understand what happened: Until the attack, he'd never known an enemy in the world. The men who hurt him were looking for someone named Sophie, and Daniel knows no one by that name. Finding the authors of Daniel's misfortune, in the end, resolves nothing. It only leads them both into a deeper, more complex tragedy than either imagined possible.

The Garden City of Chad was an oasis in a barren land, too rare and precious to escape the predation of someone like harry Jess. But the Barbarian made a mistake when he brought, along with his silver-studded cavalry, his concubine. Because when the bedslave teamed up with a nuclear engineer to rescue from Harry's evil clutches the last scion of the royal house of Chad the results were, literally, devastating. The paths of the protagonists lead from the palace at Chad to the enigmatic convent-fortress of Oracle, from the chill wastes of the Ice Desert to the secret reserves of the human psyche. The stark, often brutal, drama of conflict and consequence is relieved by small triumphs of humour, courage, endurance and love.

Meet Mickey Flynn. He's an American by birth, a Londoner by choice, a photo-journalist by trade. Mickey's sitting pretty, until a fire nearly destroys his home . . . and the woman he loves. According to his girlfriend, two men, Middle Eastern in appearance, broke into the flat, terrorized her, then made their way into the darkroom-which then exploded. Mickey doesn't doubt that this is a case of premeditated arson. And no wonder. For the past seven years, Flynn's camera has relentlessly exposed the corrupt and the unscrupulous. It's a talent that has made him tops in his field, and made him plenty of enemies too-such as Tomas Obregon, a drug kingpin who is as urbane and charming as he is deadly; Peter Loriston, a politician of dubious morality; and Michael Wylie, a cynical solider-for-hire. Not to mention Jamil Fahad, a ruthless high-ranking officer in the Palestinian hierarchy. Each man, snapped by Flynn, has good reason to wreak vengeance upon him; and at least one has attempted to kill him before. Trying to uncover the identity of his malicious antagonist, Flynn finds himself facing constant danger. But this is no ordinary vendetta . . .

There was more to the brooding forest world of Mithras than the great Hive rising from its clearing, and somewhere there was an intellect more ruthlessly domineering than even the Lady Amalthea's. Shah could feel it but not find it, at least not in time, and Paul with a war to prosecute, had other matters on his mind. Deceit and treachery hung about the city like a shroud. Who were the Hive people? Who were the Drones, and where did they go through the high hedge that Amalthea's warriors dared not follow? When the answer started to come and Shah understood where the real authority on Mithras lay, it spelt danger for the Lady and for her Hive, but mostly for Paul, trapped between the monstrous ambitions of mad, magnificent Amalthea and the sheer power and implacable hatred of the silent enemy that had grown weary of waiting.

A personal discovery course is Richard Speke's last chance to recover his shattered nerve and save his job as a frontline TV reporter. With more hope than expectation he presents himself at the venue - the penthouse suite of a brand-new, indeed unfinished, London skyscraper, Lazaire's Hotel. Richard barely has time to meet Dr Miriam Graves and the others on the course - among them a former tennis star, a workaholic advertising executive, a grieving widower and a man terrified of heights - before odd things start to happen. The seven people on the course have never met before, should have nothing in common but their neuroses. So why do their memories raise echoes in one another's minds? Each one has a guilty secret, but how can they all share the same one? Then the only lift currently reaching the top of Lazaire's Hotel suddenly becomes inoperative; so does the telephone. The penthouse is now effectively isolated form the city, but the group no longer seems to be alone . . . Then one of them is brutally attacked. There's plenty of personal discovery in store - for those who survive the course . . .

When Matt Gosling, proprietor of The Skipley Chronicle, hired Primrose Holland as his paper's agony aunt it was either the best decision he ever made, or the worst. For Rosie is larger-than-life in every sense, an ex-pathologist with enthusiasm, intelligence and heart - but no tact whatsoever. Perhaps that's why her column 'The Primrose Path' is such a huge success. Faced with queries on everything from inadvertently eating a slug to the etiquette of finding your mother in bed with her toy-boy, Rosie's advice is always unorthodox, frequently hilarious, and often lands her in deep water. But never deeper than when she helps Fiona Morris look for her brother Philip, who disappeared while birdwatching in the Hebrides. Worried by conflicting news of him, Rosie sets off for Scotland with Fiona, bird-watching expert Arthur Prufrock, and reluctant psychic Shad Lucas. A more competent psychic would have known better than to get involved. Because Rosie's solution to this particular problem is about to prove very dangerous indeed . . . 'A most surprising and enjoyable mystery from one of the very best' Booklist

Shad couldn't be guilty of murder . . . could he? Rosie Holland, agony aunt for the Skipley Chronicle, speeds to the aid of a woman supposedly held at knifepoint - only to discover the whole thing is a hoax organised by the makers of a TV programme. Merely annoyed at first, Rosie becomes worried when her gardener, Shad, is discovered unconscious and bleeding near the dead body of one of the programme's researchers. Rosie finds it impossible to believe that Shad could have been involved and she vows to discover the truth. But as she delves deeper into the events surrounding the night of the murder, she realises that in this bizarre set-up of twisted humour and warped ambition, nothing is as it seems.

When Detective Chief Inspector Frank Shapiro of Castlemere CID loses his right-hand man to a hit-and-run driver he has two major problems. One is his sergeant, who won't accept it was an accident: Donovan is convinced it was ordered by local crime baron Jack Carney, and he isn't the kind of policeman to be put off by lack of evidence. The other is that someone has chosen this moment, with CID already stretched, to launch a career as a serial killer. But Shapiro finds a useful ally in the inspector sent as a temporary replacement - Liz Graham, who worked under him once before and is eager to prove herself as a senior CID officer. She's intelligent, intuitive, and ambitious; she knows she'll have to fight for acceptance in the overwhelmingly male-oriented world of criminal investigation and she won't let an angry young sergeant who resents her very presence stand in her way. With the body-count rising and no indication that the murderer will be satisfied, Castlemere CID tries desperately to unravel the strands. As Liz delves into the professional and private lives of the victims she finds a link. But the connection is so ordinary, so innocent, that she struggles to make sense of it. Will someone else die before Liz realizes that, in the desperate mind of the killer, innocence is hiding a terrible guilt? And the person whose malevolent shadow has hung over them since this began remains to be faced in a closing act of startling violence.

When the body of teenage prostitute Charisma is discovered in the murky waters of Castle Canal, her throat cut back to the spine, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Shapiro and Detective Inspector Liz Graham head Castlemere CID's investigation. Close to where the body was found, a travelling gospel crusade is setting up its tent. The Reverend Michael Davey's road-crew have no information to offer on the killing, but Detective Sergeant Cal Donovan is stunned to see among them a face from his childhood. Because Liam Brady is officially dead . . . Then another girl is murdered while exercising her pony in a public park. The killings have two things in common: the youth of the victims, and the profoundly vicious knife wounds. It looks as though a serial killer is on the loose and as hysteria sweeps Castlemere, Liz Graham begins to think the unthinkable . . . Could powerful, charismatic Michael Davey have brought more to the town than the promise of eternal salvation?

Two friends stand at the foot of the glacier, looking up to Anarchy Ridge. They can't see the summit of the mountain, only its heaving shoulders, the snow whipping off of the thin blade of the ridge, making arabesques against the impossibly blue sky. As they stand in awe for a long time, gazing up at the seeming impossibility of their trek, the mountain awaits in silence. But one of the friends is destined never to return from the ridge alive. As for the survivor, Nicky Horn, that terrible day on the mountain plunges him into a life of deception. His climbing partner's father is seeking vengeance for the death of his son, and Horn must run for his life through a maze of intrigue and secrets. "e;guarantees an experience as hair-raising for readers as for the three leading (and practically only) characters"e; Kirkus Reviews

In this fast-paced thriller, Deadly Virtues, acclaimed writer Jo Bannister proves once again why she is considered "e;one of the genre's best"e; (Booklist) The town of Norbold, England is famous for its low crime rate, thanks to the zero-tolerance policy of Chief Superintendent John Fountain. And Norbold's newest police recruit, Hazel Best, is happy to help keep it that way. But numbers never tell the whole story, do they? Jerome Cardy knew he was going to die. He also knew that it would be made to appear like an accident. He might not be able to prevent it, but Jerome was determined to make sure that someone knew what was going to happen-even if that someone was a man with a concussion lying with his dog in a jail cell next to him. After Jerome is found beaten to death by a fellow inmate in another cell, Ash is unable to forget Jerome's last awkward words to him: "e;I had a dog once. Othello. That was its name. Othello."e; Certain there is a hidden message in these words, Ash is determined to discover the truth. But it won't be easy-no one believes his account of that night. And Hazel Best must decide whether pursuing the truth is worth her career.

A town the size of Castlemere might expect to see one major fire a year. When a derelict warehouse burns down just days after a blaze destroys Rachid's Eight-Till-Late, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Shapiro is worried. Either of the fires could have been accidental, but together they suggest an arsonist at work. A third, and fatal, episode confirms it. Helped by his enigmatic Irish sergeant, Cal Donovan, Shapiro investigates, well aware that any delay in making an arrest will invite further attacks. But before much progress can be made Shapiro is relieved of duty, accused of destroying vital evidence in an earlier investigation - evidence that would have spared an innocent man an eight-year prison sentence. Shapiro's closest colleagues, Detective Inspector Liz Graham and Detective Sergeant Donovan, are incredulous: the allegation wars with everything they know about a man they have worked for and respected for years. And yet the evidence can't be ignored. Liz and Donovan must embark on a race against time to clear Shapiro's name - if they can - and to track down a pyromaniac before he brings his career to a truly horrifying climax.