The Chalk Man
Adam LyndonBarnes finally has the family he always longed for. But someone is coming for them . . .
Detective Barnes crouches down by the body near the seafront. Male, mid-twenties. The face is blue-white, mouth stretched open in a silent yawn.
Suddenly his eye is caught by an abrupt movement. A woman has fallen over on the pavement opposite. ‘Looks like someone’s feeling crook,’ says Howlett, his detective constable.
Then Barnes sees another person collapse nearby. A young man, fit. He hasn’t tripped. His body starts to convulse on the ground.
As panic spreads through the crowd, Barnes’s mobile rings. It’s Tamsin, his normally unflappable partner.
‘Barnes . . .’ She sounds frantic. ‘It’s Maggie.’
Barnes goes cold. ‘What about her?’
‘She was supposed to be at rugby practice. But she never showed up. She’s . . . she’s missing.’
Barnes knows his stepdaughter has been taken — and he has a very bad feeling about who’s responsible . . .
Perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, Helen H. Durrant, Peter James, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, J.D. Kirk or J.M. Dalgliesh.