Parish & Richards: Books 25-27

Through the Eye of a Needle: Parish and Richards are given the case of a naked man found in a ditch who has been tortured, his genitalia severed and stuffed in his mouth. It quickly becomes apparent that the victim is an accused rapist who was released the previous day due to mistakes made by the Crown Prosecution Service. The case soon becomes a national issue, the feminists get involved and a circuit judge is abducted. Xena and Stick have the case of a man who is shot on his own doorstep by a clown in a stolen car. It soon become evident that they're dealing with much more than a simple murder, especially when a silver charm bracelet found in the boot of the torched stolen car leads them back to a jewellery robbery in 2003 and a missing Swedish university student called Lotta Stenson. Then, of course, Xena has other worries, such as the murder of an MI5 agent that Ryder Dutton wants her to solve, and an implanted microchip in the murder victim that nobody knows what it does.: Parish and Richards are given the case of a strangled woman left in a standing position wedged between a fence and a cycling sign on the bank of the River Lee in Rye Park. She also has a gravestone from the local church tied around her ankles. As they try to piece together her last hours, they discover she has a mysterious past, which leads them to Berlin. Xena and Stick have the case of a male skeleton found in Broxbourne Woods. Above the grave is a tree that has been engraved with a goodbye note to Jimmy Tanner. When forensics dig up the skeleton, they find a second one belonging to a sixteen year-old girl who is five-months pregnant and she has Memento Mori etched into her skull.

Lest Darkness Come Upon You: Sir Arthur Quinton is murdered in his own bedroom during a garden party at Darcy Court and Parish and Richards must use all their skill to find the culprit and bring them to justice. As usual though, the investigation twists and turns to an unnerving conclusion. Xena and Stick are told to co-operate with the Lead Investigator of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) when it's discovered that a light plane has been sabotaged at Hunsdon Flight School, but Xena has never been one for co-operating, even though there's a memorandum on the subject. As they struggle to identify a suspect, the investigation takes a strange twist towards a thirty year-old unsolved case that DCI Mira D'Aramitz failed to solve.

Few Are Chosen: Parish and Richards are given the case of a naked man found in a ditch who has been tortured, his genitalia severed and stuffed in his mouth. It quickly becomes apparent that the victim is an accused rapist who was released the previous day due to mistakes made by the Crown Prosecution Service. The case soon becomes a national issue, the feminists get involved and a circuit judge is abducted. Xena and Stick have the case of a man who is shot on his own doorstep by a clown in a stolen car. It soon become evident that they're dealing with much more than a simple murder, especially when a silver charm bracelet found in the boot of the torched stolen car leads them back to a jewellery robbery in 2003 and a missing Swedish university student called Lotta Stenson. Then, of course, Xena has other worries, such as the murder of an MI5 agent that Ryder Dutton wants her to solve, and an implanted microchip in the murder victim that nobody knows what it does.


Genre: Mystery