Maxima Library

Young Anna Travis has been assigned to her first murder case — a series of killings that has shocked even the most hardened of detectives. They started eight years ago — now the body count is up to six. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls identical — all drug-users and prostitutes. Then a seventh body is found. The modus operandi is the same — but the victim is a young student with the 'face of an angel'. The profile of the murderer has changed dramatically. Determined to earn the respect of her male colleagues, Anna stumbles on a vital piece of information which links one man to the killings, a much-loved actor on the brink of international stardom. His arrest would create a media frenzy. But if he were found innocent, his wouldn't be the only career over — Anna's hard fought for reputation would be destroyed once and for all… 

When the body of a young girl is found dumped on the banks of the Thames, even the police are shocked by the brutality of her murder: horifically mutilated, severed in half and drained of blood, her death is a mirror image of an infamous 1940s case in Los Angeles known as 'The Black Dahlia'.

That case was never solved, but now Detective Inspector Anna Travis must race against time to catch this 'copycat killer', dubbed 'The Red Dahlia' from the flower his victim wore in her hair. But there are no suspects and a media frenzy is spiralling out of control. Anna turns to her mentor, the brilliant and volatile Detective Chief Inspector James Langton, but the frictions of their romantic relationship are complicating the case.

And then a second girl is found, her death again mirroring the 'Black Dahlia', and as Anna and Langton close in on the prime suspect they uncover a shocking web of sadistic sexual evil and a family's murderous secrets.

Линда Ла Плант — известная английская писательница, сценарист, в прошлом актриса. Из ее романов особенным успехом пользуются книги о детективе Анне Тревис.

…Почему больше чем полвека спустя после таинственной гибели в Лос-Анджелесе начинающей актрисы по прозвищу Черная Орхидея детективам лондонской полиции Анне Тревис и ее харизматичному шефу Джимми Ленгтону приходится вникать во все подробности того давнего дела — одного из самых громких и загадочных убийств XX века? Удастся ли им остановить безжалостного и дерзкого маньяка? В свое время убийца Черной Орхидеи так и не был найден. Не станет ли их расследование, по аналогии названное журналистами «делом Красной Орхидеи», новой главой в книге знаменитых нераскрытых преступлений? Или на сей раз возмездие настигнет преступника?

Dedicated, intuitive and utterly obsessive, DCI James Langton is ruthless in his pursuit of a gang of illegal immigrants, killers of a young prostitute. When he is horrifically, almost fatally injured by one of them, it falls upon DI Anna Travis to put her own career on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice. Then Anna is assigned to a different case, the brutal killing of a quiet, studious woman whose body was discovered by her daughter returning home from school. A senseless attack with no obvious motive or immediate suspect. Until, chillingly, the case becomes unexpectedly linked with Langton's and Anna finds herself under similar threat from those who almost destroyed his career and his life.

Anna Travis is back in a new gripping mystery from Lynda La Plante, featuring the female detective every bit as intelligent, ambitious, and flawed asJane Tennison.

Ruthless drug trafficker Alexander Fitzpatrick is one of the most wanted men in the Western Hemisphere. But for ten years, there's been no sign of him. Is he dead, or just trying to appear that way? When an ex-colleague from the murder squad is found shot in a dank drug den, Anna Travis is pulled into the case. She's grateful for the distraction after her breakup with DCI Langton and soon finds herself involved with someone new. But as the bodies pile up and the mystery deepens, Travis and Langton must put aside their personal history and work together to track down one of the canniest criminals they've ever encountered.

Close to a motorway service station, the body of a young woman is discovered. She appears to have no family, no friends, no one to identify her.

DI Anna Travis is brought onto the team of investigators by DCS James Langton, who already suspects that this recent case could be linked to two unsolved murders. As more evidence is discovered the team realize that they are contending with a triple murder investigation — and no suspect.

Anna’s blood runs cold when she receives a letter from a murderer she helped to arrest. He makes contact from prison insisting that he can track down their killer, but he will only talk to Anna.

Does he really have insight into the other killer’s mind, or is he merely intent on getting into hers?