Alex Quick investigates the murder of a close family friend in this intriguing, intricately-plotted mystery In her former career as a police detective, Alex Quick was exposed to some brutally violent crimes - but none as horrific as this. A badly mutilated corpse is discovered in a field, the victim castrated, the word 'cheat' carved across his chest. The dead man was a close family friend of Alex, and his sister has asked her to find out who killed him - and why. Although they'd been friends as long as she can remember, how well did Alex really know the late Tristan Huber? Why would someone murder him in such a violent and cruel way? Whoever she questions, Alex finds that people are reluctant to talk, keeping things back from her - including Tristan's sister, Dimsie. The more Alex uncovers, the clearer it becomes that Tristan Huber was not who, or what, he appeared to be. But is she prepared for the shocking truth?

"Aficionados of British crime fiction can't get enough, and this fresh mystery will satisfy their cravings" - Library Journal Starred Review Introducing outspoken female sleuth Alex Quick in the first of a brand-new mystery series When her business partner, acclaimed art historian and university professor Dr Helena Drummond, disappears, Alexandra Quick is consumed by guilt. Shortly before she vanished, Helena had complained of being menaced by a stalker, and Alex had dismissed her fears as groundless. Now Alex, a former police detective, is determined to use her finely-honed investigative skills to find out what's happened to her friend and colleague. But the more she uncovers, the more Alex realizes how little she really knew Dr Helena Drummond. As it becomes increasingly clear that the woman she thought she knew so well has been keeping a great many secrets from her, Alex must decide: is Helena a victim . or is she a killer?

Alex Quick investigates the murder of a close family friend in this intriguing, intricately-plotted mystery In her former career as a police detective, Alex Quick was exposed to some brutally violent crimes - but none as horrific as this. A badly mutilated corpse is discovered in a field, the victim castrated, the word 'cheat' carved across his chest. The dead man was a close family friend of Alex, and his sister has asked her to find out who killed him - and why. Although they'd been friends as long as she can remember, how well did Alex really know the late Tristan Huber? Why would someone murder him in such a violent and cruel way? Whoever she questions, Alex finds that people are reluctant to talk, keeping things back from her - including Tristan's sister, Dimsie. The more Alex uncovers, the clearer it becomes that Tristan Huber was not who, or what, he appeared to be. But is she prepared for the shocking truth?

Based on papers given at a conference at King's College, London, in 1998, Foundations of Charity brings together established scholars in the fields of charity law, public law, and trusts law, and internationally recognized writers on social policy and legal philosophy, from England and Wales, Scotland, Australia, Canada and the United States. The contributors take an iconoclastic approach to the legal definition of charitable status, and provide an in-depth analysis of key concepts in charity law and administration, such as 'public benefit' and 'political activity'. The combination of their different perspectives on 'charity' produces a varied, stimulating, and challenging collection. It should be useful reading for academics, practising lawyers and voluntary sector managers who are looking for a sustained critique of 'charity'.

Former police detective Alex Quick finds it impossible to refuse when a young family friend begs for her help in discovering which of his friends is a thief. Following a dinner party he'd held at his uncle's grand Venetian apartment, a pair of valuable items went missing, only to turn up at a London pawnbrokers. But why would a wealthy guest, a member of the glamorous Anglo-Italian jet-set, need to steal in the first place? Before Alex can discover more, one of the dinner party guests is found murdered. Could there be a connection to the theft? As she heads to Venice to pursue her investigations further, Alex receives news that another person present that night has disappeared and the case spirals into something altogether darker and deeper.

"Aficionados of British crime fiction can't get enough, and this fresh mystery will satisfy their cravings" - Library Journal Starred Review Introducing outspoken female sleuth Alex Quick in the first of a brand-new mystery series When her business partner, acclaimed art historian and university professor Dr Helena Drummond, disappears, Alexandra Quick is consumed by guilt. Shortly before she vanished, Helena had complained of being menaced by a stalker, and Alex had dismissed her fears as groundless. Now Alex, a former police detective, is determined to use her finely-honed investigative skills to find out what's happened to her friend and colleague. But the more she uncovers, the more Alex realizes how little she really knew Dr Helena Drummond. As it becomes increasingly clear that the woman she thought she knew so well has been keeping a great many secrets from her, Alex must decide: is Helena a victim . or is she a killer?

"Aficionados of British crime fiction can't get enough, and this fresh mystery will satisfy their cravings" - Library Journal Starred Review Introducing outspoken female sleuth Alex Quick in the first of a brand-new mystery series When her business partner, acclaimed art historian and university professor Dr Helena Drummond, disappears, Alexandra Quick is consumed by guilt. Shortly before she vanished, Helena had complained of being menaced by a stalker, and Alex had dismissed her fears as groundless. Now Alex, a former police detective, is determined to use her finely-honed investigative skills to find out what's happened to her friend and colleague. But the more she uncovers, the more Alex realizes how little she really knew Dr Helena Drummond. As it becomes increasingly clear that the woman she thought she knew so well has been keeping a great many secrets from her, Alex must decide: is Helena a victim . or is she a killer?

A woman's unresolved past has disturbing implications for her future in this compelling psychological mystery When she was nineteen, Kate's father, stepmother and eight-year-old sister were killed in a mysterious car accident in South America. The only survivor, Kate has no recollection of what happened that terrible day. But a proposition from a stranger becomes the catalyst for a series of events that will change Kate's life irrevocably. Somehow everything leads back to that one dreadful day in Ecuador, and loose ends that need to be resolved.

A woman's search for her identity leads her to confront a series of disturbing truths in this enthralling psychological mystery Abandoned at the age of eleven by her beautiful, capricious mother, Theodora Cairns, twenty years on and with a painful divorce behind her, is still struggling to get over her childhood abandonment. With the urging of her new love interest, Fergus Costello, and a chance discovery, Theo becomes determined to find her mother and demand answers to the questions she should have asked years ago. Her search for answers leads her to Vermont, USA, but will she be able to handle the disturbing truth?

A young woman's search for the truth about her sister's murder and terrifying consequences Chantal Frazer has come to Westerby Lodge in the Cotswolds to find some answers about the murder of her sister, twenty-three years before. What really happened that terrible night when the wealthy Mrs Palliser was said to have gone beserk and stabbed her two sons to death, as well as their au pair, Chantal's sister Sabine? As Chantal questions those who were there at the time, she discovers matters weren't quite as straightforward as she'd been led to believe - and that someone is prepared to go to desperate lengths to ensure the truth remains hidden.

After losing her husband in World War II, Fiona Beecham brought her two children to live with their aunt on the coast of Kent. Alice and Orlando enjoyed a quiet adolescence in the sprawling Glenfield House. But that all changed when Nicola Stone arrived. Thirteen-year-old Nicola was manipulative, sexually precocious, and unnerving to the naive Alice and Orlando. Then, only days after Alice's twelfth birthday, Nicola's body was found-beaten to death and barely concealed. Twenty years later, Alice returns to the small town of Shale to resettle after her divorce, and put to rest the unsolved murder that has haunted her for so long. As Alice fits together the pieces of that brutal summer, she realizes that no one has forgotten Nicola. Not the local boys she teased, the adults she affronted, or the friends she terrorized. But the secrets of the troubled girl's past hide a motive for murder beyond anything Alice ever imagined.

Former police detective Alex Quick finds it impossible to refuse when a young family friend begs for her help in discovering which of his friends is a thief. Following a dinner party he'd held at his uncle's grand Venetian apartment, a pair of valuable items went missing, only to turn up at a London pawnbrokers. But why would a wealthy guest, a member of the glamorous Anglo-Italian jet-set, need to steal in the first place? Before Alex can discover more, one of the dinner party guests is found murdered. Could there be a connection to the theft? As she heads to Venice to pursue her investigations further, Alex receives news that another person present that night has disappeared and the case spirals into something altogether darker and deeper.