Silent As The Grave. Paul Gitsham

       It’s DCI Warren Jones’ coldest case yet…

      The body of Reginald Williamson had been well concealed under a bush in Middlesbury Common and the murder had been efficiently carried out – a single stab wound to the chest. Reggie’s dog had been killed just as efficiently. With no clues and no obvious motive, the case is going nowhere.

       …and then he gets a break.

      DCI Warren Jones’ instincts tell him that the informant is dodgy – a former police officer under investigation. But when the story he tells involves the death of Warren’s father, he can’t help but listen. Suddenly, a wide criminal conspiracy, involving high-level police corruption, a gangster and a trained killer, is blown wide open…and Warren finds that this time, it’s not just his career under threat, but his family – and his life.

      Also by Paul Gitsham:

      The Last Straw

      No Smoke Without Fire

      Blood Is Thicker Than Water (A DCI Warren Jones Short Story)

       Silent as the Grave

       A DCI Warren Jones Novel

      Paul Gitsham

       Copyright

      HQ

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015

      Copyright © Paul Gitsham 2015

      Paul Gitsham asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      E-book Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9781474033602

      Version date: 2018-06-27

       PAUL GITSHAM

      started his career as a biologist, working in such exotic locales as Manchester and Toronto. After stints as the world’s most over-qualified receptionist and a spell making sure that international terrorists and other ne’er do wells hadn’t opened a Junior Savings Account at a major UK bank (a job even less exciting than being a receptionist) he retrained as a science teacher. He now spends his time passing on his bad habits and sloppy lab skills to the next generation of enquiring minds.

      Paul has always wanted to be a writer and his final report on leaving primary school predicted he’d be the next Roald Dahl! For the sake of balance it should be pointed out that it also said, “He’ll never get anywhere in life if his handwriting doesn’t improve.” Twenty-five years later and his handwriting is worse than ever but millions of children around the world love him.*

      Paul writes the DCI Warren Jones series of novels. Silent as the Grave is the third, with more to come. He was brought up in Coventry and now lives in East Anglia. Remind you of anybody?

      You can find out more about Paul at his website, www.paulgitsham.com or follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dcijones or Twitter @dcijoneswriter

      *This is a lie—just ask any of the students he has taught.

       Acknowledgments

      Like all of my novels, Silent as the Grave couldn’t have been written without the help and assistance of a great number of people.

      The first thanks must go to my amazing beta readers, Dad and Cheryl, who put up with my foul-mouthed rants at my computer’s steadfast refusal to print out a draft copy for them to read over, then dropped everything to go over the document in record time so I could meet my deadline.

      Next is the long line of friends who have listened to extracts of the work during its gestation, giving much appreciated feedback and encouragement. I will never be able to list everyone who helped me, so if I don’t name you, please be assured that I valued each and every suggestion and contribution.

      A few who can’t be missed out include my friends at the Hertford Writers’ Circle, who have given me essential feedback on all of my books, supplying thoughtful suggestions where necessary and giving me the strength to persevere when it all seemed a bit overwhelming.

      Some chapters of this novel were written as an exercise for a creative writing class and the critical feedback supplied by Danielle Jawando and my friends at Hertford Regional College helped me raise my game enormously. Good luck guys and keep on writing!

      As always, I relied on technical advice from many people: Elaine Dockrill helped enormously with medical advice, Caroline and Dan kept me straight on the legal stuff and our close family friend Danny McAree generously shared his experience from decades in the police. As always, Crime Scene Investigator Lee Robson of Essex police was a source of both information and future inspiration.

      My colleagues and friends at school have been wonderful, supplying both encouragement and feedback as well as acting as a useful source of interesting surnames and even more interesting character quirks…

      Behind the scenes, I will forever be grateful to my publisher, HQ Digital, for taking a chance on me and for their support, from editing and feeding back on my manuscripts to the beautifully designed covers. Cheers, guys!

      Finally, I must say a heartfelt thanks to the many kind readers who have taken the time to tell me what they thought of the first two books, either in person or via reviews. Releasing your ‘baby’ into the wild is a nerve-wracking experience and a positive review really makes an author’s day.

      DCI Warren Jones will return. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy his latest adventure.

      Paul

       Dedication

      To my number one cheerleaders, Mum, Dad and Cheryl. If you find one of my business cards or flyers in an unexpected place, it was probably them…

       Contents

       Cover

       Blurb