DI Birch

This is a fact: Ryan Summers walked into Three Rivers College and killed thirteen women, then himself.

But no one can say why.

The question is one that cries out to be answered - by Ryan's mother, Moira; by Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and by DI Helen Birch, put in charge of the case on her first day at her new job. But as the tabloids and the media swarm, as the families' secrets come out, as the world searches for someone to blame... the truth seems to vanish.

Book 1 in the DI Helen Birch series.

DI Birch joined the police to find her little brother, who walked out of his life one day and was never seen again.

On the fourteenth anniversary of Charlie's disappearance, Birch takes part in a raid on one of Scotland's most feared criminal organisations. It's a good day's work - a chance to get a dangerous man off the streets.

Two days later, Charlie comes back. It's not a coincidence. When Birch finds out exactly what he's been doing all those years, she faces a terrible choice: save the case, or save her brother. But how can you do the right thing when all the consequences are bad?

As she interrogates Charlie, he tells his story: of how one wrong turn leads to a world in which the normal rules no longer apply, and you do what you must to survive.

Book 2 in the DI Birch series.

Robertson Bennet returns to Edinburgh after a 25-year absence in search of his parents and his inheritance. But both have disappeared. A quick, routine police check should be enough - and Detective Inspector Helen Birch has enough on her plate trying to help her brother, Charlie, after an assault in prison. But all her instincts tell her not to let this case go. And so she digs.

George and Phamie Bennet were together for a long time. No one can ever really know the secrets kept between husband and wife. But as Birch slowly begins to unravel the truth, terrible crimes start to rise to the surface.

Book 3 in the DI Birch series.

At 8am the first shots are fired.

At 1pm, the police establish the gunman has a hostage.

By 5pm, a siege is underway.

At 9pm, DI Helen Birch walks, alone and unarmed, into an abandoned Borders farmhouse to negotiate with the killer.

One day. One woman. One chance to get everyone out alive.

DI Helen Birch is recovering from major surgery, housebound and exceptionally bored. Her boss, DCI McLeod, has made it crystal clear: she is not to take on any work until her recuperation is over.

In her absence, Amy Kato is promoted to sergeant and is given a maddening case to work on: Edinburgh is being plagued by an anonymous vigilante. He started small, meting out punishment to obnoxious boy racers and other antisocial folk, but his behaviour is escalating. Amy can tell from the anonymous online paper trail he leaves. His writings are increasingly confident, and increasingly threatening. And yet he also seems to be invisible: her team can find no clue as to his identity, and no trace of his whereabouts.

At first, McLeod doesn't see the case as a huge deal. Concerned, Amy comes to Birch in secret to ask for help, and Birch finds it impossible to resist taking action: placing her directly in the path of immense danger...

Book 5 in the DI Helen Birch series.