THE HITCHCOCK MURDERS

Using brief cinematic chapters, an ever-accelerating pace, exploring contemporary social themes (the obsession with celebrity culture and fame, racial and religious integration), and bringing to life distinctive and memorable characters, the author has created an adrenaline-packed narrative which makes this debut crime thriller really stand out.

Young, British and Muslim, DCI Josa Jilani is an original addition to a list of believable and complex female detectives. In her constant battle with an unflinchingly chauvinist police culture and a male-dominated workplace, she is the female cop who differs from her colleagues for age, race and religion. Tough, driven, and good at what she does, but also vulnerable and beleaguered by her personal life – the loss of her father, friction with her mother, complex relationship with her beautiful sister, and having to deal with the feeling that she is different and ‘almost’ since she was a child. There’s a psycho out there. He’s murdering a young woman every Tuesday, killing in gruesome ways inspired by the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. Forced on a fast-track scheme for ethnic minority officers, Josa Jilani has been rocketed to Detective Superintendent with the London Met. But someone high up wants her to fail and she’s made senior investigating officer in the hunt for the serial killer. Out of her depth, scared and with her reputation and livelihood on the line, she’s determined to stop the murders and make her dad proud. Josa takes a gamble and hauls Daniel Blake out of his self-imposed hermitage. Blake is a legendary criminologist who used to help the police before disappearing five years earlier, and who, despite the fact that he has not lost his magic touch, is still battling his own demons. The body count is mounting and Josa has one week. To catch the killer. Save a life. Rescue her career. Try to protect her family. With the volatile and charismatic Blake by her side, she’ll raise Cain to make it count, stop the murderer, revenge the victims, and to finally prove to herself and the world she is enough and deserving of her promotion too. Gavin Collinson is currently ‘Doctor Who’s Interactive Producer, producing behind-the-scenes videos for the BBC’s flagship family drama and writing news items and short stories for the show which are enjoyed by over one million people every month. He’s previously worked at the British Film Institute, where he was part of the team that organised the Hitchcock Centenary celebrations and was fortunate to meet many of the people Hitchcock had collaborated with throughout his career. He also worked for ITV where he oversaw their movie collection and headed up the UK side of their remakes business (he became, amongst things, the Account Handler for Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps). Gavin was Interactive Producer for ‘Coronation Street’ for two years and has written for many magazines about film and television.