Published in ebook 14th October 2021, and in paperback 25th November 2021, by Canelo/Hera Books.
From the cover of the book:
Their next breath will be their last...Forty years ago, the name Rachel McMahon was synonymous with evil. After killing four men in the most brutal of ways, the world rejoiced as she was locked up.
Now Rachel has done her time, repented for her crimes, and is ready to live a quiet life back in Scotland under a new name.
But then the killings start again. As the bodies of fathers and sons appear on the streets of Perth, their deaths echoing those from Rachel’s murder spree four decades ago, DCI Hazel Todd and her squad are called in to track down a murderer taunting them at every step.
Could Rachel really have reformed – or is a copycat killer trying to finish what she started? And as the murders get closer to Hazel, it’s a race against time to stop a psychopath with their own twisted agenda…
******************************
As part of the blog tour for the first book in this new crime series from Kerry Watts, it is my absolute pleasure to bring you an extract from Death Rite:
Such a handsome young man, DCI Hazel Todd thought when she stared into the red 2010 Fiesta. What a waste. Knowing this was a regular spot where sex workers picked men up, she couldn’t rule out a connection. The man, who looked barely into his twenties, if that, was slumped back in the driver’s seat, his head tilted just a fraction onto his left shoulder, a gaping hole where his stomach should be. She wondered if he’d brought a girlfriend here for some ‘alone time’. Somewhere they could be away from prying eyes. Had something gone terribly wrong? An argument perhaps. Hadn’t Hazel and Rick spent many nights up Kinnoull Hill looking for ‘alone time’? At fifty-two now though that was a distant memory, a very distant memory. That and the fact they were divorced.
The contradiction of the scene was stark. Although his abdomen was blood-soaked, barely a hair looked out of place and Hazel could smell the sweet scent of his hair gel a little over the stench of the dried blood that was staining his blue T-shirt. He looked smart. His jeans and trainers certainly weren’t Primark, and the car looked and smelled clean, not like a young lad’s car at all. No empty crisp bags or drinks cans. If it weren’t for the huge hole in his body he could easily be mistaken for being asleep.
The sunrise over the water of the harbour added to the bitter-sweet atmosphere. The crisp, clear chill of the October morning meant that when Hazel’s warm breath hit the air, it left streaks of condensation behind. The sound of the heavy door to a garage being hauled open rattled into the air, scattering a flock of seagulls that had gathered for scraps outside the café where tables were normally set up for breakfast diners. Mainly warehouse workers and the men who worked in the units closer to the Friarton waste depot which was a quarter of a mile further along the road. She wasn’t surprised none of the workers had found their victim with the Fiesta being tucked along the track. Far enough away from the main road that ran alongside the river until it stopped at the harbour’s edge to be away from sight. The rarely used slipway being just a few hundred metres away. Had the harbour café not been located where it was, Hazel feared it might have been days before the lad’s body was found. She wondered if their killer had requested this secluded location deliberately.
‘Keep them back, will you,’ Hazel shouted to her DC, unwilling to have a bunch of nosy mechanics trampling over her crime scene. ‘In fact, Andrea,’ she added. ‘Get the road shut off.’The body may have been found deeper along the track that ran alongside the river, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
*****
Death Rite is available to buy now in ebook, and in paperback from 25th November, from you favourite book retailer - of via the link HERE.
Thank you to Hera Books for sending me an ecopy of this book, which I will be reading and reviewing soon, and to Danielle Price at The Reading Closet for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Kerry Watts grew up in Perth, Scotland, and still lives there today. Kerry specialises in crime fiction, and loves to put her characters in impossible situations just to see what happens. Her experience as a psychiatric nurse heavily influences her writing, while authors who inspire her work include Jeff Lindsay and Thomas Harris.
No comments:
Post a Comment