Muhammad Ali, just so that I could tell him how much he captivated me as a child.
Enid Blyton, to say thank you for The Famous Five.
Richard Harris, just in case things weren’t lively enough.
Sharon Stone. Well, it is my party.
DEAD SILENT
Neil White
Digging for the truth can be fatal…
Twenty years ago, hotshot barrister and handsome TV presenter Claude Gilbert murdered his wife, buried her alive and then killed himself. At least - that is what everyone believes. But as Gilbert disappeared on the night of the murder and his body was never found, the mystery has remained unsolved. Until now…
When Lancashire crime beat reporter Jack Garrett is contacted by someone claiming to be Gilbert’s girlfriend, alleging that Gilbert is alive and determined to prove his innocence, Jack eagerly leaps on the chance to clear a decades-old enigma.
But as Jack sets off on the trail of Gilbert – and the news scoop of his career – he quickly finds that the truth is stranger than the headlines. Jack and girlfriend PC Laura McGanity quickly realise that they are now pawns in a twisted game, and things are about to get nasty…
A heart-stopping novel from one of the rising stars of British crime fiction, guaranteed to captivate fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham.
ISBN: 978-1-84756-128-2
Out Now
Acknowledgments
I write in a very solitary way. I don’t often seek advice during the writing process, and instead just lock myself away until I’m done. Once I re-emerge, squinting in the daylight, I am so grateful that there are people who can make some sense out of what I’ve put on the page. My editors, Claire Bord and Helen Bolton, have been fantastic, as I knew they would be, and they and the rest of the Avon team work very hard on my behalf.
My wonderful agent, Sonia Land of Sheil Land Associates, has been a source of sound advice and support, as always, and long may that continue.
As much as I enjoy the professional help, I am lucky to enjoy the support of a small band of people who do what they can to help me. In particular, I would like to say thank you to Angela Melhuish for setting up and monitoring my Facebook fan page, and to Liz Wilkins and Belinda Cohen for telling people about me on the internet forums.
For everyone else, I know who you are and I won’t forget.
About the Author
Born above a shoe shop in the mid-1960s, Neil spent most of his childhood in Wakefield in West Yorkshire as his father pursued a career in the shoe trade. This took Neil to Bridlington in his teens, where he failed all his exams and discovered that doing nothing soon turns into long-term unemployment. Re-inventing himself, Neil returned to education in his 20s, qualified as a solicitor when he was 30, and now spends his days in the courtroom and his evenings writing crime fiction.
To find out more about Neil go to www.neilwhite.net.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Other Books by the same author:
Fallen Idols
Lost Souls
Last Rites
Dead Silent
Copyright
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.
AVON
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
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London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
COLD KILL. Copyright © Neil White 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable 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-books.
Neil White 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
ISBN 978-1-84756-129-9
EPub Edition © MAY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-00-743590-6
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven