the Butler and west series
The man you love has been murdered. You’d do anything to find out the truth. Wouldn’t you?
A man lies dead in a hotel room, and the police attend his home address to inform the widow. Nothing unusual, until DC Freya West realises that the victim is the man she has been having an affair with. The future she imagined has been snatched away.
Meanwhile, her new boss, DS Robin Butler, is preoccupied with his own problems. Mistakes he thought were buried deep in his past now threaten to be exposed. Before long, both Butler and West are keeping secrets that could end their careers – and worse.
When the detectives have a chance to tell the truth, they choose to keep quiet. But once that line is crossed, is there any going back? After all, breaking the law is easy when you know how to uphold it.
“This is punchy, police procedural stuff: just as her protagonists don’t play by the book, so Scarr takes the traditional set-up into darker, dirtier, more intriguing terrain. ”
One dead body. One witness. One answer.
Early one morning, DS Robin Butler is summoned to a crime scene. Not as a policeman, but as best friend to renowned meteorologist, Dr Finn Mason. The morning after studying an enormous storm, Finn has locked himself in a van. Bloodied, confused, and with no memory of how he came to be there. And alongside him – a dead body.
Butler sets out to prove Finn’s innocence, his friend now accused of murder. Meanwhile, DC Freya West is struggling to cope. She has been plagued by nightmares since the events of nine months ago. Freya assists her boss on his quest to clear Finn’s name, but while Butler becomes increasingly desperate to help his boyhood friend, Freya is crumbling under the weight of the secrets she is keeping.
As the past threatens to consume them both, do both detectives stand to lose more than they can bear?
“A coiled and wholly satisfying mystery... The authentic police thrills and teasing dynamics of the characters are handled with the same elegance as the rueful climax, which long after the book is closed still feels perfect and inevitable. ”
Five friends meet. Only four come home.
On Christmas morning, DS Robin Butler has no plans to celebrate. He’ll be glad to get back to work – a wish that comes true sooner than he anticipates. A dog walker at a local beach has discovered five unresponsive people strewn across the shingle. By the time Robin arrives, one is pronounced dead, and the other four are being treated in hospital.
DC Freya West is less than pleased when the romantic day with her boyfriend is scuppered, but duty calls. As she and Butler speak to those involved, it’s clear something is being left unsaid. They claim they are friends, and that they don’t know how one of the group was killed. But why are they so cagey?
A cold case investigation unlocks some answers about the history between the beach-going gang, yet they’re tight-lipped about what prompted them to meet on Christmas Eve. Butler and West are getting nowhere, and their partnership is about to face another test. When Freya wants to come clean about events in her past, it’s not just her neck on the line, but Robin’s too. Can their relationship survive if their pact of silence is broken?
“Couldn’t put it down. Tense, brilliant plotting and the perfect duo.”
Nothing is as it seems, for Butler and West.
One spring evening, a mother and her children are brutally attacked in their home. The unprovoked and violent assault leaves DS Robin Butler and DC Freya West in the dark – the luxury items were left untouched and there is no apparent motive.
The investigation’s only lead is Andrew Grace, the husband who was not home at the time. He and his business partner have created unique virtual reality software which is valuable and extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. Robin and Freya are stonewalled by uncooperative witnesses at every turn but when a woman linked to the work of Andrew and his co-founder is kidnapped, the need for progress becomes critical.
Failure to solve the case will result in murder. Meanwhile, Robin and Freya’s unresolved feelings have come to the surface and they must finally face facts. But is it too late? In a case where nothing is as it seems, are Robin and Freya doomed to never find the truth?
“...a tense mystery packed with all of the ‘will they, won’t they’ chemistry that I so love about this series. A triumph.”
Stalking. Arson. Murder.
Butler and West are back together… and the stakes have never been higher.
When an old friend tells DS Freya West that she’s being stalked by someone she met online, Freya promises to help. But there are no leads, and the dating site refuses to give up their data.
To make matters more complicated, DI Robin Butler is back in town. He’s investigating a string of arson attacks that have escalated to murder, and the cases seem to be connected somehow. They’re going to need their wits about them…
Because this is a killer more devious than any they’ve hunted before, and he wants to obliterate everything they hold dear.
“From the first flicker of fire to the final explosive climax, Out Of The Ashes is a scorching finale to a riveting crime series. The narrative crackles with menace and suspense, and I enjoyed every moment!”
more praise for butler and west
“‘A superbly crafted, perfectly paced thriller.”
“Tense, complex and compulsive.”
“Butler and West are fast becoming my favourite detective partnership... Addictive reading.”
“A punchy and pacy police procedural with heart.”
“One of my favourite series around.”