Detective Jack Callum Trilogy
DCI Jack Callum left the big city to settle in Hertfordshire, hoping for a more lowkey, less stressful working situation. His job in London was high-pressure, leaving him little time for wife Annie, daughter Rosie, and son Eric. He hoped to make it up to them and relax for a change, but he soon found out that serious crime could show up anywhere. These stories showcase DCI Jack Callum’s skills as a homicide detective. Balancing the police procedural aspect, the daily life and development of Jack’s family is equally well done. This trilogy depicts some of those crimes, as well as the personal lives of the members of the Welwyn and Hatfield police force and their loved ones.
No Evil
Early one morning, fourteen-year-old Frances Anderton accepted a ride from a young man who said he’s a friend of her sister. Her body was found days later by a man walking his dog. Her body was marked in a bizarre manner, suggesting some sick ritual. DCI Callum knew there would be other victims to come, and he was soon proved right. Each family received a card with an enigmatic message.
Something evil had come to the Welwyn and Hatfield area. The entire police force was brought into the case, and Scotland Yard was called in. The case turned very personal when Callum’s daughter Rosie was abducted.
Prime Evil.
DCI Callum spoke about his job at an event at a local school, reassuring the students that they could always ask for help from police officers. After the speech, a girl confessed to Callum that she had killed her baby brother. Shocked, he broke his promise not to tell. The head mistress assured the startled detective that the girl, Geraldine Tanner, was prone to telling tall tales. Her father, actor Tony Tanner, was murdered soon after Callum had a chat with him and Gerry’s step-mother. His brutalized body was found in the woods, nailed to a tree. Oddly, he was made up to resemble Thomas Usher, a mobster who’d ruled much of the London crime scene until a stroke laid him low. Callum and his team venture into the seedy and dangerous world of organized crime, gang rivalry, and deadly deception.
For Her sins.
A novice num was found brutally slain, prostrated before the alter of her church. DCI Callum and his team were called out to solve the heinous crime, uncovering some unsavory details about Sister Bernadette O’Farrell. She had been involved with at least one man, and was described as a flirt by the other nuns at St. Joseph’ School for Boys and Girls. The head nun (she rejected the title of Mother Superior) believed that Bernadette did not have a true calling, but that her deeply religious parents had forced her into the Church.
As Callum’s team dug deeper into Bernadette’s life and the workings of the school, they found that there was a darker side to St. Joseph’s. When a priest associated with the school and with Sister Bernadette was murdered in a similar fashion, the stakes were raised to find the killer before he struck again. Undercurrents of unhappy childhoods, twisted desire and forbidden love build into an explosive ending.

I thought that because it was a detective story, it will be something for me. I learnt that not all detective books are meant for you even when you are into detective stories. This one did not seem like my cup of tea.