Morcan Books & Films

Feisty Detective Valerie Crowther kicks some serious butt when she takes on a serial killer and a killer virus in Silent Fear (A novel inspired by true crimes), the new release thriller they’re all talking about.

Meet First Class Detective Superintendent Valerie Crowther, of New Scotland Yard. Valerie has been assigned to investigate the murder of a student at Wandsworth University, a learning institution for the deaf in London, England. The murder investigation coincides with a deadly flu virus outbreak, resulting in the university being quarantined from the outside world. When more deaf students are murdered, it becomes clear there is a serial killer operating within the sealed-off university. A chilling cat-and-mouse game evolves as the unknown killer targets Valerie and the virus claims more lives.

Fortunately, our Val knows how to look after herself — as the following excerpt from Silent Fear  demonstrates. (To set the scene, our heroine is attacked by rebellious deaf students intent on escaping the deadly quarantine they’ve found themselves caught up in)… 

…The door burst open and Cassidy and his three mates piled into the room. They headed straight for her. The Mohawked One was closest to her, and she could see he wasn’t here for a friendly chat. There was murder in his eyes.

Valerie dropped her phone without pausing to end the call and she reached for her Taser.

Not there!

She realised too late she’d left her Taser on the desktop. She realised also that Cassidy had seen the electroshock weapon for his eyes were now locked on it and he changed direction slightly to grab it. He was closer to it than she was.

Valerie gambled. She gambled that Cassidy wouldn’t know how to disengage the Taser’s safety mechanism – a recent design improvement in the latest model – and she gambled she could subdue him and his mates before he worked out how to disengage it.

As Cassidy grabbed the Taser, Valerie turned her attention to the next in line. That happened to be Wolf who was almost upon her.

The detective deftly stepped to one side and employed a judo throw, using the big Swede’s forward momentum to send him flying across the room. He hit the wall headfirst, and was momentarily stunned.

Unbeknown to anyone in the room, Kent was now filming all the action through the open door. Hillary was beside him, microphone in hand, describing what she was seeing.

Out of the corner of Valerie’s eye, she could see Cassidy lining her up with her Taser.

Please let the safety be on!

She couldn’t remember whether she’d left the safety on after charging the weapon that morning.

There was no time to think about that now for Warne and Harris were onto her.

Valerie backed up furiously as she tried to keep the two Colonial boys at arm’s length. Warne and Harris were both big bastards – not as big as Cassidy and Wolf, but big nevertheless – and they were both swinging wild punches in her direction.

Cassidy meantime was cursing as he unsuccessfully tried to activate the Taser.

When the detective felt the edge of the desk at her back, she threw herself forward, elbows raised out in front of her. In the heat of battle, she preferred elbows over fists. She’d learned the hard way a female’s small fists were more likely to suffer damage than achieve anything of note if used in anger. Especially a slim lightweight like herself. However, her elbows – bony and sharp as they were – could cause some real damage with little risk of injury to herself if used the right way. And so it proved.

Valerie’s sudden change of direction placed her exactly between Harris and Warne, and her extended elbows connected simultaneously and with considerable force with the foreheads of each student. Warne was out to it before he hit the floor. Harris, who was now on his hands and knees and evidently wondering where he was, was sent into Disneyland with a well-placed kick to the side of his head.

Valerie turned too late to avoid being hit by Cassidy. He’d given up on trying to activate the Taser and had decided to sort the detective out the old-fashioned way – with his fists.

The blow caught Valerie on her cheek. If it had caught her flush, it would have sent her through the wall or flying out into the corridor. As it was, she’d had enough foresight to ride the blow, throwing her head and bodyweight to one side so that the force of the punch was greatly diminished. Even so, it rattled her teeth and sent her crashing to the floor.

When she hit the carpet she saw stars, but she still had the presence of mind to roll over and over toward the near wall to distance herself from her attacker. As she rolled, she saw two things of interest. One caused her concern, the other gave her hope.

By the far wall, she saw that Wolf was now on his feet and on his way to help Cassidy subdue her; and on the carpet by the wall she saw her Taser. Cassidy had evidently thrown it there when he found he hadn’t been able to operate it.

The gang leader saw the danger too late. He lunged at Valerie to stop her, but she was too quick. In a flash, she grabbed her Taser, disengaged the safety, aimed the weapon at Cassidy and fired. The two barbed electrodes, or probes, stopped the gang leader in his tracks. He fell to the floor, twitching violently, as electricity coursed through him.

Hillary and Kent were catching all this live through the open door. The reporter was still talking into her mic and her cameraman was still filming the mayhem.

Valerie, who was now back on her feet, knew she should apply the voltage for the recommended thirty seconds to ensure her attacker was fully immobilised, but she didn’t have thirty seconds. She had no more than five seconds before Wolf was onto her.

A blow from the big skinhead sent the Taser flying out into the corridor. The blow had been meant for Valerie’s head, but she’d blocked it with her right arm. Which was just as well because the force of the blow spun her around and left her arm completely numb.

Fighting one-armed now, she ducked and weaved as Wolf lashed out at her with his fists and feet.

Meanwhile, Cassidy had recovered from his brief but painful Tasering, and he was coming for her, too.

All the combatants had to step over and around Harris and Warne who were still out cold. They weren’t all that was out of place. The room by now was a mess. The desk, fans, couch and chairs had been upended, the mirror and other items had been broken, and Valerie’s spare clothes and other personal effects lay scattered about.

Worst of all, from Valerie’s perspective at least, the expensive fish tank had been shattered, and Nemo the Angelfish, Bennett the Puffer Fish and other tropical fish lay flapping and gasping on the carpet. Nemo gasped his last when he disappeared beneath a size 12 shoe.

Bill Prescott, who had finally checked his phone messages and retrieved the detective’s urgent message, appeared in the doorway. Shocked, the portly guard ran to Valerie’s aid. He grabbed Cassidy in a headlock and dragged him out into the corridor where the two ended up wrestling, kicking and cursing on the floor.

Screams could be heard coming from startled staff members who had been alerted to the commotion.

Valerie by now was nearly spent. Gasping for breath and fighting one-handed, she copped another blow – this time on the mouth – from Wolf. The Swedish student grabbed her and pushed her backwards onto the desktop. Then he placed his hands around her neck and began to throttle her.

The detective fought back, but it was a losing battle. She was feeling faint and her efforts to resist grew weaker.

The bugger means to kill me!

Silent Fear  is available now on Amazon’s Pre-order Program at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075HRYTVC/ and will be auto-delivered to your Kindle on October 31.

The paperback will be published by early October.

ARCs (advance review copies) of Silent Fear  are available now. Interested? Leave your email address and a bit about yourself (for security reasons) and we’ll email a pdf of the novel to you.

**********************************************