[Final Title] Halloween Dead
A ghostly crime novel set at Halloween in old Durham, England.
It is Halloween. Detective Chief Inspector Daw is in pursuit of a suspect serial killer who doesn’t want to be caught. A car chase ensues leading to the tracks of the high railway viaduct. Both men crash on the viaduct, then tumble to their deaths on the rooves of the terraced houses below. Or do they?
Powerful forces of life, death and existence fight over the life of DCI Daw as his mangled body lies on a hospital bed. At the same time an obsessed music student attacks his wife Eleanor and they plunge to their deaths. Or do they?
After a titanic struggle Daw is told he and his wife Eleanor can live, on one condition: that he solves the cases put before him until midnight on Halloween. The snag? He is not told what heinous act it is that he has to stop, even though it is of world shattering importance. And at midnight he will die, but the love of his life, Eleanor, will live. He has no choice.
On the DLI memorial cross outside Durham Cathedral on a cold Halloween afternoon hangs a body dripping blood. That body has a mangled face… Detective Chief Inspector Daw appears then takes charge of the investigation.
Corpses have been scattered around Durham in places pictured above associated with quietness and beauty. Yet just as Durham has an ancient history of blood, so does this new killer. As Daw interviews the family of the murder victims and suspicious acting members of the clergy accusations of Satanism arise and hints that wealth has played a part. Yet nothing is clear cut. If he is going to catch the killer before they strike again he is going to need proof. Evidence, evidence, all is evidence. Giving up his life for his wife he struggles desperately against the clock to solve a series of gruesome murders and stop the End of Days.
This novel is currently in the process of being published – available to buy in April 2026.