Outside Looking In: A darkly compelling crime novel with a shocking twist

Outside Looking In: A darkly compelling crime novel with a shocking twist
Michael Wood

‘DCI Matilda Darke is the perfect heroine’ Elly GriffithsThe second book in Michael Wood’s darkly compelling new crime series featuring DCI Matilda Darke. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.When elderly George Rainsford goes to investigate a suspicious noise one night, the last thing he expects to find is a bloodbath. A man has been killed and a woman brutally beaten, left for dead.The victims are Lois Craven and Kevin Hardaker – both married, but not to each other. Their spouses swear they knew nothing of the affair and, besides, they both have alibis for the attack. With nothing else to link the victims, the investigation hits a dead end.The pressure is on for investigating officer, DCI Matilda Darke: there’s a violent killer on the loose, and it looks like her team members are the new targets. With no leads and no suspects, it’s going to take all Matilda’s wits to catch him, before he strikes again.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

MICHAEL WOOD

This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

Killer Reads

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Michael Wood 2016

Michael Wood asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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

Ebook Edition © MAY 2016 ISBN: 9780008190460

Version 2017-05-02

To Jonas Alexander.

For the friendship, the laughter, and the coffee.

Table of Contents

Cover (#ubd41ed0f-76ad-54bd-8a91-be0314501c64)

Title Page (#u4f46dfd7-c16d-56cd-a3e1-3b4d7c129454)

Copyright (#u7f8a968c-5833-5833-9d66-3cf2491bca41)

Dedication (#uc043d51c-1247-5a6c-aaf6-c1da547c06a0)

Chapter One (#u0715e2e0-072b-583a-aa44-c6300cc1c6af)

Chapter Two (#u3bdebae3-99d9-5ffd-a664-785af8f90088)

Chapter Three (#ud421d16d-dfe6-5caa-b194-d0f64d659934)

Chapter Four (#uf232a388-1550-5209-aac8-4d10d0aa80cf)

Chapter Five (#ufc623e19-8158-5f51-af14-57fa69efeca0)

Chapter Six (#u60a48518-f4ca-5e7e-8e59-a2fe7af3ba57)

Chapter Seven (#u6dd3822b-ecbb-594f-b211-94fb7f03e358)

Chapter Eight (#u82a64cfe-a8ca-539a-a9a4-d8754347cc6d)

Chapter Nine (#u38912a09-6a11-5868-b205-ee15e059ad5f)

Chapter Ten (#u7d3cfa4a-d085-59b7-8488-e3bd196ccebb)

Chapter Eleven (#u4a72c0a2-1b1f-547d-adc4-89a3dc2ba432)

Chapter Twelve (#u27104280-120d-5970-b065-4962f93d9929)

Chapter Thirteen (#u16cb6ee7-a661-549e-aeb6-9907ea5f6bbd)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)