The Mersey Ferry Murders

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the ninth book in my Mersey Mystery series, featuring the cases of the fictional Merseyside Police’s Specialist Murder Investigation Team, led by Detective Inspector Andy Ross. Regular readers of the series will, I’m sure, welcome the return of Detective Sergeant Izzie Drake following her temporary absence on Maternity Leave. The Mersey Ferry Murders also sees a new member joining the team, replacing DC Nick Dodds, tragically killed in the line of duty in the previous book, A Liverpool Lullaby. For now, though, I hope you enjoy this latest addition to the series, as Ross and the team are faced with yet another seemingly impossible series of murders to solve. Readers of previous books in the series will be familiar with the central characters, but for newcomers to the series, a little background information to help you settle in with the team. The Merseyside Police’s Specialist Murder Investigation Team is a fictional creation and features a small team of highly skilled detectives, brought together to investigate the more bizarre and often extra-violent crimes that the force is frequently faced with. Headed by Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Agostini, the squad is run on a day-to-day basis by Detective Inspector Andy Ross and his assistant Detective Sergeant Izzie Drake. At the time of writing this book Drake is absent on maternity leave, having given birth to her first child. The team is a small, select group of some of the finest detectives on the Merseyside Force, hand-picked for their outstanding skills and abilities. Dissent and discord within Ross’s team is non-existent as anyone who doesn’t fit in to the team and its ideals is rapidly show the door. As well as Ross and Drake, the team includes Detective Sergeant (DS) Paul Ferris, their resident computer expert who works closely with their civilian Administrative Assistant Kat Bellamy, DS Fenella Church, Acting DS Derek McLennan, and Detective Constables (DCs) Tony Curtis, (real name Leonard but given his nickname due to his striking similarity to the movie star Tony Curtis), Samantha Gable, Gary (Ginger) Devenish, Ishaan Singh, and as you’ll soon meet, DC Mitchell, (Mitch) Sinclair. For readers from the USA and other countries who may be unfamiliar with it, the Liverpudlian accent and dialogue is unique to the Merseyside are of England so readers might find some of the words and grammar used by some of the characters a little different from standard everyday English. This is not a mistake, merely used to create realism. Finally, I welcome you to the city of Liverpool and to the cases of the Merseyside Police, Specialist Murder Investigation Team.