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2000s: A cold case, reopened…
2000s: A cold case, reopened…
The same night a local hero saved two people from the burning Marineland resort in Southend, a young woman was raped and murdered minutes from the scene of the fire, the culmination of a series of brutal rapes in the town. The killer was never found.
Twenty-five years on, new DNA techniques have blown the cold case open. DI Grace Fisher relishes the prospect of finally catching the culprit, but when the evidence doesn’t point to one clear suspect, she must reconstruct the original investigation. Any suggestion that the Essex force was less than thorough at the time could alienate her colleagues and destroy her chances of reaching the truth.
Grace finds her investigation shadowed by a young true-crime podcaster backed by veteran crime reporter Ivo Sweatman. As pressure mounts she cannot afford to be distracted. She knows that a cold-blooded killer is slowly being backed into a corner, and a cornered predator is often the most dangerous of all…
The main setting for the book and where the police in the novel are based. Their investigation takes them back and forth across the county. As they drive into the outskirts of the city, they often remark on the views of Mersea Island and the surrounding wetlands.
It has been named as one of Britain’s fastest growing towns and it’s also claimed to be the oldest town in Britain – well it was for a time the capital of Roman Britain.
Marineland resort in Southend
A place of history and significance in the novel as in Essex:
Om this night, twenty-five years ago, the old Marineland resort in Southend-on-Sea burned to the ground. Built in the 1930s as a seaside leisure complex, its Art Deco theatre, dance hall and bats were once thronged with holiday makers – until they discovered Spanish package holidays in the 1960s, jetted off to the sun and never really came babc.By 1992, with the country in recession, the building was boarded up , awaiting an endlessly postponed refurbishment. Once the fire took hold, it spread in what seemed like seconds
Try Adventure Island for a marine land experience (well not exactly but you know what we mean)
Destination : Essex, Colchester Author/Guide: Isabelle Grey Departure Time: 2000s
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