Anna Travis series by Lynda La Plante

Above Suspicion (Anna Travis #1)
In the footsteps of Jane Tennison, immortalized by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, comes Anna Travis, a rookie female detective about to embark on her first murder case. The murders couldn't be more gruesome. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls very similar -- all are prostitutes. As the book opens, a seventh body is found, same modus operandi but the victim this time is a sweet young student. Anna stumbles on a vital piece of information that links one man to the killings, a well-known, much-loved actor. His protestation of innocence is convincing, and Anna might be succumbing to his flattering attention. What if he is arrested, the media erupts, and he is the wrong man?

The Red Dahlia (Anna Travis #2)
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MYSTERIES BUT WISH THAT PATRICIA CORNWELL HAD A DIRTIER MIND,"* the author of "Above Suspicion" and the acclaimed "Prime Suspect" series returns with a new mystery.

When the body of a young girl is found dumped on the banks of the Thames, even the police are shocked by the brutality of her murder: horrifically mutilated, severed in half, and drained of blood, her corpse is an obvious mirror image of the famous Black Dahlia murder in 1940s Los Angeles.

Now Detective Inspector Anna Travis must race against time to catch this copycat killer. She turns to her mentor, the brilliant and volatile Detective Chief Inspector James Langton, but the frictions of their romantic relationship are complicating the case. And then a second girl is found...

Clean Cut (Anna Travis #3)
Dedicated, intuitive and utterly obsessive, Langton is ruthless in his pursuit of a gang of illegal immigrants, killers of a young prostitute. When he is almost fatally injured by one of them, it falls upon Anna to put her own life on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice.

Then Anna is assigned to a different murder enquiry, the brutal killing of a quiet, studious woman whose body was discovered by her daughter returning home from school. A senseless attack with no obvious motive or immediate suspect. Until, chillingly, this case becomes unexpectedly linked with Langton’s and Anna finds herself under similar threat from the gang who almost destroyed his career and his life.

Private and professional demands collide as Anna and Langton, her boss and lover, embark on a terrifying journey, threatening violent consequences for both of them.

Deadly Intent (Anna Travis #4)
Alexander Fitzpatrick is one of the most wanted men in the Western world. A Howard Marks character, but far more dangerous, his wealth, accrued through drug-trafficking runs into the millions. For the past ten years there has been no sighting of him. Has he gone to ground using an alias, or is he dead?

When an ex-police officer from the murder squad is found shot in a dank squat, Anna Travis is pulled onto the case. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes ever more complex, suspicion falls on Fitzpatrick. Is he still alive and in the UK? Could he be the killer, with terrifying access to the most lethal drug in existence?

Silent Scream (Anna Travis #5)
British film star Amanda Delany has the world at her feet. Never one for the quiet life, she has had a string of affairs with the hottest actors around. The tabloids can't get enough of this talented and outrageous young actress and she, in turn, can't get enough of the spotlight.

Then, late home one evening from a night shoot, Amanda puts the key in her front door for the very last time. The next morning, the press gathers once again outside her house, this time to report on a brutal murder. Amanda's body has been found inside, stabbed many times, only her beautiful face left unharmed.

DI Anna Travis is desperate for a break after a long, hard-fought case. But the call comes through, summoning her to the scene of the Delany murder. Anna is shocked by what she finds, and even more so when she discovers the truth behind the public image of this glamorous and successful actress.

Anna and the team grapplel to track down Amanda's killer, headed by the ever demanding DCI James Langton. But Anna has challenges of her own to overcome too. Promotion to Chief Inspector is within her grasp. But when the time comes for her to stand before the board, she faces an adversary from the least likely quarter ...

Blind Fury (Anna Travis #6)
A motorway service station on the M1: dimly lit, run down, poorly supervised, flickering lights, dark corners; a favourite stopover for long-distance lorry drivers on their way up north from London. Behind it, a body is found in a ditch, that of a girl barely out of her teens. She appears to have no family, no friends, no connections anywhere. Other girls have gone missing in the vicinity and no one has stepped forward to claim them. Anna Travis is assigned to the case. Her blood runs cold when she receives a letter from a lifer -- someone she was responsible for arresting in the past -- who writes to her from prison, asking her to visit him urgently. For he claims he knows who the killer is…

Blood Line (Anna Travis #7)
Award-winning and international bestselling author Lynda La Plante brings back her popular series character, London Detective Chief Inspector Anna Travis of the Murder Squad, to work a seventh case in Blood Line. La Plante, who bestselling crime fiction author Karin Slaughter (Blindsided) says practically invented the thriller, is best known for her Prime Suspect novels, the basis for the wildly popular BBC series starring Helen Mirren and a recent U.S. incarnation featuring Maria Bello. In Blood Line, Anna takes on a high profile missing person investigation which might well develop into the hunt for a murderer, especially when a pool of blood is discovered but no body. Crime fiction fans who appreciate a good cop and a good murder especially Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, and Val McDermid readers will be eagerly following the trail of evidence every step of the way.

Backlash (Anna Travis #8)
Late night on a notorious high-rise estate in Hackney and a white van is being driven erratically. The driver is pulled over by the police and questioned. A woman on the street after a long evening's drinking...She never makes it home. A suspect...an arrest...a confession...A case done and dusted? Five years earlier, a 13-year-old girl disappeared in broad daylight on a busy London street. DCS James Langton headed the investigation; the case was never closed. It has haunted him ever since. And now comes another confession, to this murder, and to one more besides. Too good to be true? DCI Anna Travis, pulled into the fray, isn't so sure that they have their man. Then the suspect changes his story...