Detective Ella Marconi Series - Katherine Howell

Frantic (Detective Ella Marconi #1)
In one terrible moment, paramedic Sophie Phillips’ life is ripped apart – her police officer husband, Chris, is shot on their doorstep and their ten-month-old son, Lachlan, is abducted from his bed. Suspicion surrounds Chris as he is tainted with police corruption, but Sophie believes the attack is much more personal – and the perpetrator far more dangerous...

While Chris is in hospital and the police, led by Detective Ella Marconi, mobilise to find their colleague's child, Sophie's desperation compels her to search for Lachlan herself. She enlists her husband's partner, Angus Arendson, in the hunt for her son, but will the history they share prove harmful to Sophie's ability to complete her mission?

The Darkest Hour (Detective Ella Marconi #2)
Paramedic Lauren Yates stumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley, for the killer still lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him – he's Miles Werner, her sister's ex and father to Lauren's niece... and a very bad man indeed.

But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back.

Keen to cement her temporary position in the homicide squad, Ella knows Lauren is the perfect witness for the murder since she can testify to the victim's last words. But when Lauren tries to change her statement, Ella realises that Lauren is hiding something big, and, while her colleagues label her suspicion an obsession, she begins her own investigation. The harder she digs into Lauren's past, however, the more Lauren resists, and the worse the threat from Werner becomes.

Will Ella's investigation put her career on the line, just when she's finally got her foot in the door? And as trouble deepens, can Lauren keep her family safe before Werner makes good on his promise, or will they all – Ella included – pay the ultimate price?

And could one dangerous decision cause Sophie to ultimately lose everything important in her life?

Cold Justice (Detective Ella Marconi #3)
A teenage girl stumbles across the body of her classmate, Tim Pieters, hidden amongst the bushes. His family is devastated, the killer is never found.

Eighteen years later, political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened. Detective Ella Marconi tracks down Georgie Riley, the student who found the body, and who is now a paramedic. Georgie seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more? And is it mere coincidence that her ambulance partner, Freya, also went to the same high school?

Ella's confusion increases when Tim's mother, once so willing to get the police involved, suddenly turns her back on the investigation. Meanwhile, Tim's cousin, the MP whose influence reopened the case, can't seem to do enough to help.

The more Ella digs into the past, the more the buried secrets and lies are brought to light. Can she track down the killer before more people are hurt?

Violent Exposure (Detective Ella Marconi #4)
When Suzanne Crawford is found stabbed to death and her husband Connor is discovered to be missing, it looks like just another tragic case of domestic violence to Detective Ella Marconi. But as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. Why is there no record of Connor Crawford beyond a few years ago? Why has a teenager who worked for the pair gone missing too? And above all, what was the secret Suzanne knew Connor was keeping at all costs – even from her?

As Ella begins to build a picture of the Crawfords' fractured lives, things around her are deteriorating. Her relationship with a fellow officer is hanging by a thread and her parents seem to be keeping secrets of their own. But Ella only has time for the job she loves, and she knows she has to see her way through the tangled web of deceit and lies to get at the truth – before it's too late.

Silent Fear (Detective Ella Marconi #5)
On a searing summer's day paramedic Holly Garland rushes to an emergency to find a man collapsed with a bullet wound in the back of his head, CPR being performed by two bystanders, and her long-estranged brother Seth watching it all unfold.

Seth claims to be the dying man's best friend, but Holly knows better than to believe anything he says and fears that his re-appearance will reveal the bleak secrets of her past – secrets which both her fiance Norris and her colleagues have no idea exist, and which if exposed could cause her to lose everything.

Detective Ella Marconi suspects Seth too, but she's also sure the dead man's wife is lying, and the deceased's boss seems just too helpful. But then a shocking double homicide related to the case makes Ella realise that her investigations are getting closer to the killer, but also increasing the risk of an even higher body count.

Web of Deceit (Detective Ella Marconi #6)
When paramedics Jane and Alex encounter a man refusing to get out of his crashed car with bystanders saying he deliberately drove into a pole, it looks like a desperate cry for help. His frantic claim that someone is out to get him adds to their thinking that he is delusional. Later that day he is found dead under a train in what might be a suicide, but Jane is no longer so sure...Detective Ella Marconi shares Jane's doubts, which are only compounded when the case becomes increasingly tangled. Then, just when she thinks she's closing in on the right person, a shocking turn of events puts more people in danger and might just see the killer slip through her hands.

Deserving Death (Detective Ella Marconi #7)
Two female paramedics murdered in a month. Is it coincidence, or are they victims of a serial killer? Detective Ella Marconi isn't sure, but goes hard after her key suspects, including police officer John Morris. But each turn of the case throws up more questions and entanglements, and Ella and her partner, Detective Murray Shakespeare, struggle to find the truth among the lies. Ella also attempts to balance work and her relationship with Dr Callum McLennan, which is both growing both stronger and more difficult as they face Callum's mother's disapproval and the anniversary of his cousin's murder. Meanwhile, Carly Martens - paramedic and close friend of the second victim - conducts her own investigation. She's certain that her fellow paramedic Tessa Kimball is hiding something, and her refusal to let it go puts her, Tessa, and even Ella into more danger than Carly could ever imagine.

Detective Ella Marconi returns in this thrilling case, set against the dangerous background of drug deals, police corruption and deadly consequences.