VICTORIA JENKINS

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

When she woke, she found herself in darkness. She couldn’t move. She was going to die and she had no idea why...

Early one icy winter morning, Detective Alex King is called to a murder scene at a local park. The river is running high, and in the water lies the body of a woman, her wrists tied, and all her fingernails missing.

The victim, beautiful, young Lola Evans, had a troubled past, but Alex’s team can’t find a reason why anyone would want to kill her. The pressure to solve the case keeps mounting, but all their leads run dry.

Then, another body is found in the water.

A disturbing clue suggests how the girls are connected. But who would target such vulnerable girls, and does this mean another life is at risk? Just when Alex thinks she has cracked the case, she realises one of her own team is in terrible danger.

Alex is caught in a race against time to reach the next victim before it’s too late... and some of her team must face terrifying truths from their own lives if they’re to have a chance of catching the killer.

The first in the Detectives King and Lane series

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

It happens to every mother. One day, the daughter whose whole world you once were, becomes someone you barely know. And you don’t know the secrets she’s hiding…

One hot summer night, 15-year-old Olivia comes home late from a party she was strictly forbidden from going to, and she and her mother, Hannah, start arguing. Soon Olivia speaks the words that every parent has heard from their teenage child:

‘I hate you. You’ve ruined my life. And I’m never speaking to you again.’

Olivia has never been an easy child, a sharp contrast to her easy-going, happy-go-lucky little sister. But Hannah thinks Olivia’s outburst is the end of a normal family argument. In fact, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare…

After one day of silence, Hannah thinks Olivia is taking a teenage sulk too far. After two days, she starts to feel anxious that something more serious could be going on. After a week, when her daughter still hasn’t spoken, Hannah knows that Olivia is hiding a bigger darkness – something that could threaten to tear their precious family apart…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

My husband is keeping secrets. I’m watching his every move…

Jake and I were childhood sweethearts. Strong, dependable and with a smile that melts my heart, he is the perfect husband and father to our beautiful little daughter. We have our money troubles – but getting a lodger, Kara, calms the panic I feel about our bills. Jake is reluctant but what choice do we have?

I’m relieved that Kara is so sweet, playing endless games of hide and seek with Elsie and settling into our home. But when I catch Jake and Kara sitting close together on the sofa one evening, they jump apart when I walk into the room. Jake promises it’s nothing…

When I search Kara’s room, I know for sure. My husband is keeping a terrible secret. And it’s much, much worse than I imagined.

Confronting him will tear our marriage apart, but I’ll do anything to protect my precious daughter.

Even if it means putting on a smile as I greet Kara at the breakfast table.

Even if it means lying to my husband’s face.

Even if it means someone has to die…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

My husband, Marcus, and I used to be so in love. But now, after ten years together, we barely talk. I’ve seen so many of our friends’ marriages end in divorce, and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to stop that from happening to us.

And then I meet Erin. She tells me all about her perfect marriage to Kieran, and I’m shocked when she reveals the secret to their marital bliss—they have an open marriage. My heart starts to race as I consider it for me and Marcus. Could we really do this?

When Marcus cautiously agrees, I know it can’t be with strangers, and so I call Erin. She tells me there is only one complete honesty. But when I meet Kieran, it doesn’t take long for me to break that rule. Soon this isn’t an open marriage, but an affair.

As I start to fall for Kieran, Marcus becomes the attentive husband I’ve been craving, and I’m soon full of regret. This was all an awful mistake and I swear to end it. But my blood runs cold when Erin is reported missing. Who is this couple I’ve entangled our life with? And as the police knock on my door, it’s much more than just my marriage that is now at stake…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Brooke is delighted when Oliver decides to rent her old family home with his three-year-old son Finley. Finally, someone to bring happiness to the rundown house across the street. They seem like the perfect tenants, but Brooke is a little unnerved when they move in with just a single bag between them. Where are their belongings?

When Brooke asks Oliver about his past, he quickly changes the subject. Her best friend tells her to leave it, after all, Brooke has been through enough trauma in her life. But Brooke can’t shake off the feeling that something isn’t right. Why aren’t her new tenants’ names listed anywhere online?

Then Brooke arrives home to find orange flames dancing in the upstairs windows. As her whole life goes up in smoke, she is convinced it wasn’t an accident. And when she finds Finley drawing a picture of an angry burning house with terror in his eyes, her blood runs cold. What is Finley so frightened of? And why does Oliver snatch the drawing away the moment he sees it?

Brooke is convinced Finley is in serious danger, but given her past, she’s not sure anyone will believe her. Is Brooke ready to face up to her own demons to save the little boy? And when the truth is finally revealed, who is really the one in danger?

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Holly is getting married, but not before a celebration weekend with her closest friends. After a night of arguments, a body is found floating in the swimming pool of their secluded cottage. Holly must face up to the truth – one of her bridesmaids is a killer, but which one?

New beginnings. Old rivalries.

Best friends. Bad blood.

Six bridesmaids. One body.

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Everyone thinks I’m living the perfect life. I have my dream job, a stunning apartment, and glamourous friends – who know nothing about my dark past. So I’m shocked when I run into Anna , who I haven’t seen in eighteen years. Everything about her reminds me of the life I’ve left behind. But as her eyes fill with tears and she tells me she’s lost her job and can’t pay her rent, I reluctantly offer her my spare room.

Anna promises she won’t stay for long. But soon, I notice she’s wearing my designer clothes and has dyed her hair to match my exact shade of chocolate brown. As I watch her curled up on my sofa, my blood runs cold. Did Anna really come back into my life by chance? What is she hiding?

Then I receive a chilling anonymous phone call telling me my time is up. Memories of that terrible night that changed everything come flooding back. The flames. The thick smoke. Someone knows what I did, and they want revenge.

But whoever that someone is, they’ve underestimated how far I’ll go to protect my perfect life…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Welcome to Pinewood Hospital. I’m here to take care of you…

The bright yellow walls of the maternity ward are plastered with posters of perfect families. Surrounded by happy looking couples, I’m painfully aware I’m about to give birth all alone. As I stroke my bump, I can’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. But when my midwife Jackie introduces herself and holds my trembling hand, I know she’s here to help. I instantly relax around her, even though I can’t shake the feeling we’ve met before…

As I sit in my small, rented bedsit that evening, my phone rings and I’m shocked to hear Jackie’s voice. I don’t recall giving her my number, but I have been forgetful of late. When she invites me to an antenatal group, I’m quick to make up an excuse, but she won’t take no for an answer.

Jackie promised me there would be a big group, so why is there only one other nervous looking mother here? I catch Jackie studying my face when the woman asks me questions about my baby. Does Jackie know the secret I’ve been keeping?

As my due date approaches, I find myself turning to Jackie more and more. I even let her talk me into her delivering my baby at home. She says she’s delivered hundreds of babies this way, and she’ll give me the birth I deserve.

My baby and I are in safe hands… Aren’t we?

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Arranging the playdate was easy. Child’s play. Preparing the house was more difficult. It was only now she realised how many photographs there were: the picture-perfect unit. Wife, husband, child. All of it a lie.

I made a new friend at playgroup today. She’s different from the other mothers. She feels like someone I can trust. Someone I can confide in.

But there are some things I can’t tell her. Things I can’t tell anyone.

Because I have a secret that no one else knows. One that still haunts my dreams, wakes me up in cold sweat at night.

Even another mother would never understand. Unless, of course, she’s hiding something too…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

They say she’s guilty. She says she’s not. Who do you believe?

‘Help me! Help me, please!’

When Jenna hears the cry in the park one night, she feels she has no choice but to run and help. Cradling the injured woman in her arms, the attacker nowhere to be seen, all Jenna wants is to keep her alive until the ambulance arrives and for the ordeal to be over.

But the nightmare begins when the victim wakes up…

Jenna’s relief turns to horror when the finger is pointed at her. There must be some mistake: she’s never seen the woman before in her life, and Jenna tried to save her life. Why would she accuse Jenna of a crime she didn’t commit?

As the case against Jenna grows, her world starts to fall apart. Her teenage daughter is keeping secrets and her husband is growing more distant every day. To save her family and clear her name, Jenna has to prove she didn’t do it. But someone knows something Jenna did do. And they want to make her pay…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

I thought I knew how to help them. I knew nothing.

When Lydia and Josh Green walk into Karen’s office one rainy February morning, Karen sees a couple under stress, almost at breaking point. But working with struggling couples, finding out more about their problems, helping to save their marriages, is what Karen does.

But as Karen spends more time with Lydia and Josh, her sense of unease grows…

Lydia is something more than just a woman whose marriage is in trouble. She seems frightened for her safety.

Josh is angry, grief-stricken and seems to be hiding a dark secret.

And soon Karen herself is afraid – there is something about the behaviour of this couple that recalls traumatic incidents from her own past. There is something there that may be the key to saving them, if Karen can only unlock it in time…

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

Gripping the phone, my hands tremble with fear. I look at my son and wonder how my darling blue-eyed boy could have done this. But as my eyes focus down on the body, I know what I must do. I know it will destroy our lives forever. “Hello? I need help. It’s my child. He’s killed someone.”

As my son looks at me, his eyes pleading for help, all I can think in that moment is that I will do whatever it takes to protect him. A young girl’s lifeless body lies on the ground and my heart breaks when I realise I’m already too late to save her.

Our family will never be the same again.

I know I should call for help. But looking towards the phone table I see an old picture of the children playing in the garden. Our children and hers. We used to be so close, I thought our families would be together for a lifetime. But in a moment of rage, the life I imagined has been snatched away.

But if I’m honest, I’ve been kidding myself about how perfect our lives were. I’m a mother. I should be able to keep my children safe. But what I see in front of me cannot be denied. No one else is here. My son’s guilty.

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

He says she’s here to help. But does she want me gone?

After my beautiful daughter Annabelle died in a tragic accident, I thought I would never recover. With my world in pieces, my husband Matthew did what he could to support me and our son, Noah. He hired a nanny, Reka, to help us at home, to be the mother for Noah that I couldn’t be. She cares for him like he’s her own.

But recently, I’ve seen her comforting someone else. My husband. They think I don’t see what they’re doing. But I do.

At first it was stolen glances and whispered conversations. Soon I understand what is really happening. I’m being replaced.

I’ll do anything to keep my son with me. But as the tensions between Matthew and Reka rise, I realise that I’m caught in a deadly trap. And one of us won’t make it out alive.

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

As my eyes slowly start to open, I find myself at the foot of the stairs. I should be confused about how I got here. But I already know. I didn’t trip. It wasn’t an accident. She pushed me.

Me: Before I met Andrew, I never believed in love at first sight. But when we meet for the first time, I know he’s meant for me. Within days, we start a whirlwind romance and over candlelit dinners, we plan our dream future.

When Andrew suggests we move in together, I say yes instantly. But the dream soon shatters when I see his mother at the front door. Watching me carry my bags upstairs, I can feel her piercing stare. She doesn’t want me here.

Her: I watch in horror as Daisy relaxes into her new home with my Andrew. I’ve met women like Daisy before, I know what they’re capable of. And I will do anything to protect him.

But then I remind Daisy has come into our lives like a moth to a flame. There’s only ever been room for one woman in this house. And I already know how this love story is going to end.

AGENT: REBECCA WATSON

PRODUCER:

I defend criminals for a living. But I never thought I’d have to defend my own child.

Our home was always our sanctuary. As a barrister, I work long hours with tough people. Coming back to Damien and our teenage daughter Ellie was heaven. But lately, Ellie has been distant, missing her curfew and never answering her phone. Tonight, as I watch the blue flashing lights across the street as a young girl is wheeled into an ambulance, I feel a growing sense of Is my daughter guilty?

Damien reassures me she’s like any other teenager, rebelling against us. But I feel certain it’s worse. Over the last few months she’s become a stranger to me. When I overhear her on the phone saying, ‘She deserves to pay for what she did,’ I feel sick. What is she capable of?

When the police ask to question Ellie, I start building her case. But if I want her to walk free, I know I must risk my own dark secret coming out, something I’ve hidden all Ellie’s life. It will destroy my family. But will it also cost me my life?

AGENT: rebecca watson

PRODUCER:

Standing in the impressive hallway of this luxury holiday home, it’s hard to imagine our little house once stood here. Someone wanted to bury the ghosts of the past when they built the glass house and tourists come for miles to stay here. I’ve planned every detail of this trip and made certain the locals won’t recognise me. It’s the only way I might get them to talk.

But soon it’s clear no-one wants me here. At first it’s little things like whispers and threatening looks. Then one night, when I return to the house, I notice my possessions are out of place and I’m sure I can see a figure in the darkness outside.

Then I hear the sound of breaking glass downstairs and my heart shatters. Someone has been watching my every move. They must know who I really am. But when I come face to face with my sister’s killer, am I prepared for what I will find?