The Liars

The Liars (a bizarre Murder Mystery) 'Lies, gossip, jealousy and a generous serving of bedroom undercover work fail to deter two of Scotland Yard's finest in this entertaining mystery with an extra twist or two...or three.' Pittsburgh Press When the battered body of fisherman Denis Kerkin is found hanging by one leg from an ancient stone gibbet, blunt cockney Detective Chief Superintendent Staunton and the talented and amorous Detective Inspector Wyndsor of New Scotland Yard's Murder Squad are sent to the isolated fishing village of Crukenporth in Cornwall to investigate. Here they encounter Miss Trevose, an autocratic cripple who never leaves the room specially adapted for her requirements. It is a self-constructed cage for this woman who is old, vindictive and dying. Yet her brain is still active, confined in a maimed body as she is confined within the room, and she controls with feudal arrogance the lives of most of the inhabitants of the village. Denied personal involvement she experiences vicariously the emotions of the people she manipulates, nurses her hatreds, and plays her own specialized game with life and death. For her, the investigating officers are just two more pawns to be played as she decides. As the officers delve into the bizarre circumstances of the death and Miss Trevose plots to use the police enquiry to exact personal vengeance, it becomes clear that more than one person had good reason to wish Denis Kerkin dead. It is the 1970s and Bob Staunton and Leo Wyndsor, without the more sophisticated aids to detection available today, and in their own distinctive ways, strive to sort the truth from the lies before the passions, the hatreds and the greed they unearth explode into further violence, in this gripping novel of suspense and intrigue. The Liars is the second in the Staunton and Wyndsor series of classic police procedural murder mysteries set in various locations in Britain. The others are The Hunters, The Enthusiast and The Savages. These books were previously published worldwide, by major publishing houses, in hard and paperback editions and are now available as eBooks and in new paperback editions. Each novel is a stand-alone story, but with the same major protagonists. Peter Hill has had a successful career working extensively in television for renowned British drama series such as 'Callan', 'The Sweeney', 'Z Cars', 'Public Eye', 'The Bill', 'Special Branch', 'Crown Court', 'New Scotland Yard', and 'Armchair Theatre'. He has been a writer, script editor and producer both in the UK and New Zealand, where he now lives. He has recently returned to novel writing but in a different genre, and the Evolution's Path Series is a trilogy of near and far-future novels, which portray an alarmingly possible dystopian world. They are Killing Tomorrow, The Ladies' Game and Procreation. Press comment on Peter Hill's books 'Exceptionally well told, with satisfying outcome.' Columbus Sunday Dispatch 'Peter Hill does a fine job with character, plot, atmosphere and suspense. An engaging, witty and entertaining yarn.' Publishers Weekly '... a pair of attractive investigators--the young and aristocratic Leo Wyndsor and the slow-moving but smart veteran Bob Staunton. The case takes them to Cornwall, where a man has been murdered and hung on an old gibbet ... All this is very agreeable, especially in Mr. Hill's smooth and often sympathetic telling.' New York Times 'I'd like to see Messrs. Staunton and Wyndsor in more books. They're a lot of fun--and they're good detectives.' Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia