Feature – serie

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King The seedy resort of Boleta Bay has seen better days, especially since the unexplained disappearances began. Now a group of teenagers decide to fight back and clear the town of undesirables. As they grow more daring and vicious, they are drawn to the abandoned Funhouse and the real source of the mystery.

The vampire movie came first - the girl died in a welter of blood as the vampire bit clean through her jugular. Then came the spider film, followed by the story of the axeman. This was a horror movie series to end them all. The action seemed real, but it couldn't be - could it?

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King. It was supposed to be a peaceful escape for the two families camping high in the California mountains. But they made the mistake of camping at Mesquite lake, home to two of the wilderness's most terrifying inhabitants: an aged hag with gruesome powers and her depraved son whose unnatural lusts even she cannot control...

Paul Madriani, a brilliant criminal defense lawyer, had a once-promising career with a prestigious law-firm, until an ill-judged affair with the senior partner Ben Potter's wife led to his resignation. Now he scrambles for work amid the ghosts of his doomed affair and the remains of a failing marriage.Then Potter is found dead, an apparent suicide. But as details come to light, the case turns from suicide to murder and the needle of suspicion points towards the victim's seductive wife, Talia Potter. Indicted and arrested, Talia turns to Paul, her former lover, to defend her against the mounting evidence in a case that for her could result in the gas chamber

Detective Peter Decker's camping trip into the foothills above Los Angeles was meant to help get him closer to the young sons -Sammy and Jake - of his girlfriend, Rina Lazarus. So when the older boy stumbles on a horrific find - two charred human skeletons - Decker is filled with appalled guilt, not to say plunged into a case of double murder. And it is a truly horrifying case. One that takes him from the middle-class respectability of the suburbs to the terrifying crack dens of Hollywood Boulevard. But he is constantly drawn back to the fact that the only unifying thread in a network of violence and sickening corruption seems to be the deaths of two apparently very different young girls...

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King Nothing much happens in Donnerville. Then librarian Jane Kerry receives an envelope containing a fifty-dollar bill and a note from 'MOG' (Master of Games) instructing her to 'Look homeward, angel'. Jane pulls Thomas Wolfe's novel of that title off the shelf and finds a second envelope with more money and another clue...This 'game' soon pushes Jane into crazy and immoral actions, but when she ties to quit, 'MOG' has other ideas.

In the comfortable surrounds of Los Angeles an affluent Jewish family disappears into thin air. The father's trade is diamonds, a risky international business, and despite the lack of bodies Detective Sergeant Pete Decker knows something is wrong. Then Honey Klein, his wife Rina's old schoolfriend, comes to stay, pulling her children out of school on a surprise - and to Decker suspicious - jaunt. Honey's husband, whose religion has recently turned to fanaticism, is also in diamonds and according to his wife currently on business in Israel. Then Honey and her children vanish, their rented car found empty at the edge of the freeway, and again Decker senses danger - danger that stems from a network of ruthless international politics, danger that could spill on to his own family's doorstep...

Recently widowed attorney Paul Madriani is struggling to hold on to what is left of his family when he and his young daughter are caught up in yet another family tragedy. Paul's sister-in-law, Laurel Vega, is involved in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Jack, who wants to take their children to Washington DC. When her case disintegrates, Jack's new wife is found dead in the family home. Laurel is arrested and charged with murder. Madriani takes on her defence but the evidence against Laurel is daunting and her own failure to cooperate - in particular, to tell Paul where she was on the night of the murder - leaves the reader wondering if perhaps he is defending a guilty woman. But what actually happened that night is more tragic than anything revealed so far. And it is up to Paul to uncover the shattering piece of evidence that will lead to the terrible truth.

When Judge Armando 'The Coconut' Acosta is caught with a prostitute, few are sympathetic. Lawyer Paul Madriani has a long history of enmity with the judge and considers Acosta's arrest to be the consequence of a lifetime of corruption. Even when the call girl is found to be a beautiful police academy recruit and the entire case appears to be a set-up, Paul is still reluctant to step in and save the judge's career from impending doom. Then the police recruit is brutally killed and Acosta is charged with murder. Lenore Goya, an ambitious defence lawyer, takes on Acosta's case and reluctantly Madriani is persuaded to come on board - they both know he owes her one. Together they uncover the shocking evidence, the ugly lies, the deceit and the corruption that are at the bottom of the most complex and terrifying murder trial of Madriani's career.

A California high-school student, blonde, promiscuous Cheryl Diggs is murdered and the obvious suspect is her fellow student, Chris Whitman. A seemingly straightforward case, especially when it emerges that Whitman is an East Coast mafia chieftain's son - after all, murder runs in the family. But no murder case is straightforward, as Sergeant Pete Decker well knows, and the closer he looks at this one the less satisfied he is. Though Whitman eventually confesses to the killing Decker knows the case hasn't been exhaustively investigated - and certain pieces of evidence don't quite add up. On the other hand, Decker also knows that, even if he didn't murder Diggs, Whitman is a cold-blooded killer. And that the sweet young girl now under his thrall is bound, eventually, to suffer at Whitman's hands if he walks free. How should Decker ensure justice is done?

Gable Cooper has penned a novel worth six million dollars. But he doesn't exist. Abby Chandlis is lawyer-turned-novelist and the creator of Gable Cooper. She is looking for a charismatic man to pose as the author of her knock-dead thriller. When Jack Jermaine enters her life, Abby is convinced that his charm and good looks will clinch success for her novel, so they make a deal. But as her book rockets to the top of the bestsellers list and Jack is propelled into stardom, Abby senses peril. A series of deadly accidents persuades her that her life is in danger and, with Jack in pursuit, she races to the one person who can put an end to the nightmare that was once her dream of making The List.

A busy night in a fashionable restaurant. Minutes later, carnage. 13 people dead and dozens wounded. As Lieutenant Decker, in charge of the police on the scene says, it's your worst nightmare. But at least the culprit seems clear - an embittered ex-employee, Harlan Manz, who ambled up to the bar and opened fire, finally turning the gun on himself. But why did Manz do it? Deck finds that things don't quite add up. Then he questions Jeanine Garrison, daughter of millionaire parents killed in the outrage, and find himself slapped with a sexual harassment suit. Now Decker knows she's involved, and after her brother, who shared the inheritance, is found dead he's sure. But he's not allowed near the woman. Meantime, he can feel her slipping through his fingers and getting away, quite literally, with murder.

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King Ed Logan is 20 years old and a sophomore at Willmington University. He's also been dumped by his girlfriend. Lonesome and broken-hearted, he goes for a late-night walk. He doesn't know where he's headed. He doesn't know what he's going to do when he gets there. And he has absolutely no idea of the strange people he is about to meet. Like Casey, the athletic blonde who roams the streets as if she's on a mission. And then there's Randy, who's definitely on a mission - to make Ed's life hell. And then there's the others. Not exactly people. And very definitely not friendly. If Ed's not careful, he's not going to make it home at all...

Cindy Decker's decision to follow in the footsteps of her police lieutenant father was never an easy one. For Pete Decker is, to say the least, overprotective of his only daughter. So when Cindy begins to wonder if she is being followed - maybe even stalked - her father is the last person she can confide in. Frantically trying to contend with her own raw, gnawing fear whilst balancing her work and a clandestine relationship with one of Decker's colleagues, she allows her father access to the horrific facts only when their cases seem to be on a collision course. Together they find themselves in uncharted criminal territory, where snap-second decisions can make the difference between the life and death of those you love...

Joss Cole, a burned out public defender from LA, has opted for a quieter life in Washington State. Then into her office walks Dean Belden in search of a lawyer to help him set up a business. Within days Belden appears before a federal grand jury and, just minutes before testifying, he is killed. Meanwhile, Gideon van Ry, a nuclear fission expert in California, is troubled by the failure to account for two nuclear devices missing from the former Soviet Union. Under a false bill of lading, they were shipped to a company called Belden Electronics, and Gideon's only lead is the lawyer who incorporated Belden Electronics - Joss Cole...