Book excerpt: Three hard-hitting police thrillers set in northern England and starring a determined detective with her own demons . . . This collection of gritty mysteries includes: The Magpie Finalist for the Lindisfarne Prize for Debut Crime Fiction To prove that she’s still at the top of her game, DSI Billie Wilde is on a mission to catch the killer responsible for a horrific showcase of murders. But when hidden skeletons come out of dark corners, Billie is forced to grapple with her past, and learns she isn’t who she thought she was. And it soon turns out, she has devastating childhood links to each of the victims . . . The Devil’s Line After a teenage girl’s body turns up on train tracks, Billie and the police find a link between the girl’s murder and a County Lines gang of traffickers notorious for exploiting the vulnerable. Someone has been using children to peddle drugs—someone closer to home than Billie can imagine—and she intends to stop those who shatter the innocence of the young . . . The Mad-Hatter Murders DSI Wilde is in the throes of an intense romantic relationship—but it’s nothing compared to the pressure of her latest case, a series of deaths that seem to have a connection to Alice in Wonderland. And as she works closely with an undercover PI, Wilde starts to feel like she’s gone through the looking-glass herself . . .