Sara Hirst series

Author: Daykin, Judi

Publication Date:

September 2020

Pages:

318

Original language and publisher

English | Joffe Books

Territories Handled

Netherlands, Scandinavia

Territories Sold

Audio (Tantor Media)

Genre

Crime & Thrillers

Number of copies sold:

54,200

Awards:

  • CWA New Blood Dagger (longlisted)

Sara Hirst series

Author: Daykin, Judi

Synopsis

For fans of Joy Ellis, J.M. Dalgliesh, Matt Brolly, Rachel McLean, and Angela Marsons

UNDER VIOLENT SKIES (Book 1, September 2020)

  • Longlisted – CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger 2021 award
  • #55 on Amazon Australia
  • #38 on Amazon UK

Set under the brooding skies of north Norfolk. Meet Sara Hirst as she searches for her lost father and finds that great beauty sometimes conceals great violence.

Detective Sara Hirst has moved from London to Norfolk Police’s Serious Crimes Unit. She wants to know the truth about her father, who has connections to the area. Her mother won’t tell her the real story. A new job. A new place. Same old problems. Sara’s first call-out is to a decomposing body discovered in a ditch on a local farm. How does the murder relate to a recent spate of thefts? Who wanted the victim dead? Then the case grows very personal…

INTO DEADLY STORMS (Book 2, March 2021)

  • #28 Amazon Australia
  • #69 Amazon UK

Under the brooding skies of North Norfolk, Sara faces her toughest case yet and finds that great beauty sometimes conceals great violence. Too many secrets. Too much pain. Too many leads. Dawn breaks as a dog-walker finds a dead body, half-naked and wrapped tightly in an old groundsheet. Sara is first on the scene. Who is the victim? And who will be next? Sara must take on some of Britain’s most wanted criminals if she’s to find out the truth.

A BRUTAL SEASON (Book 3, November 2021)

  • #34 Amazon Australia
  • #72 Amazon UK

Detective Sara Hirst has moved from London to Norfolk Police’s Serious Crimes Unit. Carnival week in Cromer. It’s been an easy-going summer for the Norfolk Police’s Serious Crimes Unit — until this morning.

The body of Daisy Shaw, the Carnival Queen, is discovered in a back alley, stretched out on the cobbles. Her long blonde hair lies matted and dishevelled around her head, her fingers clutch a sparkly plastic tiara. Suspicion falls on the carnival crew, especially when it turns out that one of them is Daisy’s boyfriend.

The atmosphere in Cromer soon grows nasty. The town turns against the outsiders. The roads are closed. The town descends into chaos. And the murder detectives are right in the thick of it, trying to piece together what happened to Daisy. The close-knit carnival community is all too used to prejudice and none too keen on helping the police. Meanwhile, both Sara’s mother and boyfriend have bombshells to drop. Can Sara solve the case before anyone else gets hurt?

AN ARTFUL MURDER (Book 4, July 2022)

  • #28 Amazon Australia
  • #32 Amazon UK

Detective Sara Hirst faces her toughest and most bizarre case yet. The first body is found forced inside a huge terracotta urn on the lawn of a country manor in a remote corner of North Norfolk. A few days later, a young woman is found, tied to a golden chair with her throat slashed. At both crime scenes, the killer leaves a bizarre calling card. The victims were part of a group of friends at university back in the day. Two of them are dead. Two are still alive — but for how much longer? The team’s new DCI, Helen Hudson, is convinced the prime suspect is Dom Wilkins, one of the victims’ old flames. But Detective Sara thinks she’s missing something obvious. Can she stop a serial killer before they strike again?

THE NORFOLK BEACH MURDERS (Book 5, May 2023)

  • #4 Amazon Australia
  • #33 Amazon UK

It’s a stormy December morning when seal-watchers find the body on the beach at Winterton-on-Sea. His clothes have been torn to shreds on the rocks. The bright-orange life jacket didn’t save him in the end. Detective Sara Hirst races to the scene. The washed-up body turns out to be a deckhand who got swept overboard in a storm. It looks like a tragic accident. Until another body is found on a pleasure boat drifting out at sea. There are bullet holes in the boat’s hull. This was definitely murder. But Sara will soon have more to worry about than two dead bodies. Someone from her past is back… There are dark dealings going on in this quiet stretch of Norfolk coast. Detective Sara Hirst must catch a killer before anyone else turns up dead.