Reflections of Deviance

Book 4 in the Will Traynor mystery series. 

Rich. Successful. Dead . . . The mysterious death of Marion Cane leads criminologist Will Traynor into a deeply challenging and disturbing new case.

Marion Cane swapped a successful city career in New York and London for a quiet retirement in a wealthy village on the outskirts of Birmingham. So why was she found dead in her new home just two years later?

Marion's death was thought to be due to natural causes, until an anonymous note leads Superintendent John Heritage of West Midlands Police to ask DCI Bernard Watts and PC Chloe Judd to make enquiries. But when they arrive in Newton Heights, one of the villagers mysteriously vanishes. Still reeling from his own devastating news, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to assist the team with an increasingly complex and disturbing investigation. Can Traynor push his own demons aside to see through distorted versions of reality, dangerous secrets and dark lies in his pursuit of the truth?

A Dark Divided Self

Will Traynor Book 3 

When the decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered just outside Birmingham, criminologist Will Traynor is drawn into a baffling investigation.

"Plenty of unexpected twists sure to set pulses racing, leading to a shock ending guaranteed to blindside even the most experienced thriller reader" - Booklist Starred Review 

Devil in the Detail

In Book 2 of the Will Traynor mystery series a suspected car-jacking leads to something deeper and darker in the compelling new Will Traynor forensic mystery.

Dark Truths

Introducing criminologist Will Traynor in the first of a gripping new forensic mystery series from an expert in the field.

When a headless body is discovered on a popular jogging trail, Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team are plunged headlong into a baffling murder investigation. Why would someone stab to death a young woman on her daily run - and take her head? When a close examination of the crime scene results in a shocking discovery linking the present murder to a past crime, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to assist the police. Aware of Traynor's troubled past and already having to deal with inexperienced rookie PC Chloe Judd on his team, Watts is sceptical that Traynor will bring anything useful to the investigation. He's about to be proved very wrong ...

Cold Cold Heart

Professor Kate Hanson and the Unsolved Crime Unit unearth some shocking findings when they re-examine a 10-year-old murder case.

For the past ten years, David Lockman has been serving a life sentence for the murder of Della Harrington. Now an appeal judge has decreed the forensic evidence unsatisfactory and the original verdict unsafe.

Tasked with re-examining the case, forensic psychologist Kate Hanson and her colleagues unearth serious flaws in the original police investigation. But if Lockman didn’t kill Della Harrington, who did? As they question those involved, it becomes clear that not everyone is telling the whole truth. But have the detectives been working from the wrong assumption from the outset? In following her hunch, Kate makes a professional decision which undermines her colleagues, and threatens her very future with the Unsolved Crime Unit.

Something Evil Comes

Dr Kate Hanson and the Unsolved Crime Unit are baffled as to motive when the body of a young man is discovered.

When a body is discovered locked inside a church crypt, its throat torn out, the victim's identity is quickly established as 20-year-old Matthew Flynn, son of one of the city's leading entrepreneurs, who disappeared a year earlier. 

For forensic psychologist Kate Hanson, the evidence reveals careful planning but also loss of control. It makes no sense. Nor can she and her team agree as to motive. Is it drugs? Money? Sex? The only thing that's clear is that Matthew Flynn had been keeping secrets from his family and friends.
Then Kate discovers that another young man is missing. And the case takes a disturbing new twist ... 

A Little Death

Dr Kate Hanson and the Unsolved Crime Unit are facing their most challenging cold case yet: the year-old murder of a female student.

When, a year after she went missing, the body of 19-year-old student Elizabeth Williams is discovered in a field near her college, Dr Kate Hanson and her colleagues are faced with a seemingly impossible challenge. The badly decomposed remains are offering up few clues, and witnesses are proving either unreliable or reluctant to talk at all.

With little in the way of forensic evidence, Kate realizes that if she is to have any chance of discovering who killed Elizabeth, she must find out what motivated the killer, the reason behind the murder, the why. To do that, she must look beyond what she and her colleagues are being told by those who knew Elizabeth and into the twisted psyche of a dangerous murderer: a killer whom Kate suspects is ready to kill again 

Art of Deception

The New Year brings a gruesome new discovery for forensic psychologist Dr Kate Hanson and Birmingham's Unsolved Crimes Unit. A mummified body is found beneath the floorboards of a deserted lake house in Woodgate Country Park. The dead man was art student Nathan Troy, who disappeared 20 years ago, but evidence at the scene suggests the killer has been keeping an eye on his long-dead victim.

As Kate begins to dig further into Nathan's past, she discovers a series of potentially toxic relationships. Why do his house mates refuse to talk about that time or their friendship with Nathan? And what was his connection to the beautiful and apparently promiscuous daughter of his professor?

When the disappearance of a local teenager confirms that Nathan's killer is back, Kate and the team must work fast to untangle a web of lies and unmask a murderer who has lain dormant for 20 years.

A chilling discovery, a young life in mortal danger, and a series of dark secrets that have been hidden for decades, ART OF DECEPTION is the thrilling new crime novel from professional forensic psychologist A.J. Cross.

Gone in Seconds

Molly James had no reason to disappear, but no one has seen her for ten years.

When the remains of a young woman are found, Dr. Kate Hanson and the Unsolved Crime Unit are called in to re-investigate Molly’s disappearance. Hanson begins to unravel the teenager’s life in order to work out her death.

But then a second set of remains is unearthed.

As Hanson digs deeper she realises they are looking for a Repeater: a killer who will adapt, grow and not stop until they are caught. Most worrying of all is that the discovery of Molly has awakened a darkness that Hanson can’t control.

As the killer stalks closer to home, she faces her biggest challenge yet: to protect those important to her and fight to bring Molly’s killer to justice.

A. J. Cross is a forensic psychologist with over twenty years of experience. This expertise brings a thrilling authenticity to her work; as Cornwell brings to Scarpetta, Reichs to Brennan, and Fox to Crichton.

"Kate is a fantastic central character - fascinating, a bit damaged, nurturing and dedicated, plus she has an extremely strong supporting cast. I can't remember the last time I saw a début author do 'cliff-hanger' quite so well. And, of course, her insider knowledge gives a resounding authenticity to the criminal investigation." - KATE MILLS, Publishing Director, Orion.