Sun, Jan 30, 2005
The police have a murder investigation on their hands when body parts and medical waste are found in a local lake. The waste is traced to Wetherton Royal Infirmary and Dalziel focuses on a missing nurse, Leanne Proctor. She had recently leaked information to a local newspaper about a waiting list scam at the hospital. The hospital itself is under threat of closure with staff taking sides on the issue and with a local contractor hoping to profit from building a new private hospital. Throughout this time, Peter Pascoe is himself a patient at the WRI's neurological ward following a severe accident during a police chase. He becomes quite attracted to one of the nurses, Shannon Hayes.
Sun, Feb 6, 2005
Animal activist Robin Challoner is found dead, and partly eaten, in the tiger cage at the Latimer Private Zoo. The zoo is housed on the one-time estate of Lord 'Tiger' Harper who in 1979 disappeared after someone was killed there after a party. Andy Dalziel remembers the case well and always believed Lord Harper was in hiding nearby. The zoo is managed by Guy Latimer, Harper's one-time lover and it is obvious that he's not pleased to have the police around. When a zookeeper disappears and a veterinarian is found dead floating in the swimming pool, the detectives are convinced that they have something far more serious on their hands than animal activists snooping around. Peter Pascoe is surprised to hear that his ex-wife Ellie and daughter Rosie are in Wetherton visiting her parents. While he is thrilled to see them, he hasn't seen his daughter for a year, he's not so pleased to find out that Ellie is engaged to be married and has her new fiancé in tow.
Top-rated
Sun, Feb 13, 2005
At an archaeological dig of an ancient Roman ruin, Dr Janet Rix and her students uncover a recently buried body. The pot-mortem reveals that the body had been there for several months. The archaeological sites sits in the path of a bypass under construction and this creates a good deal of friction between the road crew and the excavators, who have a row in the local pub. When one of the road crewmen, known as Tarzan, is found with his head bashed in, the police assume that Rix or her colleagues are to blame. As the case progresses however, Dalziel and Pascoe find that they may be dealing with multiple murderers and that one of the crimes may be linked to a murder that occurred many years before. The only problem is that Andy worked hard to convict someone for that older crime and now faces the possibility that an innocent man was sent to jail.
Sun, Feb 20, 2005
When Lisa Johnson is kidnapped by two men wearing balaclavas, PC Maria Jackson is also taken when she tries to intervene. Johnson was a student at the local arts centre and was having an affair with the centre's deputy director, Visha Iqbal who is found murdered the next day. Lisa's parents have been trying to raise the ransom by liquidating their assets but have not told the police. The murders multiply when another teacher is killed as is the head of a local museum. The police realize that both jealousy and a scam to sell forged art work are at the centre of the plot.