We kick off our blogs for 2024 with a contribution from Crime Cymru’s Jacqueline Harrett who gives us an extract from her new novel published by Diamond Crime.
With Grave Consequences, published by Diamond Books UK, is the third in the DI Mandy Wilde series of police procedurals. I never intended to write a series but, as each story progresses, I’m enjoying finding out more about Mandy and her life. The novels are set in South Wales, in and around Cardiff, with Cathays Cemetery the starting point for With Grave Consequences. When the body of a teenager is found, it gives Mandy and her team a problem to solve.
What happened to Grace Mathias?
Here is an extract from the first chapter:
It was December and cold as hell. At just after nine o’clock Grace Mathias entered Cathays Cemetery. Three hours later she was dead. In Cardiff Central Police Station DI Mandy Wilde was frowning at her computer screen, an empty soup bowl at her elbow, when DS Josh Jones burst into the room.
“Boss, we’ve got a body. Cathays Cemetery.”
“No shit, Sherlock. We can see why you’re a detective.
DC Olivia Wyglendacz sniggered. Josh coloured.
“We’d better move our arses then. Pronto.”
Pulling her coat on and grabbing hat and gloves, Mandy pounded out of the office, Josh trying to keep up. The fitness routine they’d established in October had gone to the dogs with the cold snap. No-one wanted to be out running in freezing weather when the pavements were like skating rinks. Mandy suspected Josh was relieved. Maybe he’d join the rugby team again – if Lisa, his wife, let him.
Outside the cold air hit them like a slap with a wet fish. Their breath hung in the air. Overhead a weak sun struggled through heavy clouds and a low mist crept across the grass of Cathays Park. Even the traffic noise seemed more subdued, as if the mist blanketed the sounds.
A couple of police vans were parked outside the cemetery entrance and the main gate was closed. Mandy spotted the pathologist’s car. Good, Rishi was there already. It meant everything was in place and they shouldn’t have to hang around for too long in these near freezing temperatures. A uniformed officer stood at the side gate, preventing anyone from entering. Mandy waved her warrant card at him and asked directions.
“To the right of the chapel, Ma’am. Follow the path and you’ll see the team.”
It was a bleak place, the trail leading them through the Victorian section of the graveyard onto a track, dead leaves making it muddy underfoot. Mandy was grateful for her boots and glad to see Josh had worn something less designer and more practical for the job in hand. A pair of jackdaws cackled as if giving them a warning before flying to the uppermost branches. Skeleton trees, maple and sycamore, reached for the sky, witches’ fingers, gnarled and knotted. It was easy to locate the SOCO team. The low murmur of voices and figures moving around contrasted with the loneliness around them.
What they found was not what Mandy had expected. Somehow, she’d imagined an elderly person had keeled over and died. What lay in front of them was the body of a young girl. Fifteen or sixteen at most she reckoned. She was on her side rolled up, half-undressed, her discarded clothing lying close by, and she appeared to be trying to hide. Who had done this?
With Grave Consequences was published on 5th December 2023 as paperback and ebook. Find out more at harrett.co.uk.
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