Winter Meadows Series

One morning Gwen Thomas takes a short walk with her Siberian husky in the outskirts of the Welsh town she calls home. She is drawn to a desolate area where, some 20 years ago as a teenager, she was brutally attacked and her friend killed. Disorientated by a sudden rush of memories, she has a fall. Later, recovering in hospital, she begins to recollect the events that led up to her friend’s death.

When the manager of a residential home for adults with learning difficulties is found dead in the freezer, the police investigation must tread carefully. Many of the residents are vulnerable. But could one of them be the killer? Detective Inspector Winter Meadows leads the inquiry. He begins to uncover some irregularities: in the finances, in the standards of care and with the account of events that staff and residents give to the police. The neighbours of the care home are troubled with all the goings-on.

When Natalie Benyon’s 18-month-old daughter, Ella, disappears from a housing estate, the police and local community act quickly to organise a search. Given the age of the child, once the local area is scoured, DI Winter Meadows draws the frightening conclusion that Ella has been abducted. The attention of the police focuses on the family itself: the lifestyle of the mother, the boyfriend, the raucous party they had the night before Ella’s disappearance.

There were a lot of things you could call Stacey Evans. And many of them would be true. And unprintable. But did she deserve to be murdered? DI Winter Meadows has no doubt of the answer when he takes the case. The crime was violent. The victim helpless. But the motives are many, and the only clue is a word left on Stacey’s body. DI Meadows struggles to pierce the secrecy surrounding the teenager’s love life. But as each suspect is excluded, Meadows is convinced that something sinister is afoot. When another body is found, a veil of silence descends like a fog upon Gaer Fawr.

A body is found in a dark and dingy tunnel at the bottom of Dinas Rock, the site of a disused mine. There is no sign of struggle. Detective Inspector Winter Meadows suspects the victim, youth worker David Harris, willingly reached the location where he met his end. He must have known his killer. But he must have known something else, too. Meadows discovers that Dinas Rock has a history of tragedy. Years ago a teenage girl met her end there, and Harris was present. As Meadows investigates the old case alongside the new, he opens old wounds.

A quiet corner of Wales becomes the centre of a murder investigation when the bodies of a retired couple are found near the shore of a reservoir. Police try to establish the methods and motives of their attacker by careful examination of the crime scene. And, bizarrely, fishing flies are found in the victims' mouths. The investigation into people connected to the area begins to focus on a family farm. But how were the victims connected to it?

The grim discovery of a body brings up a past that threatens to rip a community apart. Whilst a farmer is tearing up trees near the boundary of a reclusive commune in the Welsh hills, he unearths the remains of a man, clearly buried years ago. DI Winter Meadows grew up within this unusual community and uses the trust he has there to investigate the case. But he is knocked sideways when the body looks to be that of his father, who disappeared years ago when the detective was a teenager.

It's Alys Pugh's birthday and her mates are organizing a little surprise for her. When she doesn't show up, they realize something's wrong. Later, her body is found in the cold waters of Llyn y Fan. On searching Alys' house, detectives discover an array of seaside objects and suspect they are some sort of message left by the killer. With everyone seemingly harboring a secret, tempers fray and suspicion grows. And when similar trinkets are found in another of their houses, those underlying tensions bubble to the surface. Then someone else in the group is killed.

A rural Welsh community is beset by a series of cruel murders... Putting his wedding plans on hold, Detective Winter Meadows resolves to unmask the serial killer on his patch. The only connection between the victims is the stick dolls left by their bodies. That and the fact they don’t seem to have been particularly popular. People are ruffled. Scared. Meadows must isolate the killer fast but the evidence is brittle. The key to unravelling the mystery is in the stone church, in the creaking homes, and in the slowly thawing fields.