Sam Shephard is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation there when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens. Sam soon discovers this is not an isolated incident. There is a chilling prospect of a predator loose in Dunedin. Is the murderer in the circus or closer to home? Sam must find out who's running the show.

The Ringmaster

Symon, Vanda

Penguin

Chaos reigns in the sleepy village of Aramoana when shipping containers wash up on the beach and are looted. Detective Constable Sam Shephard knows first-hand the desperation of the scavengers - she's got the scars to prove it. Plus a skull in the sand. And a body pulled from the ocean. The undercurrents from one morning's madness are far-reaching.? Who else will be caught in the backwash?? Can Sam stem the tide?

Containment: A Cargo to Die For

Literature & Fiction

Penguin Global

Death is stalking the southern South Island. And what role does the visiting Darling Brothers Circus have to play? Sam Shephard is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation there when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens. Sam...

The Ringmaster (Large Print 16pt)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

ReadHowYouWant

Overkill

Aurora Large Print

Containment

‘A sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip-roaring stories with a twist’ Kate Mosse When the body of a young mother is found washed up on the banks of the Mataura River, a small rural community is rocked by her tragic suicide. But all is not what it seems. Sam Shephard, sole-charge police constable in Mataura, soon discovers the death was no suicide and has to face the realisation that there is a killer in town. To complicate the situation, the murdered woman was the wife of her former lover. When Sam finds herself on the list of suspects and suspended from duty, she must cast aside her personal feelings and take matters into her own hands. To find the murderer … and clear her name. A taut, atmospheric and page-turning thriller, Overkill marks the start of an unputdownable and unforgettable series from one of New Zealand’s finest crime writers. ‘Vanda Symon is part of a new wave of Kiwi crime writers … her talent for creating well-rounded characters permeates throughout’ Crimewatch

Overkill (1) (Sam Shephard)

Orenda Books

The heart-stoppingly tense next instalment in the richly atmospheric, page-turning and international bestselling Sam Shephard series … for fans of The Dry ‘Finally, UK readers get to discover New Zealand’s own Queen of Crime. Vanda Symon is a big talent and everything she writes is fast, intelligent and utterly gripping. In Sam Shephard, Symon has created a compelling series lead, and her treatment of small-town New Zealand is superbly atmospheric. This one’s a cracker’ Liam McIlvanney ‘Vanda Symon is part of a new wave of Kiwi crime writers … her talent for creating well-rounded characters permeates throughout’ Crimewatch ‘It is Symon’s copper Sam, self-deprecating and very human, who represents the writer’s real achievement’ Barry Forshaw, The Guardian Death is stalking the South Island of New Zealand Marginalised by previous antics, Sam Shephard, is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation, when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens, and Sam soon discovers this is not an isolated incident. There is a chilling prospect of a predator loose in Dunedin, and a very strong possibility that the deaths are linked to a visiting circus… Determined to find out who’s running the show, and to prove herself, Sam throws herself into an investigation that can have only one ending… Rich with atmosphere, humour and a dark, shocking plot, The Ringmaster marks the return of passionate, headstrong police officer, Sam Shephard, in the next instalment of Vanda Symon’s bestselling series. ‘MUST HAVE’ Daily Express ‘A sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip-roaring stories with a twist’ Kate Mosse ‘Antipodean-set crime is riding high thanks to the likes of Jane Harper and fans of The Dry will also like Vanda Symons’ Red Magazine ‘One of the best in this genre that I’ve read in years’ Trena Marshall, Waikato Times ‘A rollicking good read’ Kim Knight, Sunday Star Times ‘Lively evocation of small-town life, with a plot that grabs the reader’s attention with a heart-stopping opening and doesn’t let go’ The Times ‘The Ringmaster is an absolute beauty of a read, well-written, absorbing, and extremely enjoyable’ Liz Robinson, LoveReading ‘The Ringmaster wowed me with its twisty journey, weaving various threads together, right through the shocking, and surprising, ending. This gripping series is a definite ‘must read’ for me – and for anyone else who loves entertaining, humorous crime fiction with plenty of heart’ Off-the-Shelf Books ‘This would be a brilliant holiday read, so if you’re looking for a book to read on the beach, I can highly recommend this one’ Segnalibro ‘Atmospheric, gripping and incredibly satisfying; my only problem is that I read it too quickly and now have to wait for the next instalment!’ Random Things Through My Letterbox ‘With taut writing and brilliantly developed characters, this is turning into a must-read crime series. I, for one, can’t wait to read more. Roll on book three’ Hooked From Page One

The Ringmaster (Sam Shephard)

Product Description Dunedin’s favourite young police officer Sam Shephard is drawn into a perplexing investigation when a series of shipping containers wash up on a sleepy New Zealand beach, and a spate of unexplained deaths ensues… ‘Fast-moving New Zealand procedural … the Edinburgh of the south has never been more deadly’ Ian Rankin 'If you like taut, pacy thrillers with a wonderful sense of place, this is the book for you’ Liam McIlvanney ‘A sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip-roaring stories with a twist. Perfect curl-up-on-the-sofa reading’ Kate Mosse –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Chaos reigns in the sleepy village of Aramoana on the New Zealand coast, when a series of shipping containers wash up on the beach and looting begins. Detective Constable Sam Shephard experiences the desperation of the scavengers first-hand, and ends up in an ambulance, nursing her wounds and puzzling over an assault that left her assailant for dead. What appears to be a clear-cut case of a cargo ship running aground soon takes a more sinister turn when a skull is found in the sand, and the body of a diver is pulled from the sea … a diver who didn’t die of drowning… As first officer at the scene, Sam is handed the case, much to the displeasure of her superiors, and she must put together an increasingly confusing series of clues to get to the bottom of a mystery that may still have more victims… –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ‘Vanda Symon’s work resembles Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series rather than the mysteries of her compatriot Ngaio Marsh. However, she knows how to tell a good story and the NZ setting adds spice to the flapdoodle’ The Times ‘It is Symon’s copper Sam, self-deprecating and very human, who represents the writer’s real achievement’ Guardian ‘Antipodean-set crime is riding high thanks to the likes of Jane Harper, and fans of The Dry will love Vanda Symon’ Red Magazine ‘With a twisty plot, a protagonist who shines and beautifully written observations of the cruellest things … this is crime fiction at its best’ Kiwi Crime ‘Atmospheric, gripping and incredibly satisfying’ Random Things through My Letterbox ‘Raw, honest, punchy and smirky … if you enjoy a quick-firing, fast-moving tale with a tight storyline, then Containment could be for you’ LoveReading Review "Atmospheric, emotional, and gripping . . . proves that Sam Shephard will continue to be a force to be reckoned with." —Foreword Reviews on The Ringmaster"Overkill is Symon's first novel, but it reads like the polished effort of a genre veteran. More, please." —Booklist on Overkill "An achievement that blends heart-stopping thrills with deep, believable characters in a stark New Zealand setting. It will leave readers reaching for the next Sam Shephard mystery." —Foreword Reviews starred review of Overkill About the Author Vanda Symon is a New Zealand crime writer, TV presenter and radio host, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. The Sam Shephard series has been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel.

Containment (3) (Sam Shephard)

Genre Fiction

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.\nPrologue\nThe image of the clock's hands burned into her retinas as she stared, willing her eyes to stay focused, there, on that spot. Above the sound of the blood pulsing through her ears, she could just make out the sharp click of its ticks, as the second hand laboured around the circumference of the dial.\nDon't look, she thought. For Christ's sake, you can't look.\nHer eyes stayed fixed on the clock.\nHe'll be home soon, please let him be home soon, she thought. Don't be late. Not tonight.\nBut what her eyes could avoid, her nose could smell; the wet, hot, metallic scent of blood, overpowering the sharp chemical tang of the adhesive on the tape slashed across her mouth. She closed her eyes, the photographic negative of the clock dancing in the darkness, but it was as pointless as resisting gravity.\nThey opened, their focus drawn to the inevitable.\nShe took in the ruined shell that had been John, the mangled mess that had been his face, now just dripping meat, bone and brain. She felt the spasm clench her stomach at the sight, the smell, and she started repeating the mantra in her head, You vomit, you die, you vomit, you die. She tried to take deep, even breaths.\nThink of Declan, he's already lost one parent tonight, don't let it be two.\nShe slammed her eyes shut, concentrated on breathing, on forcing away the nausea. But while she could fight the nausea, she couldn't fight the tears, and as the sobs wracked her body, she began to realise that deep breathing was becoming more difficult. She strained against the ropes that bound her arms and feet to the chair, but nothing could stop the wave of panic that hit as she realised her nose was getting stuffier, and the more she panicked, the more she cried and the more she cried, the less she could breathe until she couldn't pull in any air and she felt a band of steel tightening around her chest.\nShe pulled against her bonds, but nothing. She twisted. She pushed. Her body fought for air and with desperation she shoved against the floor with her feet. As the chair tipped backwards, the last thing her eyes found was the clock, its second hand ticking away her life, before a white-hot flare of pain, and then darkness.\nWhen the official investigation into the murder of a respectable local businessman fails to add up, and personal problems start to play havoc with her state of mind, New Zealand’s favourite young detective Sam Shephard turns vigilante…\n‘Fast-moving New Zealand procedural … the Edinburgh of the south has never been more deadly’ Ian Rankin\n'If you like taut, pacy thrillers with a wonderful sense of place, this is the book for you’ Liam McIlvanney\n‘A sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip-roaring stories with a twist. Perfect curl-up-on-the-sofa reading’ Kate Mosse\n________________\nThe New Zealand city of Dunedin is rocked when a wealthy and apparently respectable businessman is murdered in his luxurious home while his wife is bound and gagged, and forced to watch. But when Detective Sam Shephard and her team start investigating the case, they discover that the victim had links with some dubious characters.\nThe case seems cut and dried, but Sam has other ideas. Weighed down by her dad’s terminal cancer diagnosis, and by complications in her relationship with Paul, she needs a distraction, and launches her own investigation. And when another murder throws the official case into chaos, it’s up to Sam to prove that the killer is someone no one could ever suspect…\n________________\nPraise for the Sam Shephard series\n‘Vanda Symon’s work resembles Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series … she knows how to tell a good story and the NZ setting adds spice’ The Times\n‘Atmospheric, emotional and gripping’ Foreword Reviews\n‘A plot that grabs the reader’s attention with a heart-stopping opening and doesn’t let go’ Sunday Times\n‘Powerful, coolly assured, and an absolute belter of a

Bound (4) (Sam Shephard)

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Books by Symon, Vanda

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Symon, Vanda. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Ringmaster

Containment: A Cargo to Die For

The Ringmaster (Large Print 16pt)

Overkill

The Ringmaster

Containment

Overkill (1) (Sam Shephard)

The Ringmaster (Sam Shephard)

Containment (3) (Sam Shephard)

Bound (4) (Sam Shephard)