which she wrote herself and some of which is, shall we say, of a grey area when it comes to privacy laws and accessing certain restricted databases! Together with their small team of officers and Claire, a civilian computer clerk nicknamed 'JCB' by the team because she keeps on digging for clues, they take on the serial killers of the UK. On the personal front Palmer has been married to his 'princess', or Mrs P. as she is known to everybody for nearly thirty years. The romance blossomed after the young DC Palmer arrested most of her family who were a bunch of South London petty villains in the 1960's. They have four children and eight grandchildren, a nice house in Dulwich and a faithful dog called Daisy who Palmer dotes on. They also have a neighbour called Benji, a retired, rich Advertising Executive who Palmer doesn't dote on although all Mrs P's friends seem to! Gheeta Singh lives alone in a fourth-floor Barbican apartment having arrived on these shores as part of a refugee family fleeing from Idi Amin's Uganda. Her father and brothers have built up a good computer parts supply company in which it was assumed Gheeta would take an active role on graduating from University. She had other ideas on this, and also on the arranged marriage her mother and aunts still try to coerce her into. Gheeta has two loves, police work and technology, and thanks to Palmer she has her dream job. Combining the old 'coppers nose' and 'gut feelings' of Palmer with the modern IT skills of DS Singh the two make an unlikely but successful team. The books have been described as 'NCIS meets the Sweeney' which seems to sum them up well. All the cases involve multiple killings and twist and turn through author Faulkner's signature red herrings and hidden clues alike keeping the reader in suspense until the very end. Faulkner comes from a family of small-time South London villains and his insights into that world add a ring of truth to his writing. He assures you he avoided that career path himself.