Short stories

These are my own scribblings, featuring my own original characters Paul Quinn and Sandi Hendriks. In chronological order, they are currently: Justifiable, Consent, HK Mosh, Reasonable Expectation, and Sound and Vision. The next one I’m aiming to drop is Hawthorns, hopefully before Christmas.

 

Justifiable –

Paul Quinn is a good cop. He joined the police to protect and serve his community; to preserve life. The day he signed a firearm out to conduct surveillance on two suspected armed robbers, he never expected to have to use it. It was a contingency. A just-in-case.

But then the robbers commit another crime, and Paul finds himself being forced to make a terrible choice, and to cope with crossing a line he never expected, or wanted, to cross.
https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/justifiable/

 

Consent (C/TW for rape and sexual violence) –

Sandra Hendriks didn’t expect too much when she reported her rape by a fellow student to the police. Harvey Denison’s part of the Old Boy Network, she’d been out drinking, and she’d already slept with him a few weeks earlier. She’s hardly the Perfect Victim that rape cases require.

But Sandra is going to be a police cadet. The police look after their own. And so they send Detective Inspector Paul Quinn. Quinn is methodical, meticulous, and thorough. Quinn isn’t intimidated by the Old Boy Network.

 

 

HK Mosh –

A police pursuit on a cold winter’s morning in Nottingham leaves a major gangland enforcer dead. Paul Quinn, only in Nottingham on secondment, is the man to investigate what happened. Independent, impartial. Ideal.

But Paul’s enquiries raise more questions than answers. They hint at a dark truth that his superiors would rather stayed buried. And they place him squarely in the sights of the dead gangster’s vengeful cousin…

 

 

Reasonable Expectation (CW, references to underage sex and child pornography) –

You’re supposed to be able to trust your boyfriend…

But the photos that Sam Webb took of Eleri Taylor are all around the school. Everyone’s seen them. Everyone knows that it’s Eleri’s fault. If she’d just kept her clothes on…

PC Sandra Hendriks disagrees. She finds some of the younger boys sharing the photos around, and an investigation is launched. And Sandi starts to wonder if there’s anyone in Eleri’s life who hasn’t let her down… and who won’t try and blame her for it.

https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/reasonable-expectation/

 

Sound and Vision (CW for references to rape) –

A DNA swab taken at the scene of a burglary in rural Nottinghamshire matches one already held in the police database.

It’s a familial match to a sample found on the body of Elsie McAndrew in 1979. Probably father and son.

But a man’s already in prison for raping and murdering Elsie.

And he had no children.

Paul Quinn reopens the case. When he does, he unearths a litany of failings going back thirty years. And finds that there may only be one last chance to find true justice for Elsie.

https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/5-sound-and-vision/

 

Hawthorns –

Paul Quinn never thought he’d join the police. That was his sister’s dream.

But now his sister’s dead, and Paul is pulling on his uniform for his first shift as a Special Constable. Paul is nineteen. Just a kid really. His ears stick out under his cap and his stab vest looks ridiculous.

And then he gets his first call-out, to the campus of his own university, where a student has been attacked. Paul’s knowledge of the area means that the detectives want him on their team. And he isn’t quite prepared for what will happen next.

https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/6-hawthorns/

 

Little Grey Cells –

Paul Quinn’s two-year secondment is nearly over. But Nottinghamshire isn’t done with him yet…

A wedding at an old country house brings the cream of Britain’s aristocracy to Nottinghamshire. But when the bride is found strangled moments before the reception, it’s up to Paul Quinn to investigate.

The bride had secrets. So does the groom. And in a world where many still play by their own rules, how far can the law truly reach?

https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/7-little-grey-cells/

 

Ignition –

When they say ‘It would never happen here,’ they’re almost always wrong, but when ‘it,’ is a car bomb and ‘here,’ is a Welsh village so small and unknown you wouldn’t bother to blow it up even if you had heard of it… well, they’ve kind of got a point.

But someone thinks it’s worthwhile, and now a man’s trapped in his car waiting to die. Unless Inspector Paul Quinn and PC Sandi Hendriks can figure out who wants him dead. And why would anyone bother with a pressure switch and a timer?

https://attemptedmurder.uk/shortstories/8-ignition/