The Trust: A Detective Inspector Ashton Novel

In 1942, following experiments with Anthrax off the west coast of Scotland, a number of people on the mainland are infected and die. The bodies are taken away under cover of darkness.

Present day. In the small town of Lancaster the site of a former mental asylum, Moorcastle, is being redeveloped. The discovery of a body halts the work and leads to an investigation led by British Detective Inspector Tom Ashton and his boss DCI Klavan. By the end of day one, the police have uncovered a host of bodies leading to one of the biggest inquiries in the small town's history and a media circus.

But the story quickly catches the attention of the Ministry of Defence and the bodies disappear, again under cover of darkness, with orders that the investigation be dropped prompting cries of a conspiracy.

As a medical student Rhiannon Lily Saxby heard many stories about the abuse of patients in asylums and has long wondered if her own mother suffered while she was a patient but has never dared ask. Her world is further rocked when her manager hints that members of the Primary Care Trust may be taking the decision to end a patients life to ease their suffering.

The discovery of the body of a young woman keeps the media spotlight firmly fixed on the small town and on DI Tom Ashton. DCI Klavan, Tom's boss, is also struck by similarities to another body found a year earlier in a neighbouring district, prompting speculation that a serial killer may be at work.

As the pressure on DI Tom Ashton to catch the serial killer increases it becomes clear that the Trust is at the heart of everything.

Can Rhiannon find evidence of patient abuse within the records of the Trust to support her suspicions and uncover the conspiracy?

Is there really a secret society operating within the Trust who are playing God with the lives of patients?

With the body count rising can Tom Ashton stop the serial killer before he strikes again?

Praise for The Trust: " The characters came across so real that I reckon this author does more than his fair share of people watching! The background and description are kept to the right amount, enough to support the story but not too much that they take the reader's attention away from it. There are a few story-lines running through the book - multiple bodies unearthed, abuse in asylums, euthanasia and, if that wasn't enough, the author throws in a serial killer too. All these stories are quite major and there could have been a danger that there was too much going on in the book but the author manages very successfully to keep it balanced and juggles the stories throughout to give completely satisfactory conclusions. I am not sure if this is stand alone or if we will be seeing Rhiannon and Tom in future books, I for one would like that very much."

"From the very beginning the book was a page turner with believable characters and an ever surprising plot that kept me wanting to read on and to read the next instalment. It has romance, a hunt for a killer and an official cover up and all three elements were intertwined with an exciting read."