THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS is book 9 in the DETECTIVE MADDIE IVES series and is available from #Amazon for just 99p/99c.
THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS
Format – Kindle
Publisher – Joffe Books Mystery, Crime Thriller, Suspense
Publication Date – 11th April 2024
Genre – Crime thriller, mystery and suspense
Author – Charlie Gallagher
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The girls are sleeping upstairs. If their parents make one wrong move, their daughters will die.
EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SUSPENSE WITH ONE TWIST AFTER ANOTHER.
Emmy and her little sister Dani are sleeping in their bedroom upstairs. Their parents are in the kitchen.
A knife is jammed to their mother’s throat. Their father has a stack of kitchen plates balanced on his back.
The intruder rasps, ‘Don’t be breathing too hard now. I reckon smashing plates is the sort of noise that’ll wake a child. Have them coming down to see what’s going on. There can’t be witnesses . . .’
What Detective Maddie Ives will find in that nice family kitchen will horrify even this most hardened cop.
And she knows the victim . . .
Perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Patricia Gibney or Mark Billingham.
DON’T MISS THE MOST UNPUTDOWNABLE THRILLER YOU’LL READ THIS YEAR!
READERS LOVE THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A rip-roaring thriller. Charlie Gallagher weaves intrigue, suspense and emotion, not to mention horrific violence, into a climactic and unexpected outcome . . . My best read of 2024.’ Jonathan M.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A cracker from start to finish . . . This is definitely one of my favourite series.’ Booklover Bev
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Riveting and gripping . . . This is one not to be missed.’ Carol
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I have read all the Maddie Ives novels so far, and this is the most terrifying I have read . . . Take a good, serious breath before you open this one.’ Magali P.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The best so far; I’m not sure how Charlie will top this one. From start to finish you are kept guessing.’ Charlton L.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Gripping from start to finish.’ Seonaid A.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Had me laughing, angry, and also crying . . . One of the best series I have read.’ Leanne F.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A breath-taking read.’ Mary R.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So gripping . . . I was holding my breath in fear for what would happen.’ Carole G.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Once I started, I could not stop reading . . . Full of action, tension, and suspense.’ Lee
THE DETECTIVE
Acting Inspector Maddie Ives’s policing career has been anything but conventional. During the first few days of her training, she was plucked from the classroom and thrust straight into the world of undercover policing, forcing her to survive on her wits. Just as she was beginning to find her feet, she was once again wrenched out of her comfort zone with an enforced move into Major Crime with no previous experience of major investigations and no time to learn. Now, shaped, hardened — and maybe damaged — by the constant need to adapt to new surroundings, Maddie feels she may have finally found her place, with Harry Blaker as her friend and mentor and Vince Arnold as her lover. But Maddie’s relationship with a more junior colleague is fraught with difficulties. And if experience has taught her nothing else, any and all of it can be thrown back up in the air at a moment’s notice.
THE AUTHOR
Charlie Gallagher was a serving UK police officer for more than ten years, starting as a front-line response officer, then as a member of a specialist tactical team and as a detective investigating serious offences.
ALSO BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER
DETECTIVE MADDIE IVES
Book 1: HE IS WATCHING YOU
Book 2: HE WILL KILL YOU
Book 3: HE WILL FIND YOU
Book 4: HE KNOWS YOUR SECRETS
Book 5: HE WILL GET YOU
Book 6: THE DEADLY HOUSES
Book 7: LAST ONE ALIVE
Book 8: THE GIRL UNDER THE FLOOR
Book 9: THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS
Q&A with Charlie Gallagher
https://newsletters.joffebooks.com/emails/webview/283780/118391606861628743
What were your first thoughts as you arrived at the murder scene?
Maddie Ives: It was just such a mess. I mean, they always are, but you can get used to it; you have to find a way to switch into work mode. There’s a manual that is standard issue for that first moment when you step into a crime scene and I remember in training, how we all rolled our eyes and scoffed. But since that day I’ve read it enough times to memorise it so that now, whenever I walk into a scene, I can set about ticking things off. It stops you being overwhelmed it keeps you sharp and you have to be. That first assessment, that first moment walking into a scene is so important and you only ever have that once. You seeing the direct aftermath is the closest you will ever get to being a witness. In my training they used an analogy: they said that a murder scene is like inspecting the crumbs on someone’s plate to work out what they had for dinner. I think that’s a good analogy; the longer you leave it, the less it looks, smells and feels like the meal it once was.
But these scenes were different. Memorising the basics doesn’t help when you’re faced with the bodies of people you know. And there were other factors too, other elements that had me fighting off the panic. The brutality for one, the red blood against a stark white backdrop in that kitchen, red blood that had transferred as a smear on a child’s nightie. And then there was Harry Blaker. The moment I saw him standing among that carnage and knowing how similar it was, how it would be bringing back the memories of the worst night of his life . . .There was a lot of emotion. Everyone was shell-shocked and everyone had a different reason.
What do you get out of being a detective?
Maddie Ives: Answers. That’s all being a detective is. You’re putting a puzzle together, working backwards from something you couldn’t stop, something you didn’t stop. I always have a moment or two of feeling bad about that, but seeing as I can’t go back in time and fix it, I might as well be a detective, tasked with finding the answers.I see family members of the victims and, more often than not, I see them utterly destroyed. You’re talking to a shell of a person with eyes made of glass and it’s difficult to see a way back for them. But then you come to them with an answer, with what happened and why, and it’s a reanimation that happens right in front of you. Still, those people and those lives will never be the same, but a detective . . . we can breathe some life back in. Harry talks about small victories a lot. Major Crime is not what people think, it’s not about ‘gotcha’ moments, big celebrations or tears of joy when a big case is solved. In our area of the business no one wins. Instead, you have to take the small victories, you have to console yourself that you were part of bringing the answers. In my experience, people need that more than they need justice.
How long have you been working in Major Crime?
Maddie Ives: I think it’s seven years, just over. I worked undercover before all this and I can’t tell you how different those two worlds are. You hear a lot said about undercover policing, from colleagues and the public who will talk about how brave UC officers must be. There’s an element of truth to that but I do miss the lack of any accountability. As a UC officer I put myself in harm’s way a few times to get the information I needed, but then I was handing it over and disappearing again. Major Crime is different. Major Crime is standing in front of a shell-shocked father or mother and telling them that you’re the one who is going to find the person that murdered their child. I don’t promise that, by the way, not ever, but that’s what they see and that’s what they hear. The moment you introduce yourself as the person leading the investigation is the moment that you become that promise, the moment you become accountable and there’s nowhere to hide. For me, that’s real bravery.
How have your relationships with your colleagues affected your work?
Maddie Ives: Cops get a bad rap. The media, they love to show us in a certain light and it’s got even worse since everyone stopped buying newspapers and news outlets started earning their money from headline clicks. Write something negative about the police and we’re all clicking. There have been some bad eggs, no doubt about that, but I’ve also met some of the most incredible people as colleagues, bosses, peers and . . . well, whatever Eileen Holmans is! Harry Blaker has had more of an influence on me than I would ever admit to his face. He’s the pillar that stands strong in a department that is shaken on a regular basis and I know he suffers under the strain sometimes. This job has a way of attracting those with the biggest hearts and it can fill them with other people’s worries and woes and it can be overwhelming. I worry about Harry, I worry about Vince too, who’s so similar. I guess the only person I don’t worry about is Eileen! She affects us all, she’s another part of propping the department up, utterly unflappable — I mean, is it even possible to panic in slippers?
Overall, I think those close-knit relationships make us better. I go to work desperate to do my part in that team, to impress, to not be the weak link and I have no doubt that the others have the same determination. But it’s a fine line and sometimes we need to be aware that being as close as we are can cloud judgements and influence decisions. This latest case pushed us to our limits, beyond those limits even and if I’m honest, I really don’t know where it goes from here.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER FOR JUST £0.99 | $0.99.
