A Murder Without Motive

A police procedural, a meditation on suffering and an exploration into the human condition.

The body of a woman is discovered lying in a ditch on the outskirts of Ormskirk. Enquiries reveal a link with her ex husband. The absence of sexual assault or robbery seems to indicate a domestic dispute which has escalated out of control. A second murder takes place and chief detective inspector Sam Deakin now has to decide whether this is a copycat killing or whether a serial killer is on the loose. Sam and his sergeant Harry Jones are faced with a race against time to catch a killer who seems able to kill and disappear without trace or motive.

A handful of characters, brought together when an unidentifiable tramp is shot at dusk on a street corner, form the nucleus of a web of blackmail and deceit.

In 2004, the body of a young Perth woman was found on the grounds of a primary school. Her name was Rebecca Ryle. The killing would mystify investigators, lawyers, and psychologists - and profoundly rearrange the life of the victim's family. It would also involve the author's family, because his brother knew the man charged with the murder. For years, the two had circled each other suspiciously, in a world of violence, drugs, and rotten aspirations. A Murder Without Motive is a police procedural, a meditation on suffering, and an exploration of how the different parts of the justice system make sense of the senseless. It is also a unique memoir: a mapping of the suburbs that the author grew up in, and a revelation of the dangerous underbelly of adolescent ennui.

The true story of the night innocence and evil crossed paths. On a summer night in 2000, Amy Shute and Jason Burgeson were set upon by five predatory youths outside a Providence, Rhode Island, club. It began as a twisted joyride for the young kidnappers. It ended in cold-blooded murder-and a town's relentless fight for justice.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the excerpt of Jonathan Kellerman’s The Murderer’s Daughter in the back of the book! Jonathan Kellerman writes razor-sharp novels that cut to the quick. Now comes Motive, which pits psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis against a vicious criminal mind—the kind only Kellerman can bring to chilling life. Even having hundreds of closed cases to his credit can’t keep LAPD police lieutenant Milo Sturgis from agonizing over the crimes that don’t get solved—and the victims who go without justice. Victims like Katherine Hennepin, a young woman strangled and stabbed in her home. A single suspect with a solid alibi leads to a dead end—one even Alex Delaware’s expert insight can’t explain. The only thing to do is move on to the next murder case—because there’s always a next one. This time the victim is Ursula Corey: a successful, attractive divorcée who’s been gunned down—not a robbery but an execution, a crime that smacks of simple, savage revenge. And along with that theoretical motive come two strong contenders for the role of perp: the dead woman’s business partner/ex-husband and her divorce lawyer/secret lover. But just as Alex and Milo think they’re zeroing in on the most likely suspect, a bizarre new clue stirs up eerie echoes of the unsolved Hennepin murder. And the discovery of yet another crime scene bearing the same taunting signature raises the specter of a serial killer on a mission, whose twisted method is exceeded only by his manipulative and cunning madness. Praise for Motive “Jonathan Kellerman has mastered the art of lean, evocative prose [in] a series that grows stronger with each volume.”—New York Journal of Books “One of [Kellerman’s] best works to date . . . Motive is wonderfully made, equally well-driven by plot and character, and shouldn’t be missed.”—Bookreporter “[Motive] will even keep genre veterans guessing. . . . The twists are both shocking and logical, and the byplay between the leads entertaining.”—Publishers Weekly Praise for Jonathan Kellerman “Jonathan Kellerman’s psychology skills and dark imagination are a potent literary mix.”—Los Angeles Times “A master of the psychological thriller.”—People “The combination of Alex Delaware [and] Detective Milo Sturgis . . . makes for the most original whodunit duo since Watson and Holmes.”—Forbes

Two pieces of news sent Tony West to France to investigate them in spite of a lifelong distaste for tiresome and unpleasant matters. One was the fact that his brother Peter had been murdered in Paris. The other was his nomination as sole heir to the large estate, though he had scarcely seen his brother for years. A beautiful artist, former friend of Peter, the tracing of some missing money left behind by the Germans during the Occupation, and the discovery of the murderer led Tony West down some strange and fascinating paths that changed his whole life.

Here is an absorbing story of the mysterious life and death of an expatriate Englishman, plus a very well done backdrop picturing Paris and a French village.

Who are the men committing the rising number of serial homicides in the U.S. -- and why do they kill? The increase in these violent crimes over the past decade has created an urgent need for more and better information about these men: their crime scene patterns, violent acts, and above all, their motivations for committing these shocking and repetitive murders. This authoritative book represents the data, findings, and implications of a long-term F.B.I.-sponsored study of serial sex killers. Specially trained F.B.I. agents examined thirty-six convicted, incarcerated sexual murderers to build a valuable new bank of information which reveals the world of the serial sexual killer in both quantitative and qualitative detail. Data was obtained from official psychiatric and criminal records, court transcripts, and prison reports, as well as from extensive interviews with the offenders themselves. Featured in this book is detailed information on the F.B.I.'s recently developed Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) and a sample of an actual VICAP Crime Analysis Report Form.