Neil White books in order

There's no way back...

The picturesque city of York is rocked when the hellraiser and lottery winner Billy Privett is found murdered in a town center hotel - his corpse brutally dissected, as if someone had performed a post mortem whilst he was still alive. Chillingly, the walls of the room bear words daubed in Billy's blood, including "Free" and "The Process is Coming Down."

Billy's infamous reputation had been sealed a year previously - when a local university student had been found dead in mysterious circumstances at one of his debauched parties - and his death is little lamented, apart from by his lawyer, the young and ambitious Amelia Diaz, who remains convinced of his innocence.

But who could have killed Billy in such a way? Unbeknownst to the police, a terrifying new cult is on the rise, one that may hold the key to Billy's death; The Church of the Free Mind. The cult is presided over by the charismatic and terrifying Charlie Watson, who holds absolute power over the church members. But when Amelia is drawn too close to the group whilst investigating Billy's death, it seems that these fervently religious cult members would do anything to protect their leader - even murder...

A father and son, the open road, and Johnny Cash.

Bruce Gray is old, tired and estranged from his family. He spends his time drinking and drifting in the small seaside town in England that James once called home.

James decides to take Bruce on a road trip, to try to connect with his father through the one thing that has always united them: a love for Johnny Cash and his music. Together, they travel through Johnny Cash’s life; where he grew up, the places he sang about – a journey of discovery about Johnny, the South, and each other.

He watches. He waits. He kills.

24-year-old Mary Kendricks is a vivacious young teacher living in the quiet Northern town of Highford, her beauty turning heads wherever she goes. But when she catches the eye of Robert Carter, initial flattery quickly turns dangerous. Wherever she goes, Carter is not far behind and Mary soon becomes stifled by his attention, telling friends of her fears that he’s getting too close. And then Mary’s body is discovered, stabbed to death in her own bedroom.

The case quickly garners the attention of the press, all baying for Carter’s blood. It’s the case no lawyer wants to touch – until criminal defense lawyer Dan Grant, aided by investigator Jayne Brett, agrees to represent Carter.

While Robert Carter admits to being at her house when it happened – the bloody fingerprint on her wall placing him at the scene – he insists he is innocent of her death. The police believe they’ve got their man, but as they delve further into the investigation, Grant and Brett think the detectives might be looking in the wrong place – leaving the real murderer to walk free.

In order to catch a killer before another victim is discovered, Brett and Grant need to risk everything. Including their own lives…

See no evil...

When Lizzie Barnsley is murdered along a canal after escaping her abusive boyfriend, Dan Grant is called in to represent her alleged killer, Peter Box. The evidence is strong, but did he actually do it? He didn't know Lizzie, so why would he kill her?

Hear no evil...

As Dan and his investigator, Jayne Brett, begin their case, they discover a number of murders and disappearances along the canals, including the brutal killing of fourteen-year-old Rosie Smith ten years earlier. Rosie's stepfather Sean had been accused of her murder, but then Dan finds out that Peter tried to confess to that crime as well and was ignored.

Speak no evil...

With a client who won't tell anyone what really happened, Dan and Jayne have their work cut out, but when it becomes clear that Peter Box can't have been involved in every murder and disappearance, they realise that they may have stumbled on to something far more sinister.

But the clock is ticking and time is running out for the next victim . . .

Three lives cut short. Two decades of silence. One evil secret.

By day, the park rings with the sound of children’s excited laughter. But in the early hours of the morning, the isolated playground is cloaked in shadows – the perfect hiding place to conceal a brutal murder.

When London journalist, Mark Roberts, is found battered to death, the police quickly arrest petty thief, Nick Connor. Criminal defense lawyer, Dan Grant, along with investigator Jayne Brett, are called to represent him – but with bloody footprints and a stolen wallet linking him to the scene, this is one case they’re unlikely to win.

Until help comes from an unlikely source…when the murder victim’s mother says that Connor is innocent, begging Dan and Jayne to find the real perpetrator.

Unravelling the complex case means finding the connection between Mark’s death and a series of child murders in Yorkshire over twenty years ago. Father of two, Rodney Walker, has spent years in prison after being convicted of killing of 6-year-old William and 7-year-old Ruby back in 1997.

But when Mark Roberts gets on the trail of the story, convinced that Walker is innocent, he exposed secrets that have long been buried. Secrets so dark, someone will kill to keep them hidden. Dan and Jayne are in a race against time to uncover the truth – before a killer silences them forever.

Everyone would kill for their fifteen minutes of fame…

A Premiership footballer is shot dead in cold blood on a busy London street, and a country is gripped by terror. Who is behind this apparently motiveless killing – and who’s next in the firing line?

Jack Garrett is determined to find out. A small-time journalist who's left behind his Lancashire roots for the glitz and glamour – and seediness and squalor – of the capital, he's convinced this is no celebrity stalker.

Aided and abetted by DC Laura McGanity, desperately trying to juggle police life with motherhood and her feelings for Jack, the trail takes them back to Jack's home town of Turner's Fold – and his past.

What's the connection between the recent murder and the death of a young girl 10 years before?

A woman is found butchered on a quiet housing estate, her tongue and eyes gouged out. Ritual murder or crime of passion?

Children are abducted and then returned to their families days later, unharmed but with no knowledge of where they have been or who took them.

DC Laura McGanity, having relocated from London to the old mill town of Blackley, quickly learns that life up north is far from peaceful. Already worried about uprooting her young son Bobby to follow her reporter boyfriend Jack Garrett back to his hometown, she must quickly get a handle on these mystifying cases terrifying the people of Blackley – without putting the local officers’ noses out of joint. 

Meanwhile, restless Jack is itching to get back to his writing and the cases provide the perfect opportunity to do so. But as he delves deeper into them, he finds the murky connections between the two crimes and sordid secrets. 

Most astonishing of all, he meets a man who ‘paints’ the future – prophecies of horrific events which he then puts onto canvas. This ‘precognition’ is not so much a gift as a curse and to Jack it becomes terrifyingly clear that many people, including his own family, are in grave danger!

The Lancashire town of Blackley has been rocked by the violent death of Luke Howarth. The fingers of suspicion point towards his girlfriend, Sarah Goode – missing since his murder. Just another crime of passion with a tragic end. Or is it? 

Reporter Jack Garrett isn’t so sure – especially when he’s asked by Sarah’s distraught parents to find their daughter. Their description of a caring schoolteacher doesn’t tally with the media’s portrayal of a cold-blooded killer. But as he hunts for Sarah, Jack finds himself immersed in the town’s troubled history and discovers that dangerous rituals from the past are impacting on the present.

Jack’s girlfriend, DC Laura McGanity, in the midst of a tough custody battle, must be content to sit on the sidelines. But she soon finds herself caught up in the investigation, as the mystery surrounding Sarah’s disappearance dramatically unravels. Jack and Laura find themselves in mortal danger as they come face to face with an unhinged killer who is determined that they will pay with their lives…

Digging for the truth can be fatal…

Twenty years ago, Britain was rocked by the disappearance of Claude Gilbert without a trace on the night of the murder. The corpse of his pregnant wife was discovered buried in the garden.

Worst of all, scratches were found inside her makeshift coffin – she had been buried alive! Everyone believes hotshot barrister and handsome TV presenter Gilbert murdered his wife and then killed himself, but with no body ever found, the mystery has remained unsolved. Until now…

When Lancashire crime beat reporter Jack Garrett is contacted by someone claiming to be Gilbert’s girlfriend, asking him to write the story proving his innocence, Jack eagerly leaps at the chance to clear a decades-old enigma.

But as Jack sets off on the trail of Gilbert – and the news scoop of his career – he soon uncovers some dark secrets. Jack and his girlfriend DC Laura McGanity, attempting to earn her sergeant stripes in the local police force, quickly realise that they are now pawns in a twisted game and the rules are about to get real nasty…

Every breath you take, he'll be watching you...

When Jane Roberts is found dead in a woodland area Detective Sergeant Laura McGanity is first on the scene. The body bears a chilling similarity to a woman -Deborah Corley- murdered three weeks earlier. Both have been stripped, strangled and defiled.

When reporter Jack Garrett starts digging for dirt on the notorious Whitcroft estate, he finds himself face-to-face with Jane's father and gangland boss Don who will stop at nothing until justice is done. It seems that the two murdered women were linked in more ways than one and a dirty secret is about to surface that some would prefer stay buried.

As the killer circles once more, Jack and Laura must get to him before he strikes again. But his sights are set on his next victim and he's watching Laura's every move...

A killer to make your blood run cold ...

Joe Parker is Manchester's most ingenious defense lawyer. Sam Parker is Manchester's most tenacious homicide detective. Both bear the burden of the unsolved murder of their sister fifteen years earlier. And both have a stake in a new series of murders that has shaken their city to its core.

Ronnie Bagley is locked up and facing trial for the murder of his girlfriend and baby and there's only one lawyer he wants to defend him. Joe Parker.

As Joe takes to the courtroom to represent Ronnie, little does he know that Bagley is smarter than anyone has given him credit for. Soon, he will find himself pitched against his own brother, Sam, in a race to outwit the most terrifying serial killer the city has ever seen. And it isn't long before the brothers' shared past will come crashing into the present ...

Joe Parker is a criminal lawyer from Manchester and Sam Parker is a detective in the same city. Park detective with the Greater Manchester Police force. Together they must solve a puzzling case that is chilling Manchester to the bone...

Danger sometimes comes in the most unexpected guises. The Death Collector is charming, sophisticated and intelligent, but he likes to dominate women, to make them give themselves to him completely; to surrender their dignity and their lives. He's a collector of beautiful things, so once he traps them he'll never let them go.

Joe is drawn into the Death Collector's world when he becomes involved in a supposed miscarriage of justice, and when the case becomes dangerous, Sam is the first person he turns to. In this gripping thriller, danger lurks for not only the Parker brothers, but also those closest to them.

When a man is found beaten to death in a local Manchester park, Detective Constable Sam Parker is one of the investigating officers. Sam swiftly identifies the victim, but what at first looks like an open and shut case quickly starts to unravel when he realizes that the victim's fingerprints were found on a knife at another crime scene, a month earlier.

Meanwhile, Sam's brother, Joe - a criminal defense lawyer in the city - comes face to face with a man whose very presence sends shockwaves through his life. Joe must confront the demons of his past as he struggles to come to terms with the darkness that this man represents.

Before long, Joe and Sam are in way over their heads, both sucked into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to change their lives for ever...

Criminal lawyer and bestselling crime fiction author, Neil White, combines his years of experience in the legal and writing worlds into a concise and clear understanding of the English criminal justice system.

From the role of solicitors in the police station to the inside track on the workings of the Crown Prosecution Service, right through to what takes place in the courtroom. As a writer, you will find out the pitfalls to avoid and gain an insight into the offences that populate crime fiction to ensure authenticity in your writing.

You will learn how lawyers work and how they approach cases.

Written in plain English, A Writer’s Guide To Criminal Law allows you to truly understand the system.

As a number one bestselling author, Neil White knows what questions writers ask. As a criminal lawyer, he has the answers.