Industrialist and patron of the arts, Anthony Higham is found in the house of his mistress, Angela Chase, with his throat slit. Angela has disappeared. Bryon Loudon, winner of the Higham Prize and friend of Anthony, receives a tape cassette from Angela. She reveals that she was also the mistress of Anthony's two partners. She maintains that she is innocent of Anthony's murder but she cannot go to the police and she asks for Bryon's help. The police think that Angela is a serial killer, a text book psychopath.

After a violent virtual-reality game arrives at the mall arcade where she works, fifteen-year-old Roberta finds the courage to search out the person who murdered her mother.

Fatale is about Sharon Greaves, a chemist working in her husband's cider distillery, who creates an alcopop. Because the essential ingredient in the formula is wormwood, as used in absinthe - the French drink associated with the 1890's - she names her creation Fatale. Within a short time it becomes a success. Concerned with the addictive properties of wormwood, Sharon continues to monitor it's effects on laboratory rats. She discovers a flaw that she believes has been the cause of three fatal accidents. The parent company refuses to withdraw Fatale so she contacts the family of one of the victims and they decide to sue. Sharon agrees to be the major witness. Alan Swift, a Special Boats Service (SBS) veteran, mercenary and now hitman, employed to kill Sharon, makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with her. As does Gayle Meredith, an expert in placing people in special protection programmes. Sharon Greaves becomes the embodiment of the femme fatale, bringing grief to all who would love her.

Olivia is twenty, a student, when her mother Inga, wife of politician John Turner, suddenly disappears from the family home.John, some twenty years earlier, was an eighteen-year old student when his lecturer's Finnish mistress, Inga Nielsen, seduced him. John joined the diplomatic service. Over the intervening years, during her marriage to John Turner and until her disappearance, Inga had become his intermittent lover.Olivia, following her mother's disappearance and, shortly afterwards, the death of her father, enters a profession as old as time itself. A chance remark leads her on a trail to her missing mother, but instead of finding Inga she discovers Kira.John resumes his duties as a commercial attaché and is posted to the Middle East.Over the ensuing years, John and Olivia's paths cross sporadically in the Middle East, USA and Europe; until they become entwined in a world of ex-Soviet agents, moles, assassins, and gangsters.And, inextricably, with Kira.

Martin Temple goes missing with the four million pounds embezzled by his wife Lucy. Using the passport of a recently deceased client, he flees to Palm Springs, USA, while Lucy goes to prison for eight years. Michelle Webb, a nurse, goes missing after waking up one morning to find that she no longer wants to live with her husband and children. She lands a position as nurse/companion to a wealthy invalid, Helen Cotter, with houses in England, Portugal and USA, and she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Martin and Helen's paths overlap in Palm Springs and they become neighbours. Martin has an affair with a vacationing housewife Melanie Benton. Her husband finds out and in the intervening melee both Bentons are killed. Michelle and Helen have returned to live in Portugal. Martin flees USA and relocates near them. Things do not go as planned for Martin and developments necessitate Michelle becoming involved in his schemes. Meanwhile the police on two continents are closing in.

In 1980, on Mallorca, the evidence of Jocelyn Emery results in the brothers Jeremy and Russell Auerback being falsely found guilty of murder. They are sentenced to 30 years in prison. Russell dies of AIDS. Jeremy is released after 18 years. Seeking atonement he goes looking for Jocelyn. Max Rymer, a carpenter, receives an unexpected tax demand for 150 thousand pounds, supposedly owed by his late wife from the sale of her company. Max has no knowledge of this, nor does he have 150 thousand pounds. When he investigates the company he discovers that it was previously owned by a Jocelyn Emery. His initial suspicion that Josie and Jocelyn were one and the same are soon disproved and he too goes looking for Jocelyn. The lives of Jeremy and Max become inextricably linked. When the enigmatic Jocelyn finally reveals herself, Max is placated and given a dissembled version of the truth. Whereas Jeremy not only learns the reason behind her duplicity but also that revenge can be a double-edged sword.

On a night out in London, Baz, Jazz, Stoney and Ralph get away with the rape and murder of a young Chinese woman.Fiona Cassatt helps a young American woman, Lisa, to flee from her violent husband.Five years later, in New York, Fiona learns from Lisa's mother, Alessandra Giaquinto, that Lisa has died, and has left Fiona her house in England. The FBI is monitoring the Giaquintos, they are a leading Mafia family, and Fiona's meeting is reported to Commander Ross Morris, of the UK Organised Crime Unit.When Fiona claims her inheritance, she discovers that it is still occupied by Lisa's husband, Barry (Baz) Frith. A murder occurs, and Ross believes the killing is Mafia linked. Two of the surviving quartet secretly thinks it is the Triads, in retaliation for the Chinese woman. The other is sceptical.Investigating officer, DI Coren Curran, who was a detective sergeant on the scene of the murdered Chinese woman, believes there is a connection.Mayhem is to follow.

Carol Dean is a middle-aged, middle-class woman married for over twenty-five years. Her husband, Nigel, has built up a thriving business and Carol runs a chain of up-market boutiques. Their son, Mark, is studying for the bar. When Nigel dies Carol would have preferred to close down her husband's business and concentrate on the shops, but finds herself forced to take the mantle due to a transaction Nigel had committed himself to. Laura Howard is thirty-two. She is a corrupt official who steals from the people she is supposed to investigate. Unknown to Carol, Nigel's buisness involved liaison with Laura. Following his death Laura wants Carol to take over where Nigel left off. Laura was also Nigel's mistress.Carol Dean is a drug dealer.Laura Howard is a detective constable.

Michelle Fox, emigrates to New Zealand, while Martin Temple, the man from whom she purloined diamonds, is standing trial for murder in the USA. Five years later she is Michelle Elmore, the owner of an exclusive nursing home, and married to Alan Elmore, the director of the National Art Gallery. She accompanys her husband and his team to Italy to purchase paintings and statues from the Renaissance period. An American freelance art historian residing in Venice, is hired to assist in the venture. She has a reputation in the world of fine art of possessing an uncanny ability to detect liars and cheats. An ability the police sometimes call upon. Gavin Benton, finds himself between entanglements. Robin Harvey, meets Carlo Paci in a nightclub. Before changing his name by deed pole, Robin was Lewis Temple, the estranged son of Martin Temple. Carlo Paci is murdered. Overshadowing it all is the malign influence of Martin Temple.