The Fifth Girl: An absolutely gripping crime thriller

Written by Paul J. Teague

Narrated by Sarah Durham

She could hear a baby crying. The Sister moved towards her, carrying the tiny newborn wrapped in a soft blue blanket. The girl felt panic rising in her throat as she screamed, 'Take it away from me!'

Under pressure to solve the murder of Sister Sophia Brennan, Detective Hollie Turner is close to cracking the case and catching the killer when her Deputy Chief Constable, Rose Warburton, goes missing. 

It soon becomes clear that Rose has been abducted, and Hollie makes a shocking discovery… Rose's disappearance is connected to Sister Brennan's murder investigation.

As Hollie and her team delve further into the lives of the four girls who had their babies forcibly taken at the sinister Church of St Mary and the Angels mother and baby home, Hollie unearths a revelation about a fifth mystery girl and a disturbing secret from Sophia Brennan's past. A secret so explosive that it threatens to shatter the lives of many. 

With Rose's life hanging in the balance, Hollie is running out of time. Can she finally uncover the truth and stop the killer before they claim their next victim? 

In this final heart-stopping instalment, The Fifth Girl concludes Sister Sophia Brennan's case with a twist you won't see coming. Watch out for more from Detective Hollie Turner – an addictive new series for Angela Marsons, J M Dalgliesh and Patricia Gibney fans. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storm Publishing
• Release date: Jan 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9781805084945

Paul J. Teague

"I'm Paul Teague, the author of the Don't Tell Meg trilogy and the 9-part Morecambe Bay series as well as several other standalone psychological thrillers such as Now You See Her, Dead of Night, One Last Chance, No More Secrets and So Many Lies. I'm a former broadcaster and journalist with the BBC, but I have also worked as a primary school teacher, a disc jockey, a shopkeeper, a waiter and a sales rep. I've read thrillers all my life, starting with Enid Blyton's Famous Five series as a child, then graduating to James Hadley Chase, Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay and Mark Edwards. I submitted my first book - Mr Plum & Mr Apple - to Penguin Books at age 9 in 1974. It was handwritten on a Basildon Bond notepad. Having received lots of encouraging advice in the rejection letter, I never really stopped writing, submitting short stories to the village magazine, the college magazine, and writing plays for performance at secondary school. I worked with the BBC as a radio reporter, presenter and producer for 19 years, and for much of that time presented two radio shows whilst based at BBC Radio Humberside. I started off writing thrillers with the Don’t Tell Meg Trilogy which draws upon my career in radio journalism. It’s fast-moving, high action and a bit racy in places, but it was great fun writing the story and I hope to re-visit the characters one day. My Morecambe Bay Trilogy is based in and around a traditional UK seaside resort and has proven very popular with readers who like a strong sense of location in their stories. My wife and I worked in the resort as students, and it was there that the seed for the first trilogy was born. My standalone books are ‘can’t-put-down’ stories where normal people find themselves in extraordinary situations. I also write sci-fi and dystopian novels as Paul Teague and these stories are set in dark and sinister future-worlds. I even have a few non-fiction books out, mainly on geeky, web-based topics. I live in Cumbria with my wife and family and I now write full-time. I run to stay healthy, being a keen parkrun enthusiast. I am also learning how to DJ and reviving a skill that I used to use to make money in my teenage years. My long-term aspiration is to specialise in 80s sets for British holidaymakers whilst spending the winter months in Benidorm."