Manchester Murder

By Pat Whitaker

This collection comprises:

Bad Blood:
A serial killer is loose in Manchester masquerading as a vampire, and a forensic psychologist is tasked with creating a profile to help catch them, with unexpected results. The story takes popular myth and, reduced to its essentials, and asks what’s the most rational, scientifically plausible explanation for the phenomenon. Both the underlying myth and the science are very carefully researched.

Time Out:
Reporting on so-called alien abductions, a newspaperman is caught up a mixture of drugs, murder and a truly extraordinary set of events. It intermingles crime with romance and Science Fiction, confronts what we may perceive to be true with logic, and asks us to reconsider.

Raw Spirit:
A physicist, suspected of a murder, tries to answer two questions, who killed the woman in the next room, and how did he see a ghost? There is a rather strong romantic element to this story, but in essence it is a crime mystery. The principal characters, constrained by their connection to a murder investigation, become involved in another, more esoteric investigation of their own.

Nmemesis:
Humanity is under attack from an enemy within. An enemy unable to be seen or confronted. Nemesis tells how in a battle with no rules, each individual must find their own answers, their own way in which to protect themselves and those they love. The book also invites the reader to reconsider the nature of life itself and whether our current definitions are really adequate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cooper's Press
• Release date: Oct 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781877557262

Pat Whitaker

Born in England in 1946, I moved to New Zealand with my parents and older brother at the age of four and, apart from five years in my late twenties spent traveling the globe, have lived here ever since. After a fairly rudimentary education, I found work as an Architectural Designer and this became a life-long occupation. I started writing late in 2006. The books I write are intended in the first instance to tell a good story and secondly " once the tale is told " to leave the reader with something to ponder. To this end, all my stories attempt to provide an original take on some commonly held belief, be it cultural, social or scientific. Being a fan of both science fiction and classic murder mysteries, these tend to be common themes, with elements of both often combined in a single story. As a person who likes to read a book in a single sitting, I normally limit each work to around forty-five or fifty thousand words. Unfashionable I know, but it's what I prefer. Of my books, Mindset, Antithesis, Returning and Nmemesis were finalists for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards - Best Adult Novel between 2009-2012, plus Best New Talent in 2009. If you'd like to know more, please visit my website.

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