Jack-Knifed' is the first book in the DCI Martin Phelps series. We find Martin and his diverse team based in a modern, vibrant city that is the home of Dr Who and Torchwood – yes, it's the City of Cardiff, the Capital of Wales and the Land of Song and rugby. Although the team is housed in a Victorian building, built at the height of Cardiff's time as a world class coal exporting port, the set-up is bang up to date, boasting every modern facility for crime prevention and detection.

It's the team that counts and in 'Jack-Knifed' we see the DCI, with his sidekick DS Matt Pryor, solve the brutal murder of Mark, a young gay man in his own home, but not without the help of the eccentric pathologist, Professor Brian Moore and the amazing attention to detail of the Head of SOCO, Alex Griffiths. The four men form a formidable team and as the series develops we get to know more about their lives and relationships.

From his prison cell Jack's father encourages his son to undertake revenge killings for other inmates and Jack uses a set of his beloved knives to settle an old family score for his girl-friend, but her addiction to heroin gets in the way of their plans for a life together.

DCI Phelps is already struggling to find the killer of a have-a-go hero, at the time that Mark is butchered and no one suspects the link that ties together seven killings between Cardiff and Bristol.