PRAISE FOR THE OPERATOR(BRUCE & BENNETT MYSTERY 2):

 ‘Gripping from the very first scene.’ Ann Cleeves, award-winning author of  TV’s ‘Vera’ and ‘Shetland’ novels.

'Intelligent, dark and shot through with sly comedy, Valerie Laws is one of those writers who consistently satisfies.' Alex Marwood, best-selling author of The Wicked Girls

‘A terrific book, a very creepy, very haunting mystery tale. THE OPERATOR does for the doctor what JAWS did for the beach. You’re warned!’ Phoef Sutton, writer/producer of TV’s Cheers and Boston Legal, crime writer

ABOUT THE BOOK

‘Now, this WILL hurt...’  In the second Erica Bruce and Will Bennett mystery, a sadistic orthopaedic surgeon is bizarrely killed. Soon it appears someone’s giving doctors a taste of their own medicine - murdering surgeons and mutilating the bodies to mimic the operations they perform. The media dub the killer ‘The Operator’. This action-packed thriller reunites Erica Bruce, small but fierce alternative health therapist and journalist, with tall, dark, athletic Detective Inspector Will Bennett, full-on sceptic. With its medical theme it is a shade darker than THE ROTTING SPOT, but with lots of witty Tyneside banter from shamelessly excess-loving Stacey Reed. The setting is the North East coast of England: historic castles and rural beauty mixing with louche seafront winebars, from the lighthouse at Wydsand to the mouth of the River Tyne itself, venue of a dramatic set piece where the mighty, hostile North Sea tests Erica to the limit.