Kicker

Adapted from my novella: Detective Kicker Carruthers is thrown into an undercover operation at The Hothouse Nightclub; her code-name Medusa is appropriate for the tall, shapely, flame haired detective constable. However, she fails to protect a vital piece of surveillance equipment whilst dancing at the pole. The pearl earring that she is entrusted to protect, falls from her ear and is quickly spotted by Roman Steel (club owner's son). He refuses to return the earring, unless she provides a personal lap dance for him. Later that night he is found dead inside an NCP where Kicker discovers him lying in a pool of blood. Before his death he pleads with her for help, but her only concern is the surveillance equipment hidden inside the pearl earring. Through her peripheral vision, she spots a homeless fugitive (Mario Petrescu), and immediately apprehends him when she discovers items belonging to the victim. But with no breakthrough that Petrescu is guilty of the murder, she herself falls under suspicion when it is highlighted that she had lost the pearl earring earlier that night, and devised a plan to get it back. Club owner, Leonard Steel takes it upon himself to administer his own justice in his endeavour to track down the killer of his son. His relationship with Glaswegian detective James Johnson keeps him in the loop, as he seeks clarity throughout the investigation. He learns that Roman Petrescu is wanted in Bulgaria (his homeland) for the rape of the Mayor of Velingrad’s daughter, and when the Mayor hears of Petrescu’s arrest in London, he makes plans to visit the city. Meanwhile, Kicker and her close colleague DC Shelley Peters fall under the suspicion of eagle-eyed DCI Anthea Must, before Mario Petrescu is taken to a holding cell awaiting trial where he is later kidnapped and his inevitable fate lies in the hands of his capturers whilst Kicker ends a twenty year feud with her estranged mother.