A Taste for Malice — Michael J. Malone

Disgraced cop, DI Ray McBain is back at work and in the professional dog-house - on filing duty. Desperate for something meaningful to do, he hones in on two old cases, where a woman has inveigled her way into a family and found ways to manipulate and torture the children. Only Ray's colleague, DC Allesandra Rossi, is prepared to assist him as he attempts to dig deeper into the abuse cases and he goes on a search for the woman, re-interviewing the children involved and following a trail that has now gone stone cold. Meanwhile, in Ayrshire, another young family gratefully accepts help from a stranger who enters their lives. However, the mother's loss of memory following a car crash is masking deeper problems within the family that are ripe for exploitation.Malone has the know-how, the knowledge of police work and its trials and tribulations... ...a stark and gripping storyline. Scots MagazineMichael J. Malone is an expert storyteller and a Taste for Malice an enjoyable and disturbing read.  Sarah Ward (A Patient Fury)One of the best books I've read in the last ten years. Stunning. – Caro Ramsay (Author of the Anderson and Costello series)Addictive... more twists, turns and blind alleys than a labyrinth. - Crimesquad