Detective Files #6

Twelve disturbing crimes. Some solved. Some still waiting for the truth. A brutal triple murder shocks a quiet Australian community. Four young people are attacked beside a Finnish lake, leaving one survivor and questions that endure for decades. A woman's identity becomes the centre of one of Australia's most controversial investigations, while poisoners, calculated killers and forgotten victims emerge from the shadows of criminal history. In this sixth volume of Detective Files, former detective Blake Patrick examines twelve remarkable cases from Britain, Australia, Europe and the United States. Drawing upon twenty-nine years of police service—including seventeen years as a detective and his involvement in the Ipswich serial killer investigation—he looks beyond the sensational headlines to explore the evidence, the investigative decisions and the unanswered questions. Some cases ended with a conviction. Others were damaged by lost evidence, unreliable witnesses or the limitations of early forensic science. Several remain unsolved to this day. Carefully researched, written in the compelling style of a classic true-detective magazine and respectful of the real people behind the crimes, this collection reveals how murder investigations succeed, how they fail—and why some mysteries refuse to disappear. Once the final page is turned, one question remains: How many killers escaped because the evidence arrived too late?