Nothing To Lose

There have been a series of attacks against betting shops in the Greater Manchester area, the perpetrators have put four shops out of business within a fortnight. These attacks have not been treated as a top priority by the police though, they have enough to be getting on with. They don't have the time or the resources to drop everything and investigate mindless vandalism. But things suddenly become much more serious when there is another attack. A bookies in Denton is fire-bombed in the dead of night, with a young family sleeping in the flat above. Only the mother survives the raging inferno which completely destroys the building. The press are furious, demanding to know why the police have done nothing, and in doing nothing, have effectively given the betting-shop attackers a free reign to murder two children and their father in the most horrific of circumstances. DCI Miller is handed the case, mainly for PR purposes, as the senior police officials try to get a positive spin on the tragedy, and convince the press and the public that they are taking matters extremely seriously. But Miller and his team are already overseeing the city's most high-profile investigation into a seemingly random and unprovoked attack which left a jogger dead in a remote spot near Eccles. This is a case which has terrified the public and created an atmosphere of panic throughout the city. Something's got to give if Miller is to successfully find the killer of the jogger, and look for the people who seem to have a grudge against the city's bookmakers, a grudge which has now escalated into a triple murder inquiry. Fortunately, Miller has the rest of his SCIU team to rely on as the pressure reaches boiling point in Nothing to Lose.