Author website: https://www.damienboyd.com/

Damien Boyd - The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series 1-8 (2015-2018)



Author Note: The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series is best read in order, not only for the development of the characters, which I have always intended should progress over the whole series, but also because the books follow on in close chronological order.

Having said that, each book is a standalone thriller and can be read in isolation. A few loose ends from the previous book are tied up at the start of the next but the substantive story starts and finishes in the one book. Either way, I hope you enjoy them!

If you are intending to read the whole series, first of all, thank you! Secondly, here is a list of the current titles in order:-

1. As The Crow Flies ROCK CLIMBING IS NOW A BLOOD SPORT…
    Rock climbers can’t afford to make careless mistakes. But Detective Inspector Nick Dixon’s former climbing partner, Jake Fayter, died doing
just that. Or so it seems. Dixon suspects foul play, but his only leads are unreliable accounts of something odd happening in Cheddar Gorge
seconds before Jake fell.
    The more Dixon learns about Jake’s life, the more he realises that Jake hadn’t been quite the man he remembered…and a lot of people could have wanted him dead. Once Dixon gets too close to the truth, those people will emerge from the shadows and kill to protect their secrets.
    As the body count rises, Dixon bends the rules to breaking point to lure out a killer and unravel a conspiracy of silence that will rock the sleepy town of Burnham-on-Sea to its core.

2. Head In The Sand
    The discovery of a severed head in a golf course bunker triggers a frantic race to find a serial killer that brings the town of Burnham-on-Sea to a standstill.
    A connection is made with a series of unsolved murders harking back to the 1970s, and Detective Inspector Nick Dixon finds himself caught in a race against time that takes him the length and breadth of the country.
    The brutal killing of an elderly man raises the stakes and, as he closes in, Dixon begins to question whether he is chasing one serial killer or two…

3. Kickback
    A trainee jockey has been kicked to death by an aggressive stallion at the local stables. Deemed an accidental death, the case is closed. But when the jockey’s brother returns from active service, he sparks an armed siege, demanding the investigation be re-opened and the truth uncovered.
    Still recovering from the physical and mental scars of his last case, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon is dragged deep into a murky world of betting scams and murder, where people will do anything to keep their secrets.
    Even if that means silencing a DI who keeps asking the wrong questions about the wrong dead jockey…

4. Swansong
    Isobel Swan, a sixth form student, has been murdered. First, her ring finger is severed, then her throat is cut.
    With the investigation going nowhere fast, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon is sent undercover as a trainee teacher into Isobel’s boarding school.
    But to find the killer, he must first confront his inner demons and lay to rest the ghosts lurking in his own past. If he can…
    As Dixon digs deeper, the stakes have never been higher and a murder has never felt so personal.

5. Dead Level
    In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the wife of parliamentary candidate Tom Perry is brutally murdered in an apparent burglary gone wrong.
    With the by-election campaign about to start in earnest, and the festive season in full swing, torrential rain brings with it flood warnings on the Somerset Levels.
    Suspended on full pay and transferred to the cold case unit, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon is languishing on the sidelines as the investigation into Elizabeth Perry’s murder unravels and the floodwaters rise.
    Returning to duty, Dixon is convinced that the answer lies hidden in Tom Perry’s political life, but why was Elizabeth the target and not her husband? The more Dixon uncovers, the further he is from finding the truth.

6. Death Sentence
    The body of an elderly man is found in an abandoned World War Two pillbox beside the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. With no obvious motive and no credible suspect, DI Nick Dixon starts digging into the victim’s past.
    The more he digs, the deeper Dixon is drawn into a case that takes him from the cave systems beneath rural Somerset to the heart of government, and threatens to expose a military cover-up at the highest level.
    Blocked by a wall of silence, Dixon must unravel a dangerous conspiracy before the killer strikes again.

7. Heads or Tails
    A man has been mutilated and left to drown on the incoming tide, handcuffed in his van. With the murder bearing a striking resemblance to a string of sadistic killings carried out with surgical precision in 1990s gangland Manchester, it can mean only one thing: the killer is back.
    Transferred to the Major Investigation Team, DI Nick Dixon is assigned a new partner and sent to Manchester. Meanwhile, the gruesome murders in Somerset continue.
    Convinced of a connection with the unsolved gangland killings, and with the odds stacked against him, Dixon takes the ultimate gamble, determined to bring the killer to justice before it’s too late.
    But is it the same killer? If so, why has he resurfaced now? And how many more must die?

8. Dead Lock
    Early on a cold Somerset morning, ten year old Alesha Daniels is reported missing by her father, a violent alcoholic. Her mother, a known drug addict, is found unconscious, but it’s her mother’s boyfriend the police are keen to trace.
    As the hunt for Alesha gathers pace, a second local girl is taken, plunging another family into the depths of despair.
    Cutting short his holiday, DI Nick Dixon races home to join the Major Investigation Team, but no sooner has he identified a network of local suspects than they begin to show up dead.
    At odds with his superiors, Dixon is convinced the child abductions are anything but random, but nobody is prepared for the investigation to lead quite so close to home.
    Can Dixon and his team crack the case before all the suspects are silenced? And will he find the missing girls before it’s too late?

Number 9. Beyond The Point I have not been able to find in audio format as of yet.
    DI Nick Dixon is on the hunt for a vicious serial killer, following a trail of fingerprints and DNA across west Somerset.
    When the body of a young woman is found on the building site of a nuclear power station, work grinds to a halt. The body bears all the hallmarks of yet another random murder at the hands of the escaped killer. Then Dixon finds a motive.
    Fighting for his place on the Major Investigation Team, he soon uncovers a family’s desperate search for the truth, exposing a web of corruption and death that will shake the billion pound construction project to its very foundations. But, who can be trusted when so much money is at stake?
    Can Dixon find the killer under intense pressure from the top of government? And, can he do it before anyone else has to die?

Number 10. Down Among The Dead Has just been released and again,  I haven't found it in audio format as of yet.
    Somerset’s bloody past meets a dangerous present in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.
    When a badly decomposed body is discovered during an archaeological dig on the Sedgemoor battlefield, Avon and Somerset police are notified immediately. The remains are recent, and Detective Chief Inspector Peter Lewis knows exactly who they have found.
    A single stab wound from a curved blade implicates convicted serial killer Daniel Parker, who Lewis arrested fifteen years ago.
    With Parker’s appeal hearing imminent, Lewis comes under intense pressure to pin this new murder on him quickly and quietly. It’s an open and shut case—and Lewis should know—so why then does he insist on assigning it to DI Nick Dixon?
    As Dixon starts to re-examine the original investigation, shocking revelations come in from the forensics team. And just as Dixon’s worst fears begin to surface, another body is found…

enjoy, Janor