Power Shift
Kate's been promoted to inspector, as those of you who've read Hidden Power will recall. So she can't stay on in CID. Police policy is that any promotion must be followed by at least six months in uniform, so Kate goes to run her own small nick. It's never easy, taking command of people who could do the job at least as well as you, so Kate aims to tread softly. But she's forced into exerting her authority. Absenteeism is rife and she meets unexpected resistance to even her most reasonable demands. Just when she might be winning, gastric flu knocks over her colleagues like nine-pins. She knows that's genuine: she succumbs herself. But there's no time to retire to bed, because she's found what seems to be a sex slave smuggled in from Eastern Europe.

How will she cope? Read on, and find out.
 

Hidden Power
Hidden Power takes place not in Birmingham but in Devon, the setting of my two romantic novels. There's a little romance in this - Kate's relationship with Rod Neville seems to be coming along nicely until it's interrupted by work - but this is possibly one of the darker Power novels. Kate is working under cover, with a colleague obviously damaged by something in his past. And they don't just work together: they have to live together, as man and wife. Not much fun for either of them.
   We've all been stopped in the street by people apparently carrying out consumer surveys into holiday habits, only to find we're being softened up to buy a timeshare somewhere unlikely. I once "won" a holiday in darkest East Anglia this way, determinedly fending off the sales team's persistent efforts to get me to sign up (would you want to commit yourself to endless holidays in Cromer?) While I'm quite sure the company I had dealings with was entirely legal and legitimate, the one Kate gets involved with assuredly isn't. Her problem is that she doesn't know who's involved in the criminal scam and who isn't. Or indeed, quite what the scam may be.
   Don't let the dirty deeds Kate uncovers put you off going to Devon: you'll find endless housing developments like hers in Newton Abbot, Keats's cottage in Teignmouth, a couple of good pubs in Cockswood, a brilliant charity clothing exchange in Topsham and, of course, the wonderful Cathedral in Exeter. Should you travel to Dartmoor, you'll find the potter in Moretonhampstead who sold Kate her precious vase. Go on - take a break down there. And take Hidden Power with you in case it rains.

My very first venture into fiction was when I was a schoolgirl writing short stories, and to be honest, I still enjoy the challenge of short fiction as much as I love getting stuck into the meat of a full-length novel. I was delighted when Tindal Street Press approached me to write a story for their new anthology, Birmingham Noir. I wish them well with this venture into writing about Birmingham. I've always thought Birmingham a wonderful venue for crime: it's nice not to be the lone voice calling into the wilderness any more!

(See 'Judith Cutler's Writing Day', from Writing Magazine, December 2002-January 2003).
 

Will Power
"I owe Will Power to the kind solicitor who tried to cheer me up during that most grim of proceedings: signing my will. He explained what could go wrong if you didn't have proper legal advice, not, I suspect, that most of us would ever be in the position that Max Cornfield found himself in. All the same, if you haven't made a will yet, go ahead and do it - NOW!

  This story takes Kate abroad for the first time, but most of the action takes place, as usual, in and around Birmingham. Apart from solving crimes, it's time Kate got round to sorting out her own life."

Power Games
Kate joins a Major Incident Team, an elite group called in to investigate what appears to be a simple case of death by misadventure - but it isn't, of course.

  "If the puns in my titles offend you, please remember that Elizabethan writers such as Shakespeare were happy to use them even at serious moments. For an example of humour in a grave situation, check out Hamlet, Act V, scene I.
  Kate isn't into Shakespeare, of course - that's more Sophie's area. Kate's into tennis, trying to get her injured knee fit. She happens to play at a tennis centre very like the one I go to, and comes across a corpse in the shower. She also gets involved with areas of old Birmingham under attack from unscrupulous developers. I visited one such site on one of local historian Peter Leather's guided tours of the city - the Lodge, at Birmingham Reservoir. Happily this lovely building has been safely preserved, as has what I found under my garden shed. No, I didn't find what Kate did: I found a 1919 gas cooker, now in a private collection."

Staying Power
Flying home after a brief visit to Florence, Detective Sergeant Kate Power of Birmingham CID engages in a pleasant but trivial conversation with the businessman sitting next to her. Two days later he's found hanging from a canal bridge - with Kate's business card in his pocket the only means of identification.
  
  "Kate has now established herself as part of the CID team in central Birmingham. But life still isn't plain sailing, despite Kate's growing friendship with Colin.
  What I set out to do was show that fraud isn't a victimless crime, so you may wonder why the perpetrator of the scam in this book will probably spend two years only in jail.
  The West Midlands Police Fraud Squad were enormously helpful. Policewomen from a Domestic Violence Unit in Sandwell were particularly generous with their time and encouragement, even coming up with an idea which really moved the plot forward."

Power On Her Own
DS Kate Power moves to Birmingham, and getting to grips with a new team is not easy: some think she's a bit of fresh meat, others think she's not pulling her weight. Kate's aunt has given her the house from hell, so domestic pressure matches professional pressure - then the two start to overlap.
  
  "This is the first Kate Power novel, a book a detective chief inspector told me to write. Read it and find out why.
  I found the crime involved horrible: I'm sure you will. But you'll notice I keep the details to a minimum. If there are sick people out there who would gloat over a physical description of the victims' suffering, I didn't want to give them that pleasure.
  Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy meeting Great-Aunt Cassie, DCI Graham Harvey, and DC Colin Roper."

 
Novels featuring Sophie Rivers:
Dying Fall | Dying On Principle | Dying To Write | Dying For Millions | Dying For Power | Dying To Score | Dying By Degrees | Dying By The Book | Dying in Discord

Novels featuring Kate Power:
Power Shift | Hidden Power | Will Power | Power Games | Staying Power | Power On Her Own

Purchase the novels on line (external link) from Amazon.co.uk.

Purchase the Kate Power audio books on line (external link) from W F Howes Ltd. Click the Search button on the W F Howes web site, type in "Cutler Judith" (without the quotes) and select the audio book(s) you wish to buy.

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About the author | Sophie Rivers | Kate Power | Readers' Meetings | Search Amazon UK | Birmingham links | Home Page

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