DI Jim Cole Books in Order

DI Jim Cole is the lead investigator in Michael Kerr's Deadly Purpose, a crime thriller that puts several violent cases on a collision course. Cole works for the Special Crime Squad, where the job means dealing with gangland killings, contract murder, and offenders whose motives are not immediately clear.

There is no gentle opening.

The book begins with a young businesswoman receiving a phone call that tells her she is about to die. Her car is then blown up by a hitman known only as Hendricks. Soon afterward, Jim attends the shooting of gangland boss Johnny Donovan, a murder that starts a chain of events with consequences far beyond one crime scene.

At the same time, lawyer Victor Merrick has arranged for his estranged wife, Olivia, to be killed. When the couple reconcile, he wants to stop the hit, but Donovan was the person who brokered it and is now dead. Hendricks has no interest in canceling a paid contract. Olivia realizes she is in danger and turns to the police.

Jim's workload is already heavy. His squad is also investigating the mutilation and murder of two couples in separate locations. The victims appear to have no connection, but the same method has been used in both crimes. The evidence suggests two killers are working together, and their purpose is still unknown.

Nothing stays neatly separated.

The story's tension comes from watching several strands tighten at once. There is a gangland power struggle involving Donovan's organization and the Russian Mafia. There is the relentless threat posed by Hendricks. And there is the Couple Killers investigation, where Jim and his team have to find the link before more people are targeted.

Jim is a widower, and his private life becomes entangled with the job when he grows close to Dr. Helen Sands, a criminal psychologist consulting on the murder case. That connection raises the personal stakes without taking attention away from the central investigations.

The tone is grim, fast, and built around high-pressure police work. Deadly Purpose is a self-contained entry, so it is the natural starting place. Readers can expect multiple cases, competing criminal interests, and a detective trying to stop violence that keeps moving closer to his own life.