The Water Doesn't Lie by Kim Booth BLOG TOUR #TheWaterDoesntLie #KimBooth @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Even the water can give up its secrets...

When a body is found early on a Sunday morning fully clothed face down in a lake, initial enquiries tend to indicate a tragic accident has occurred.

Detective Sergeant Barry Dalton attends the scene and at first, with no visible marks or injuries on the deceased, all appears to be in order, but a post mortem on the body starts a chain of events that will expose dark secrets from the past that have remained concealed for many years.

DS Dalton and DI Gibb investigate and uncover a series of further deaths that certain people are at pains to be recorded as sudden deaths or accidents to assist the offender and to avenge the previous wrongdoings.

What is the reason why the circumstances of the deaths have been manipulated? Who is responsible and why? What are they trying to conceal?

The more enquiries Dalton and Gibb make, the larger the puzzle gets.

The trigger point to the enquiry lies in the water...

A crime story that will keep you guessing until the end.

The Water Doesn't Lie by Kim Booth was published on 22 June 2023. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from The Water Doesn't Lie by Kim Booth 

1984

 It was a cold and silent mid-February night in the boys’ dormitory at Lannercraig Children’s Home, on the outskirts of Glasgow. The moon shone through the partly closed curtains, lighting up the dark and dreary dormitory. Thomas Ferguson was asleep in his bed when he heard the familiar sound of the floorboards creaking, a sound he had heard so often that he knew from each creaking floorboard how far the person walking had travelled along the dormitory. 

The creaking stopped and he knew that it was his turn. Thomas, upon hearing the creaking boards, pretended to be asleep. The shadowy figure slowly pulled the blanket from between the mattress and the bedframe, and Thomas felt the hand travel from his leg up towards his torso, stopping at his groin. The hand began caressing his private parts. He heard the breathing increase in intensity as the figure fondled his genitals. It only took a few minutes for the hand to explore his body before it was removed. Thomas felt dirty and violated. The shadow moved away, and the creaking floorboards continued to expose the location of the intruder who was now making their way towards the entrance of the dormitory. Thomas opened his eyes to see if the others in their beds were awake. All were asleep or appeared to be, not making any movement. Quietly, Thomas slipped out of his bed and checked again to see if all the other boys in the dorm were asleep. 

He walked along the row of beds, stopping briefly to say a silent goodbye to his four friends with whom he had shared the previous three years of trauma. He began to carry out his plan. He found the strips of bedsheet that he had torn up earlier during the day. Thomas walked towards and entered the cold, uninviting bathroom. He entered a cubicle, closing the door behind him, and looked up towards the ceiling beam, an action he had taken so many times before, contemplating his escape. Now, he finally hoped to end his pain.

Standing on the toilet bowl he threw the tied sheet strips over the beam, and made a knot that travelled up to the roof. He then made a loop and stood on the toilet roll holder whilst placing the loop around his neck. He leant forward as his foot slipped behind him and he swung towards the cubicle door. Gasping for breath he swung backwards and against the wall of the cubicle. His body stiffened and his face contorted; tears began to run down his cheeks. Only a few more moments, he knew, as the swinging of his body began to slow. As Thomas drew his last breath, his body was left dangling in the shadow of the moonlight.

Kim Booth was born in Lincolnshire UK. After several jobs and a brush with the law decided to join the Lincolnshire Police where he served 35 years mainly in investigate roles.

These roles included many years as both as Detective Constable and Detective Sergeant in the CID. He went on to serve in specialist roles including the Drug Squad. 

He further specialized in a conducting surveillance in the Regional Crime Squad (later National Crime Agency) Detective Sergeant in Special Branch and later Detective Inspector Head of Special Branch. 

He then moved on the be Detective Inspector Head of the Economic Crime Unit of the Lincolnshire Police dealing with all types of fraud, money laundering, and internet crime. During this time he also supervised offences of pedophilia conducted buy offenders on the internet and the detention of suspects. 

After retirement he was retained to investigate a $350 million PONZI fraud and traveled to work with other law enforcement agencies in the Bahama US of A, Japan, Canada and New Zealand, He has over the years specialized in fraud investigation and been involved in many murder investigations including two serial killer enquiries, several kidnaps and extortion's, the successful investigation of the only murder by postal IED in the UK and the arrest and conviction of three contract killers. After leaving the police he worked as a Corporate Security Manager for a well know international holiday company for a number of years. 

Currently he has has started to fulfil and long standing intention to write true crime and crime fiction books. 

He lives in the city of Lincoln