Michael Brady looked into Sandra Garrity’s face. Grey skin. Bloodshot eyes. Blue lips, her tongue protruding.

“Did you watch your husband die, Sandra? Or did he watch you die?”

‘Brilliant. Mike Brady is fast becoming the Yorkshire Rebus.’

 Billy and Sandra were childhood sweethearts.

Writing their names on a lovelock, fastening it to the end of Whitby pier. Throwing the key into the sea.

A lifetime together. A peaceful retirement in a sleepy hamlet on the North York Moors.

Until the day they were brutally murdered.

“Whoever did this – he didn’t do it quickly. And he enjoyed it.”

Billy was a fisherman. One night his boat went down. Two crewmen drowned. Billy survived.

Were the families looking for revenge? It’s the obvious conclusion.

But why wait this long?

Why kill Billy and Sandra?

And why kill them in such a barbaric way?

“This isn’t a murder, Mike. It’s a medieval execution.”

Choke Back the Tears is the fourth book in the Michael Brady series.

And it’s the most personal Brady book yet.

There are no clues. No motive. It’s a perfect crime scene.

All Brady has is his experience and his intuition – while his small team gets smaller by the day.

Meanwhile he’s having problems in his personal life.

His daughter Ash wants to know the truth about her mother’s death.

Brady can’t put off telling her any longer.

He’s having doubts about everything.

Even the memory of his dead wife…

“Mark Richards has created such a likeable character in Mike Brady that you want to be his friend. Go for a drink with him or give him a hug when he so obviously needs one. I’ve read all three Brady books in a week. I can’t wait for the fourth one…”