Charo.

I've just finished my first novel and I include here a synopsys. What do you think?

“Charo.” is a contemporary mystery novel set in London about a detective who is assigned to investigate on the murders of three guys which initially don’t present any sensible connection among them. The only main detail connecting the three victims is the use of the same poison.

Ryan Smith, a former Scotland Yard detective, is recalled to the Murder Team for investigating on three strange deaths two years after a terrible incident that caused the death of his partner and brought him to be relocated to a quieter and less stressful police station.

The first victim is Mark Thompson - an electrical engineer working for a security alarm system company based in Ireland - found dead on a flight from Dublin; the second victim is Richard Bennett Junior - son of Richard Bennett, owner of Jewels&Diamonds Co, one of the biggest jewellery in London – whose body was found in his bathroom tub; the last victim, Jane Parker – a former heroin addicted – was found dead in the Canterbury Cathedral ditch without any sensible reason. The three deaths have only one common point: the murderer used cyanide.

With the department under pressure and the media denouncing police inability to unravel this intricated mystery, Ryan accepts to join the team again and starts energetically investigating with the help of his new partner, James Murphy.

The investigation starts with the questioning of Isabelle Atherton, the flight attendant who saw Thompson alive for the last time on the plane. Mrs Atherton reveals that everything was fine on the plane, except for a small detail happened after she served Thompson; a lady knocked on him apparently doing that on purpose. Ryan and James discover that this mysterious lady had booked her seat by using the address where Jane used to live and paid with a stolen debit card named to Jane’s roommate.

Following a chat with Chris, Jane’s roommate, Ryan and James come to know that Jane had a friend named Sabrina who helped her to get into a rehab program and find a job for OpClean Ltd, a small cleaning company.

Keith Louis, the owner of the company, subsequently discloses that Jane had, indeed, a friend called Sabrina whom he had been in an affair with. Louis, also, hides another secret: he has previously been close to bankruptcy, but he managed to pay off his debt by borrowing money from John “The Hurricane” Andrews, a local gangster who aims to maintain and extend his criminal business. In exchange, the gangster forced Louis to use his company as a cover for smuggling drugs and ancient art works.

The investigation intermingles with Ryan’s private life; Samantha, his new, beautiful and mysterious neighbour, galvanises the Ryan’s sentimental status and they shortly fell in love.

Sabrina, in the meantime, is impossible to find; Ryan and James discover that she is the connection among the victims, in fact she also was in a relationship with Richard Bennett and Mark Thompson.

Although the ghostly girl seems to be the connection, Karl, an old man – and a kind of neighbourhood caretaker - living up in Ryan’s street, is mysteriously killed in his house and the detectives find a pair of red spectacles which belongs to Louis. The proofs definitely nail the cleaning company owner and lead to his arrest, but the appearance of Luther Lafayette, a former FBI agent, turns upside down all the assumptions collected up by the two detectives unravelling a cunning  and unexpected plan for framing Louis and taking undisturbed the priceless Regent’s Diamond, a precious stone belonged to Napoleon and on tour for celebrating the three hundred-thirtieth anniversary of its cutting.

Luther claims that the murderer and creator of this mind-blowing machination has been closer to Ryan and James more than what they think for all this time: Sabrina and Samantha are the same person, whose the real name is Charo Burton Monteiro, the former wife of Craig Burton, an important American business man poisoned in his bed months earlier. Charo has always been obsessed by diamonds, jewels and richness and she would do anything for obtaining what she wants.

Ryan is now unsure of how to carry out the investigation: should he follow Luther’s tip or start questioning the Samantha’s real identity?

Going against his heart, Ryan starts to investigate Samantha and discover that she repeatedly lied to him. Deluded and emotionally hurt, Ryan agrees to search in her flat, where the detectives find the evidence that Charo, also known as Sabrina and Samantha, is the brain of this plan for stealing the Regent’s Diamond.

Charo carries on her plot and the night she breaks into Bennett’s jewellery, finds Ryan, James and Luther hidden in the premises and arrest her.

Even though Charo is arrested, she flamboyantly manages to escape when the police van reaches Scotland Yard without leaving any traces. Ryan is disheartened and depressed for the stampede of the culprit and lover; he knows that his duty is to make people respect the law and nick they who break it, but deeply in his heart, he knows that Charo’s escaping and the well-being of his lover is what he secretly hoped for.