Doyle & Acton Series by Anne Cleeland

Chief Inspector Acton and Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle know firsthand how the administration of justice can often follow a labyrinthine path. As they pursue a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner, Acton's own questionable methods may prove his undoing. . .The notoriety of being married to the enigmatically brilliant Lord Acton presents its own challenges as newly promoted Detective Sergeant Doyle contends with a series of homicides that seem to point to a vigilante killer... moreChief Inspector Acton and Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle know firsthand how the administration of justice can often follow a labyrinthine path. As they pursue a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner, Acton's own questionable methods may prove his undoing. . .The notoriety of being married to the enigmatically brilliant Lord Acton presents its own challenges as newly promoted Detective Sergeant Doyle contends with a series of homicides that seem to point to a vigilante killer. The victims are all criminals who eluded justice--until they ran afoul of an avenger whose modus operandi is a bullet to the back of the head. The key to the vigilante's identity lies in connecting the cold cases and searching for an event that may have triggered retribution after all these years--a daunting task. Meanwhile, Doyle finds herself shadowed by a mysterious figure. After the man steps forward to rescue her from harm, she wonders why he is invested in protecting her. But when she learns he's in contact with Acton's nemesis, she fears she's being used in a plot against her husband, whose personal code of justice has the potential to put his reputation--and his life--at risk. For his own part, Acton must outmaneuver an unscrupulous reporter being fed information from someone within the ranks of Scotland Yard. The stakes are high, and both Doyle and Acton must work independently to outwit the players--before their lives are brought crashing down like a house of cards. . . less

In this fourth installment of the Doyle & Acton mystery series, Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle realizes that several apparently unrelated murders are actually "containment" murders--murders to contain an ominous scandal that could reach into the highest levels of Scotland Yard's CID. In the process of tracking down the killers, however, she comes to the unsettling realization that Chief Inspector Acton has committed a containment murder or two of his own.

Things are a bit grim at Scotland Yard, this Christmas. On the heels of a nasty corruption scandal, the CID must now contend with a killer who is murdering pregnant women, so as to steal their babies. Chief Inspector Acton doesn't want Doyle anywhere near this case, of course, but she can't shake the feeling that there is more to his concern than his usual over-protectiveness—and more to this case than the usual psycho-killer.