The Conversion Killings

It’s early 1987. Newly qualified psychologist Ellie Green sees her career collapse under funding cuts in the prison service. A temporary post with West Yorkshire Police offers a way to stay afloat, placing her at the start of a new era in policing.

Behavioural science and early DNA techniques are introduced into a murder enquiry by a senior detective in Leeds CID. Two victims are linked to a series of violent assaults on gay men across Leeds, drawing the investigation into the city’s hidden nightlife. But there are no clear leads, witnesses are too afraid to come forward, and no obvious pattern.

A respected grammar school headmaster is found murdered, and new forensic evidence sends the enquiry in a more complicated direction, as pressure builds on a force still shaped by the Yorkshire Ripper.

Ellie finds herself at the centre of a major case, in a role she doesn’t fully understand, using methods no one truly trusts. She must piece together a pattern the police cannot see before the body count rises and the case slips out of control.

The Conversion Killings is a crime thriller set in 1980s Yorkshire, against the backdrop of the Leeds gay scene during the AIDS crisis and a police force still haunted by its own failings. Blending early behavioural science, emerging DNA techniques, and a tense CID investigation, it will appeal to readers who enjoy grounded police procedurals with dark humour and a psychological edge.