100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders 🚀

To Hunt a Killer

4.21 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 473 ratings, 40 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
To Hunt a Killer by Robert Murphy and Julie Mackay delves into the gripping true story of a complex murder investigation. It follows the intricate police work and forensic details involved in uncovering the truth. Set in the challenging world of crime-solving, it provides a compelling look at the dedication and persistence needed to bring a killer to justice without revealing specific case outcomes.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2299
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This gripping Crime & Thriller book may appeal to you if you enjoy delving into real-life investigations and are fascinated by the intricacies of solving complex cases. You'll be drawn into the meticulous work of uncovering a killer through forensic details and investigative prowess, providing a compelling and intense reading experience.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

*Winner of Best New True Crime Author, CrimeCon UK True Crime Awards 2023*

*Shortlisted for the ALCS Gold Dagger award for non-fiction, Crime Writers' Association Awards 2023*

The gripping true story of how Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay brought Melanie Road's murderer to justice.

The gripping true crime story solving the Melanie Road cold case. Longlisted for the CWA 2023 ALCS Gold Dagger award for non-fiction

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Winner of Best New True Crime Author, CrimeCon UK True Crime Awards 2023

Shortlisted for the ALCS Gold Dagger award for non-fiction, Crime Writers’ Association Awards 2023

The gripping true story of how Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay brought Melanie Road’s murderer to justice.

BATH, 1984

Jean Road, a 49-year-old mother of three, awakens to news that her daughter Melanie has been murdered in a nearby street as she walked home from a club in the early hours.

Britain’s biggest manhunt begins. A trail of blood is found leading away from the scene. It’s a rare blood type. But despite a year-long inquiry and 94 arrests, the case is wound down. No one is charged with Melanie’s murder.

AVON & SOMERSET POLICE HQ, 2009

Detective Sergeant Julie Mackay, a 41-year-old single mother of three who has been overlooked for promotion for years, transfers to the Cold Case Unit. She unearths a file from the original inquiry and becomes hooked by the details: the rare blood type, Bath on a summer’s night, the investigative wrong turns... She takes on the case, and with the help of Melanie’s inspirational mother, works tirelessly to rebuild it.

This is the true story of how she did it.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

To Hunt a Killer has been praised for providing a gripping and thorough look at the meticulous detective work necessary to solve a murder case. The book also poignantly captures the profound impact such tragedies have on the victims' families, offering a dual perspective on crime and its aftermath.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780008507473

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 June 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: HarperCollins

Illustration: (1x8pp plates)

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 280g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Julie Mackay spent over three decades in policing, rising to Detective Superintendent overseeing three murder teams. She received commendations for bravery, working undercover and leadership, and an international award for her DNA work in the Melanie Road case. Along with working to prevent homicides, Julie offers her expertise to crime documentaries. As well as her three children, Julie loves her horses and adventurous travel.

Also by Robert Murphy

View all
  • Decoy
    Winner of 'Best Book' and 'Impact for Change' True Crime Awards 2025 The shocking true story of one of Britain’s most secretive, groundbreaking and successful police covert operations Bristol, 1979. An attacker roams the streets... Young women are warned not to go out alone... Enter the Decoys. For several years, a prolific predator haunted Bristol. Avon and Somerset Police had...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Private World of Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé
    This is not a book on decoration. It is a window on two shared worlds. So writes Pierre Bergé in his foreword to one of the most remarkable documents ever published on Yves Saint Laurent's private realm. Yves Saint Laurent was more than a designer of clothing—he was, for many, one of the great style arbiters of the twentieth century....
    Hardback
    $16000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Paul Ricard
    The biography of Paul Ricard—whose eponymous company Pernod Ricard produced and popularised pastis, an anise aperitif from his native Marseille—embodies a wonderfully rich business success story of the 20th century. Overcoming significant adversity amid the turmoil of the 1930s, Ricard built a renowned premium spirits brand, parlaying the beauty and mystique of Provence into a worldwide libation. A savvy marketer...
    Hardback
    Sold Out

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    It Could Have Been Her
    PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    26 Beauties
    The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Secrets We Hide
    The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Parkwood Murders
    They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Hope Rises
    'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Slash
    A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators — while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son — a double-murder suspect last seen during the...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    A River Red With Blood
    The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Shadow Step
    The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Blue Lightning
    New Release
    Blue Lightning
    Blue Lightning The fourth Shetland novel A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose . . . Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancée to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world. Then...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Red Bones
    New Release
    Red Bones
    Red Bones is the third Shetland novel featuring detective Jimmy Perez. Sometimes the dead won't stay buried... When a young archaeologist uncovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find—or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident in the middle of the...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Last to Drown
    New Release
    The Last to Drown
    Praise for Noelle W. Ihli: 'Hands down one of my favourite reads of the year' - FREIDA MCFADDEN 'A true classic in the genre' - LISA JEWELL 'A propulsive story that haunts and mesmerizes' - KARIN SLAUGHTER FIVE DAYS. TWENTY STRANGERS. NO PHONE SIGNAL. The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But now that Kaia's...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.