Robert Murphy: Crime stories
Winner! 'Book of the Year' - Decoy, True Crime Awards 2025
〰️
Winner! 'Book of the Year' - Decoy, True Crime Awards 2025 〰️
Winner:
‘Book of the Year’ &
‘Impact for Change’
Decoy
Decoy (HarperCollins 2024) won ‘Book of the Year’ and ‘Impact for Change’ at the 2025 True Crime Awards in London.
Judges praised the high-quality of the writing, the rigour of the journalistic research and the strength of the story - of a team of rookie female police officers sent out to catch a killer in 1970s Bristol.
It’s a story of inspiring women, their comradeship trying to catch a true monster, the institutional misogyny they suffered each day and their huge wit and charisma in dealing with old-fashioned detectives who thought policing was a man’s job.
Decoy is a page-turning thriller which takes the reader back to the evocative days of disco, describes a team of young women determined to protect their city, takes the reader into the top-secret operation which changed British covert policing and paints a devastating picture of a predator beyond redemption.
And it is a true story.
Praise for Decoy:
An extraordinary true life story, showing immense courage & inspired police work. Highly recommended.
Fishbournefolk, 5-star Amazon review
This is such a good book. Not just a tale of heroism, courage and determination on the part of law enforcement, but also a glimpse into life in the late 1970’s. Robert Murphy is always compassionate and thoughtful in his writing and it’s a pleasure to read. The recent turn of events related to the perpetrator are really well told, if of course deeply unsettling.
Lemoni, 5-star Amazon
Well recommended, you think it would be oldy worldy in a sense but it's brilliantly written to avoid being like that. Never come across the story before so it was fresh and new for me. Quick read.
Fiona Turnbull, 5-star Goodreads review
Writer, podcaster, journalist, film-maker
Robert Murphy