The Stretch: Free Preview

by Martina Cole

Genres: Crime Fiction

Synopsis

[AN EXCLUSIVE PREVEIW OF THE BRAND-NEW NOVEL BY QUEEN OF CRIME, MARTINA COLE]

'SHE'S A TOTAL ONE-OFF' GUARDIAN
'THERE REALLY IS ONLY ONE MARTINA COLE' CLOSER

THE ICONIC QUEEN OF CRIME RETURNS.

Don't miss the brand-new novel from the one and only Martina Cole, back writing solo and at the top of her game. Available to pre-order now.

When Johnny Raglan is sentenced to life imprisonment, his past catches up with him. Doing time runs in the family, and everyone knows the score. But prison life isn't easy and Johnny's wife Janey and their two young sons are about to learn the hard way what it takes to survive...

Release date: June 18, 2026

Publisher: Headline

Print pages: 40

Sample

‘Fuck me, you look rough, darling.’

Dolly Raglan gazed at her husband lying in his hospital bed, fighting for his life. Much as she hated the journey to visit him in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, she’d sooner endure that than see him in a high-dependency unit, with tubes sticking out of his arms and bleeping monitors by his bed.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

‘I feel rough, love. What do you expect? I was stabbed five times with a fucking shank!’

Big Johnny Raglan liked to state the bleedin’ obvious, but Dolly was used to that, and she knew it was all said for the sole benefit of the prison officer standing guard in the doorway.

She knew how to play the game; she had been playing it long enough.

‘Well, I hear you put up a good fight. And you’re still alive – that’s the main thing.’

Johnny smiled gently at his wife.

‘It’s not the first time Danny Carver has tried to have me carved up, and I dare say it won’t be the last,’ he said before he closed his eyes.

Dolly wasn’t about to discuss the matter in any detail with the Old Bill hanging on her every word. But she hoped the screw behind her had been taking note. If the filth were doing their job, they would already know this attack on her husband was down to Carver.

It was common knowledge that Big Johnny Raglan and Danny Carver had been at each other’s throats for decades.

The rivalry between them went way back, and the one thing it had taught Dolly was that grown men were no better than children when it came to nursing a grudge. Johnny and Danny had kept theirs alive just for the sheer hell of it. They enjoyed it, embraced it and allowed it to eat at them . . .