Böcker i Harpur & Iles Mysteries (Paperback)-serien

At nineteen years old, Colin Harpur's girlfriend Denise Prior knows little about criminals, and even less about the law. When Denise drifts into the social circle of Harpur's number-one informant Jack Lamb, and one of the criminals is shot to death during a robbery, Denise's life is suddenly in danger and Harpur must solve a new crime-before it happens.

It was tragic. There was no other word for it. Eleri ap Vaughan, sixty years old and still Keith Vine's best dealer, had turned for her supplies to other drug wholesalers: she had to die. For the threat of invasion by rival syndicates from other cities cannot be ignored, particularly as rumors reach Keith that an elegantly dressed spy from London, nicknamed Lovely Mover, is in the area. Eleri's death must serve as a warning to others to stay loyal. It's at times like these that Vine's new partner, Detective Chief Inspector Colin Harpur, will prove invaluable - for example, in sweeping the murder scene for incriminating evidence. Harpur, however, is playing a dangerous undercover game, and he now finds himself in the precarious position of both covering up a murder and investigating it. Only one person suspects what Harpur is up to - his sneering superior, ACC Desmond Iles. And Iles is not always someone he dares trust. "Bill James's Harpur and Iles books are deliciously unsavoury: a brilliant combination of almost Jacobean savagery and sexual betrayal with a tart comedy of contemporary manners." - John Harvey, "The Crime Writer's Crime Writer," Guardian

Naomi Anstruther's undercover operation among the drug gangs, planned carefully by Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, has ended in a bloody shoot-out. Naomi escapes, but both her ex-boyfriend and her current lover-who shouldn't have been there-are dead. Now the biggest danger to Naomi is a young woman named Esme, who believes that she and Naomi should personally avenge Donald's and Lyndon's deaths."One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."-Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "[A] black and zestful police series.... Matchless stuff by the genre's finest stylist."-Literary Review "One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."-Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "A tremendous writer. . . . Where else can you find a mystery series with as many layers of gorgeous stuff?"-Chicago Tribune "Bill James's Harpur and Iles books are deliciously unsavory.-John Harvey, "The Crime Writer's Crime Writer," The Guardian "[A] brilliantly stylish series of novels .... A unique author who is an acquired habit, but once discovered, impossible to kick."-Daily Express [London], Frances Fyfield "British mystery writing's finest prose stylist...startling, achingly funny and sometimes wholly surreal.... Essential reading."-The Observer [London], Peter Guttridge

When thirteen-year-old drug runner Mandy Walsh is killed in a shootout between rival drug gangs, the police at first think she was accidentally caught in the crossfire. But soon they learn that someone shot her intentionally, and as Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur looks deeper the case only gets more dangerous. For Chief Constable Mark Lane, a man almost paralyzed by the collapse of civilization he sees in the relentless drug wars, the only solution to the evil is for someone to infiltrate the gangs. His sardonic assistant chief, Desmond Iles, has another solution: let the gangland police itself, in return for a few favors. Meanwhile, Mansel Shale, drug kingpin, would-be top banana, is looking for--and may have found--a working arrangement with someone on the police force. A relentless chain of events, starting with Mandy's death, comes to an exciting and unexpected conclusion.