A houseful of paintings is stolen and the body of a finely dressed stranger is discovered at the home of art-loving drug dealer Mansel Shale. Meanwhile Detective Chief Inspector Colin Harpur and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, find their domain descending into bloody chaos as villain drug firms fight for dominance. Luckily Iles has done some illicit phone-tapping and has inside information on which way the battle will go. In this fast-paced thriller, there's no telling who will catch the next bullet. 'Shrewd, savage, funny enough to give you an injury' Literary Review
One of British crime writing's hidden jewels' Time Out Megan Harpur had taken the train back from London to tell her husband she was leaving him for another man. By the time Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur discovered her in the station car park in the early hours of the morning, there was nothing anyone could do. Who had committed this savage killing? And what did Megan's lover's secret activities have to do with it? The crime confronts Harpur with the most unnerving case of his career - an investigation into his own wife's brutal and apparently senseless murder.
For years Colin Harpur's dubious boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, ran an 'arrangement' with Mansel Shale and Panicking Ralph Ember, owner of the Monty Club: Iles would protect their drug businesses if they ensured peace on the streets. But when a small-time crook's house is firebombed and he and his daughter are both killed the pact is knocked sideways and gang war erupts. With the relaxation of drugs law legislation, Shale and Ember have serious competition. Their profits slide and an all-out battle for survival begins. 'Most other British Police writers are foam rubber truncheons to James' iron riot baton' Time Out
Ralph Ember, owner of a shady drinking club, is playing a dangerous game. Someone knows of his plans to set up his own drugs syndicate. And that someone is not keen on the competition. But who are Ralph's trade rivals? The ambitious Keith Vine? Cultured villain Mansel Shale? Perhaps even Detective Chief Constable Colin Harpur and his superior Desmond Iles, about whom there are rumours. And Harpur is developing his own plan - one so secret it could cost him his job, so dangerous it could cost him his life . . . 'Extraordinary and electrifying' Val McDermid
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.
Drug dealer Ralph Ember stumbles on a ghastly surprise when he and sidekick Beau Derek arrive at the house of yachtsman Barney Coss, his bulk supplier. Barney and his two women have been savagely murdered and the murderers, three drug rivals from London, are still in the house. Beau dies quickly at their hands, and although they let Ralph go, he's a marked man. But when Melanie, Beau's alluring, ruthless widow, learns what has happened, she is bent on revenge and wants Ralph as her partner all the way. 'Bill James is a frontrunner among those who have turned the police procedural on its head' Sunday Times
Following a deep investigation into an incident in another Force, Colin Harpur and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, uncovered an unpalatable truth: there is corruption in the ranks. Good detective work allowed the pair to arrest and charge a fellow policeman, who murdered an undercover officer in an attempt to keep a crook―police racket secret. But their work is not yet done. Who ordered the execution? Why? Just how high did the conspiracy go? And ― and most importantly ― does the crooked power group behind the assassin still flourish? There are questions that remain to be answered ― so when the home office decides to reopen the case, it is Harpur and Iles to whom the investigation is once more handed.
With the rumoured transfer of Chief of Police Mark Lane, London's competitive drug lords are on edge. In the past, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has managed to maintain the peace on the streets in an old-fashioned system of give a little, take a little. But suddenly Iles is in danger of losing his power when the new chief constable comes to town, and the drug gangs begin a struggle for dominance. With a dangerous mix of greed and fear, the looming threat of a stricter police force, and three sudden deaths, all sides are preparing themselves for a full-scale battle of the ugliest kind. 'Essential reading' Independent
Thirteen-year-old Mandy Walsh has been gunned down in the street, caught in the crossfire between rival drug gangs. For Chief Constable Lane there is only one option - infiltrate the drug syndicates and rid his patch of this menace. Unfortunately, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has a better idea: let the gangland police itself in return for a few 'favours'. As his superiors battle it out, Detective Chief Superintendent takes a closer look at Mandy's death. He learns the bullets that killed her were not fired by the warring gang. There was, it seems, a third gunman targeting Mandy... 'Comes off the page like electricity' Sunday Times
Assistant Chief Constable Iles finds himself suspected of murder in the fast-paced 35th installment of the popular Harpur and Iles police procedural series. Tensions in the community are mounting following the gruesome deaths of two men, both of whom were accused yet acquitted of the murder of an undercover police officer. It looks like vigilante justice, but who is responsible? Alarmingly, suspicion falls on Assistant Chief Constable Iles. Matters escalate when a TV show investigating the murders is aired, further implicating Iles. Iles seems at ease with the accusations, as are his superiors in the police force. But others are not feeling so secure. Local crime bosses Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale fear reprisals against Iles will result in their own businesses suffering. And so they begin to plan how to remove potential troublemakers from their path . . .
A well-dressed corpse found shot in the sand and gravel wharf sparks trouble for Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his unpredictable boss, Assistant Chief Constable Iles. "A must-read for devotees of British procedurals" - Booklist Starred Review The man is found dead in the local dockyard, shot from behind. Colin Harpur, examining the impeccably dressed corpse on his hands and knees, predicts the execution spells imminent trouble - and not just the unexpected arrival of his spiteful, brilliant boss, ACC Iles, at the two a.m. slaughter scene. Iles' progressive attitude towards the local drugs trade has kept gang warfare off the streets, but now it seems jealous outsiders may be coveting the safe, ordered community he has so brilliantly created. Coveting too, the local property - for instance, drug lord Ralph Ember's luxurious mansion, Low Pastures, home to his unparalleled collection of china and porcelain. Harpur and Iles are determined to protect their set-up at all costs - which includes protecting 'Panicking' Ralph. But Ralph has his own plans, and there are dark rumours about Iles on the wind . . . Blackly humorous, delightfully eccentric and packed with sharp-tongued wit, this gritty British police procedural is a must-read for fans of Bill James' critically-acclaimed long-running Harpur and Iles series.
Eleri ap Vaughan, Keith Vine's best dealer, has turned to other drugs wholesalers for her supplies. Now she has to die. For the threat of invasion by rival syndicates cannot be ignored, particularly as 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 game, and he now finds himself in the precarious position of covering up a murder and investigating it. 'There is nothing else quite like this series...all delivered in a ferociously poetic voice that is uniquely Bill James' The Times
When Oliphant Kenward Knapp's drug-dealing empire comes up for grabs, there's a rush to control his domain. Caught in the middle is Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur who must protect his informant, Keith Vine, and his pregnant girlfriend. Unfortunately, his amoral superior Desmond Iles is determined to keep the couple in the midst of danger - as bait for the underworld villains. Can Harpur provide them with the protection they need? Especially when it becomes clear that Keith himself has resorted to murder? 'An excellent and alarmingly realistic novel' Independent
The first title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. Harpur's domain is a small seaport city south of London. It's not unusual for the big-town criminals to consider such a spot as easy prey. At such times a policeman must rely keenly upon his colleagues, to be sure, and also upon his retinue of narks. This time it's a Lloyd's Bank branch that's the target. When the heist is postponed, a policeman is killed. One nark, then another, is murdered. As Harpur becomes driven to his limit, he must bypass regulations and settle things once and for all with a vicious crook named Holly. But not necessarily on his own terms.
For years Panicking Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale have run profitable drugs empires in peaceful cooperation with each other - and Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles turns a blind-eye to their trade as long as it keeps violence off the streets. But this happy arrangement is threatened by foreign dealers moving in and offering punters not just drugs, but exploited girls from Eastern Europe. These invaders have no respect for the old way of managing things and soon bloody gang warfare breaks out in a deadly scramble for territory. 'Another dodgy gavotte by the master of the revels . . . brilliant' Literary Review
This is another entertaining, laugh-out-loud, mesmerizing, and completely original installment in an excellent series" Booklist Starred Review When a major drugs dealer seeks vengeance for the death of his family, policemen Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent a bloodbath Following the murder of his wife and son, tycoon drugs dealer Mansel Shale is determined to get vengeance – and he wants another drugs baron, Ralph Ember, to help him. Having heard of the movie Strangers on a Train, in which two men agree to undertake each other’s murders as a way of preventing detection, Shale suggests he and Ralph should have a similar arrangement – and Ralph is in no position to refuse. When he learns of the plan, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles fears that if things go wrong, the hard-won peace he and Harpur have established in the city will be seriously threatened. The two top policemen find they have their work cut out to limit the damage and restore tranquillity.
Pursued from the shadows, Simon Pilgrim fled in terror from the floating restaurant Eton Boating Song. In the bar of the Eton, he'd had the choice spot, discreetly purveying high-stakes drugs to the restaurant's well-to-do patrons. Now he's dead, his throat cut, and the police know that the drug syndicates are in an all-out war, with the Eton as the prize. Police officer Naomi Anstruther is sent undercover into this turbulent world. Right away she becomes an unknowing pawn in the rival criminals' plans and in the complex struggle between Harpur and his rival, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles. 'Masterly . . . there is nothing else quite like this series' The Times
Policemen Harpur and Iles get mixed up in the criminal world of fine art dealing Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur feels a sort of warmth towards Jack Lamb, a brilliantly prosperous but profoundly dodgy fine arts dealer. Lamb is the greatest informant Harpur has ever dealt with – might be the greatest informant any police officer has ever dealt with – and although Jack ended this arrangement some time ago, Harpur still feels indebted to him. Lamb’s posh manor house is stuffed with expensive paintings, ripe for the pinching . . . and small-time thief George Dinnick and his crew intend to relieve him of a few. But their plans are complicated by local big-time crook Ralph Ember, who is on the lookout for some art to elevate his gentleman’s club, The Monty; and who else would he visit to procure this art but Jack Lamb? Add to the mix odd-job man and stolen-art procurer Basil Gordon Loam – aka Enzyme – who Harpur and Iles would very much like to see locked up, and things start to get complicated indeed.
Harpur and Iles juggle a new drug kingpin and a new chief in this hilarious police procedural from “the Elmore Leonard of Britain’s underworld” (Kirkus Reviews). After his wife and son are gunned down in what appears to be a hit gone wrong, Local drug boss Mansel Shale turns to religion, leaving his drug business up for grabs. His second-in-command, a weirdo who believes he is Generalissimo Franco, is the wrong man to lead the organization, especially with rival Ralph Ember eager to gain control of Shale’s territory. Neither Assistant Chief Desmond Iles nor DCS Colin Harpur wants a drug war. Both believe in the motto “No blood on the pavement.” But their new chief has a different motto—“Lock ’em up and toss away the key”—and is pushing matters in the wrong direction. “The qualities that make James’s books stand out from the crowd are his masterful ability with words and his howlingly funny, darkly brutal humor. . . . Despite the seriousness of the plot, it’s impossible not to laugh aloud at the fierce ripostes, subtle digs, and overt insults peppered across every page. A true delight from a genre master.” —Booklist (starred review) “Not only the most stylishly adventurous books in British crime fiction today but also the funniest.” —The Telegraph
The sixth title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. 'Planner' Preston, a lifetime of successful robberies behind him, is organising a heist against a wages van, ill-guarded and with a predictable route. After hiring the necessary manpower and allowing for every contingency, Planner sets a date. Then one of his team learns that the route has lengthened and the guard has been doubled. Against his instincts, but goaded by the young recruits who think he has become timid in his old age, Planner agrees to go ahead - even though he knows the risks. Harpur and Iles always suspect Preston is planning something and view even a visit to the dentist as cause for speculation. Now, the increase in activity surrounding Planner's associates begins to turn their detective antennae firmly in his direction.
Drug barons Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale have co-existed peaceably for years, tolerated by Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles as a way of keeping violence off the streets. But times are changing. In a downward spiral of paranoia and panic, Ember fears Shale has a plan to kill him and take over his firm - after all, one of his people has already been gunned down and nobody's taken the rap for it. Shale is about to remarry and has asked Ember to be best man. Iles and Detective Chief Constable Colin Harpur, alert to their potentially deadly double game, know that they have to act fast to avoid out-and-out carnage. 'Dazzles . . . a modern morality play of epic scope' Publishers Weekly
When Harpur and Iles are called in to investigate an undercover investigation gone wrong, they can sense dark, hazardous times ahead . . . - After a gang shooting involving an undercover police officer, Colin Harpur and his boss Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles are called to another Force’s ground to investigate what the Home Office see as spectacular failings. Harpur can imagine the pressure the officer would have been under. If a gang decided to kill, a spy would have to go along with it. But with careers of fellow officers – who might be in secret, dangerous alliance with villains – at risk, Harpur knows that he and Iles have an exceptionally tough inquiry ahead.
Harpur & Iles to uncover a trail of illegal art trading and money laundering. “I found I had a flair for tag-along, street level stealth. It thrilled me. It killed me. Do you mind if I tell you how?” Thomas Wells Hart drifted into a dodgy career as a private investigator and grew clever at tailing suspects and all the other tricks of the game. Not quite clever enough, however. Coming across Hart’s shot-up body, Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and Assistant Chief Constable Des Iles have to work out their own explanation as to how he came to be executed behind the wheel of a Ford Focus in a quiet suburban street. The trail will lead them through illegal art trading, big-bucks money laundering – and more murder. As ever, Iles suspects Harpur is hiding essential facts from him. As ever, Harpur is hiding essential facts from his boss. Will the mismatched pair manage to close the case?
The twenty-seventh title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. A street shooting leaves a mother and child dead on the school run. But was this a random attack? Unlikely, when it transpires that the victims were the wife and son of well-known drug baron Mansel Shale. Having committed this atrocity, the gunman flees to a nearby shop where a hostage situation quickly develops. Detective Chief Inspector Harpur and Assistant Chief Constable Iles are brought in to oversee the siege - which ends in sudden tragedy. But as subsequent events unfold, it appears that the gunman wasn't tracking Shale after all, but his wife . . .
A cash-in-transit raid goes pear-shaped when armed police show up. After all the smart planning and careful preparation someone must have talked - so think the relatives and friends of the jailed gang members. And it looks like the grass must have been the only raider to escape the trap. A vengeance squad is on the prowl and Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his boss Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles are given the job of protecting the informant and his family. Yet all the time the lynch mob is closing in . . . 'James's writing dazzles with its poetic brevity' Publishers Weekly
Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his amoral superior Assistant Chief Constable Desmond lles face a political and personal dilemma when they suspect fellow Officer Nivette of taking bribes from underworld villains, panicking Ralphy Ember and Mansel Shale. Is Nivette doing some unauthorised undercover work, or is he really bent? And where has the body of smalltime dealer Slow Victor gone? Trussed up in the cabin of a deserted boat one minute, gone the next. Harpur starts to make the connection, but will it be in time to save Nivette? 'The suspense is almost unbearable, the latent truth uncomfortable and the result haunting' Frances Fyfield
How To Get Rid of Jesus: Prove He Didn't Exist! A popular question posed by Christians today asks, "WWJD?" - which stands for, "What Would Jesus Do?" For more and more Skeptics of Christianity, however, the answer to this question is, "JDNE" - which stands for, "Jesus did not exist!" In this volume, edited by prominent Internet apologist James Patrick Holding, a team of Christian authors provide a series of essays giving detailed answers to those who argue for the "Christ myth." Though rejected by mainstream scholars, this theory continues to grow in popularity among popular writers and Internet antagonists. The need for Christians to be ready to give an answer to it will only become more urgent. "Here's a clear and compelling rebuttal to fallacious claims that keep resurfacing in books and on the Internet. It's well-researched, expertly presented, and ultimately convincing." - Lee Strobel, author, The Case for the Real Jesus
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