At 19 years old, Colin Harpur's girlfriend Denise knows little about criminals, and even less about the law. When Denise drifts into the social circle of Harpur's number-one informant 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.

Five teenage girls have been raped and murdered, and the criminal is still at large. Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, assigned to the case, is a tough hunter, but so is "the Lolita man", watching the schoolyards. Virtually obsessed with the urgency of the matter and hampered by bitter policy rivalry jeopardizing the case, Harpur decides to go it alone.

First time in U.S. paperback, the third in Bill James's "standout," "witty," "well above the ordinary" series (starred reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist). When Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur places young policeman Ray Street undercover in a vicious drug gang, the entire department knows the risks. If Street is found out, he will take his place in "the halo parade." Then the killing of a fellow officer will have to be avenged, by whatever means . . .

"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. A stylised world that is several moves from reality, and about as real as you can get." -- John Harvey, "The Crime Writer's Crime Writer,"Guardian "There is nothing else quite like this series of police procedurals. James is concerned with the dilemmas and difficulties of policing Britain's inner cities, and he addresses these in hard-edged narratives that leave readers gasping and flinching, praying the...

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...

Rivals ACC Desmond Iles and DCI Colin Harpur are confronted with a murder that threatens to tip the dangerous balance among the drug barons and the police.

Pursued from the shadows, Simon Pilgrim fled in terror from the floating restaurant Eton Boating Song. In the bar on the Eton, he had the choice spot, discreetly purveying high-stakes drugs to the Eton'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. Naomi Anstruther, a cop, is sent undercover into this turbulent drug world. Right away she becomes an unknowing pawn in the rival criminals' plans-and in the complex struggle between Harpur and his rival, ACC Desmond Iles. When Naomi's cover is...

"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...

Fear grips the drug underworld after two principals in the trade are murdered, and even ACC Desmond Iles is under a cloud of suspicion. Now the chief players start closing in on a fortune, while Iles, Chief Constable Mark Lane, and Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur plunge into their own fierce struggle to control the game.

"The detective is dead" because the old process of justice doesn't work any more. No one, including Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, would testify at the trial; Harpur refused to name his informant. The three murderers who were being tried are part of a savage underworld struggle for the lucrative domain of the late drug baron Kenward Knapp. The story opens as the three assemble at Ralph Embers's seedy club "The Monty" to celebrate their acquittal. The key player behind the scenes is ambitious drug dealer Keith Vine, now an informant for Harpur. Vine's partners have been murdered...