The Murder Exchange - Softcover

Kernick, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552164321 ISBN 13: 9780552164320

Publisher: Corgi, 2011

Synopsis

Five grand for a couple of hours’ work? That’s what nightclub owner Roy Fowler’s offering ex-mercenary Max Iversson to act as security for a meeting he’s having with the ‘businessmen’ who are supposedly buying his club. But when they turn up at the deserted north London industrial estate where the meeting’s taking place, things go wrong and three men end up dead, including two of Iversson’s colleagues. Now he wants to know who’s behind the killings.

Detective Sergeant John Gallan is also looking for answers. He’s investigating the fatal poisoning by snakebite of a doorman from Fowler’s club. Lead are scarce and when they do appear so do bodies.

But Gallan keeps digging away, unearthing in the process a murderous conspiracy spanning this investigation and another, more heinous murder that’s been shelved, unsolved, for a long time. Unknown to each other, he and Iversson are also heading towards a final, devastating confrontation from which neither man is likely to emerge intact.
From the Paperback edition.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

By the author of The Business of Dying -- a gritty, page-turner set in North London's meanest of mean streets.

When Max Iversson, an ex-soldier and mercenary who is now co-director of a small firm of freelance bodyguards, is introduced to north London nightclub owner, Roy Fowler, he senses immediately that the guy is trouble. Fowler wants security for a meeting with some people who want to buy his nightclub. Five grand for a couple of hours' work is too tempting a proposition to turn down, so Iversson -- against his better judgment -- takes on the job. However, when he and two colleagues accompany Fowler to the "meet" in a deserted north London industrial estate, it turns out to be not so much a double-cross as a bloodbath. With Fowler and both bodyguards dead, Iversson grabs the briefcase containing the deeds to the club, and vacates the scene rapidly.

But the suitcase is empty, which makes no sense at all. Three men have been shot, and Iversson wants to know why. So begins a hunt for answers that will take him into dangerous territory, and also into direct conflict with Detective Sergeant Gallan. Gallan is investigating the same people and sniffing around the same territory. But he's like a dog with a bone -- he just keeps digging away, unearthing in the process a murderous conspiracy. Both men are playing with fire and unknown to each other are heading towards a final confrontation with forces as ruthless as they are determined, and from which neither man is likely to emerge in one piece.

About the Author:

Simon Kernick is in his thirties and lives near London with his wife and daughter. His first novel is The Business of Dying.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corgi
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0552164321
• ISBN 13: 9780552164320
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448