Wolves of Memory (Harpur & Iles Mysteries) - Hardcover

Bill James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845291263 ISBN 13: 9781845291266

Publisher: Constable, 2005

Synopsis

"Savagely comic and expertly choreographed." —The Guardian

A large, carefully plotted "cash-in-transit" raid goes hopelessly awry when armed policemen intervene to seize the perpetrators. Relatives and friends of the incarcerated are convinced that information—the date, the time—was leaked by the only man to escape before his arrest. Deputy Constable Colin Harpur and Assistant Constable Desmond Iles are delegated the job of hiding and protecting the informant and his family.

About this title

About the Author

Bill James has been called "the Elmore Leonard of Britain's underworld" (Kirkus Reviews) and has been named a "Master of Crime" in a mystery roundup by the London Sunday Times, which said, "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 people in these stories never come to live in their streets." In addition to the Harpur and Iles series, James is the author of other mystery series and a book on Anthony Powell. He lives in Wales.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* James is a grand-master crime writer and deserves high kudos for his Harpur & Iles series, which stands, with Ian Rankin's Rebus series and John Harvey's Charlie Resnick novels, at the very apex of the British police-procedural mountain. Filled with savagely biting humor, caustic repartee, and an unsettling sense of foreboding, James' latest entry will have readers shivering with horror while simultaneously laughing like loons at the spiteful verbal jousting between tastefully garbed, acid-tongued ACC Desmond Iles and his Oxfam-suited, insult-hurling sidekick, Colin Harpur. The story is slight--it's James' brilliant phrasing, pacing, and plotting and his bizarre characters that set this book apart. Master criminal Ian Ballion has committed the creme de la crime by grassing on his partners, becoming what's known in policing terms as a Covert Human Intelligence Source. To protect Ballion from violent retribution--he has, after all, finked on members of London's top organized-crime family--he and his family are being "clandestinely resettled" on Harpur and Iles' patch. New identities and a new life don't, however, remove the threat of retribution, and it's Harpur and Iles' job to make sure the family stays safe. As Harpur and Iles trade insults as nasty as pepper spray, the hint of menace grows into a high velocity, kick-in-the-teeth ending that reconfirms the exceedingly fine line between good and evil. Emily Melton
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Edition details

• Publisher: Constable
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1845291263
• ISBN 13: 9781845291266
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224