The Girl with the Long Back

Harpur & Iles #20

by Bill James

Harpur and Iles are back on the scene, and this time the danger is even closer to home. With the rumored transfer of Chief of Police Mark Lane, London's competitive drug lords are on edge. In the past, 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, to preempt the new regime, the drug gangs begin a struggle for dominance. Adding to this volatile situation, Harpur sends a female undercover agent to infiltrate one of the gangs. 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.

A deliciously witty addition to a classic series, The Girl with the Long Back heightens the urgency and pace of the tantalizing London underworld in which cops and criminals, and all of their clever asides, are sketched in fantastic detail.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Bill James (born 1929) is a pseudonym of James Tucker, a Welsh novelist. He also writes under his own name and the pseudonyms David Craig and Judith Jones. He was a reporter with the Daily Mirror and various other newspapers after serving with the RAF He is married, with four children, and lives in South Wales.

The bulk of his output under the Bill James pseudonym is the Harpur and Iles series. Colin Harpur is a Detective Chief Inspector and Desmond Iles is the Assistant Chief Constable in an unnamed coastal city in southwestern England. Harpur and Iles are complemented by an evolving cast of other recurring characters on both sides of the law. The books are characterized by a grim humour and a bleak view of the relationship between the public, the police force and the criminal element. The first few are designated "A Detective Colin Harpur Novel" but as the series progressed they began to be published with the designation "A Harpur & Iles Mystery".

His best known work, written under the "David Craig" pseudonym and originally titled Whose Little Girl are You, is The Squeeze, which was turned into a film starring Stacy Keach, Edward Fox and David Hemmings. The fourth Harpur & Iles novel, Protection, was televised by the BBC in 1996 as Harpur & Iles, starring Aneirin Hughes as Harpur and Hywel Bennett as Iles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James_(novelist)

Reviews

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series specializes in the slow build-up but it finally appears, after many books, that the status quo between the police and the drug firms may be evolving. I keep reading these books for the highly unrealistic but entertaining dialogue and the interactions between the extremely unique characters that populate the series.

[Herzog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb Harpur and Iles mystery. I find the dialogue very appealing in the way two characters converse but never answer each other's direct questions. I also find it quite amusing the way Iles will go off on a rant to Harpur about his cuckolding of Iles' wife, yet Harpur never responds. Harpur's daughters, Hazel and Jill, also add a great deal with their readiness to receive Harpur's visitors at all hours. I'm so happy that there quite a few books left in this series.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy slice of the rich Harpur and Isles cake. Straightforward plotting without much depth if you didn't know the score. It is given the latter as long as you are dropping back into the lives and foibles of the cast, Panicking, Shale, Lane, Lamb, the flirty daughters and the anonymous seaside town, where the World War Two battlements look out to the bastard, relentless waves that nearly did for old Ralph once, his scar almost bleeding profusely into the brine. Long may the saga continue.

[Mgipple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of the books from this series just appeared in my room so I am reading them. They are just stories about this detective in a town in England. Not incredible, but not bad. Good dialog.