Gun Street Girl

Nick Sharman Mystery #3

by Mark Timlin

Third in the Nick Sharman crime series, from the Spillane of Brit NoirIt starts when Nick Sharman's eye is caught by a woman in a fashionable West End store. She is young, beautiful, classy--and she is shoplifting. In a moment of gallantry, Sharman saves her from the indignity of being caught. The next thing he knows Elizabeth Pike is his client. One evening a few weeks before, her father, multimillionaire Sir Robert Pike, took his old service revolver and blew a hole in his head. Now the battle is on for control of his massive media empire. And someone is out to get his illegitimate daughter Catherine, a lovely young Australian with a checkered past. So Sharman has two women to protect. But from whom? As Sharman swaps the grimy streets of south London for the glamour and glitz of Mayfair, it soon becomes apparent that what lurks beneath the surface is as slimy and sleazy as anything he's encountered in Brixton, and twice as dangerous.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

aka Johnny Angelo, Tony Williams, Jim Ballantyne, Lee Martin.

Mark Timlin lives in east London, has a Rolex and drives flash old American cars.

Reviews

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardened London PI Nick Sharman sees light-fingered heiress Elizabeth Pike try to take cufflinks from a store, talks her out of it and hands her his card. Weeks later, he is retained by her as in-house security, swapping the viciousness of South London's ganglands for Mayfair's manicured claws. Her media-mogul father shot himself with his service revolver (or did he?) and her illegitimate half sister, Catherine, from Australia is receiving death threats.

The launch of a new magazine brings a host of delightful characters, a PR with hair tied in a ponytail, a coterie of hair stylists bitching, the introduction of that common little cow Fiona, a page 3 topless model. The wolves gather. The family for the reading of the will and beneficiaries of the media empire, a party for the glitterati disrupted when Catherine's stylist is hurled from the roof through the glass of the conservatory. The paparazzi swarm and the villains enter. Three Australians bent on extortion and murder...

This was a wonderful read, hard, gritty and funny, with a twist at the end; just as I like my books.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in the Nick Sharman series "Gun Street Girl" is not quite as good as its predecessor "Romeo's Tune". That said, it is a good read in its own right and builds to an impressive finale.
P.I. Nick is hired by a wealthy family to protect a step-daughter, Catherine, who has some undisclosed problem. The family believe she is in danger.
To be honest there is not much to the story - it could easily have fit into a novella.
Nick eats, drinks and makes merry as the plot unfolds around him. While the death count is much lower than "Romeo's Tune" there's enough gore at the end to satisfy Mark Timlin's fan.

[Warren Stalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the third novel of the Nick Sharman series by Mark Timlin, we find the tough London private detective trying to protect the wealthy Pike family from dangerous personal secrets. During the course of the story the narrative builds slowly, allowing Sharman’s character to really shine through before things get complicated, violent and painfully tragic. Timlin writes in a cool sardonic style giving Nick Sharman the wit of Raymond Chandler along with the toughness of Mickey Spillane all wrapped up with a gritty British slant. Sharman is an ex-cop, ex-drug addict who likes ladies, classic cars and booze for lunch. This is tough crime noir given a talented and stylish polish by the author. Although it’s not essential to have read the previous two novels A Good Year for the Roses and Romeo’s Tune before this one, they do give a greater background to Nick Sharman’s history. To conclude Gun Street Girl is brutal, shocking and gripping in equal measure and leaves me searching for the next book in the series.

[Steven Pilling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not read Sharman for so long. All the faults I remember are still present and correct but they are forgivable as the pace , the pastiche and the sheer fun (in the weirdest way you can have fun) exists.

Sharman is a lovely palate cleaner .

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

It rocks! Fantastic series and a flat out great anti-hero.