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Nick Miller #2
Brought in Dead
After a long night on the job, Detective Sergeant Nick Miller is on his way home - only to become the first policeman at the scene of a young woman's mysterious suicide. What's odd is that she tried to conceal her identity before taking her own life.
Miller follows a hazardous trail through London's seamy underworld to find the powerful gangster responsible for the girl's fate, only to watch him walk out of court a free man. But the dead girl's father swears to exact justice, with or without the law on his side...
Miller follows a hazardous trail through London's seamy underworld to find the powerful gangster responsible for the girl's fate, only to watch him walk out of court a free man. But the dead girl's father swears to exact justice, with or without the law on his side...
229 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
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372 people want to read
About the author
Harry Patterson
48 books29 followersOne of the many pseudonyms used by Henry Patterson. See Jack Higgins for more complete information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
August 8, 2019
Detective Sergeant Nick Miller was shocked at the look on the girl’s face. Eyes wide open, looking appealingly at him, it was hard to believe she was dead. As Miller searched for identification, then notified the family of her demise, the other side of the coin showed a man Miller already knew. The powerful identity was a known criminal – although they could get nothing to stick – but Miller and the girl’s father knew he was the cause of her death. Would Miller find a way to make the criminal pay?
Brought in Dead is the 2nd in the Nick Miller series by Jack Higgins and was originally published in 1967. Reissued by Harper Collins in 2012, it has allowed those of us who hadn’t read it in the past, to enjoy Higgins’ earlier editions. Fast paced and a quick read, the action was full-on with a typical good guys/bad guys scenario. I thoroughly enjoyed Brought in Dead and recommend it highly.
Brought in Dead is the 2nd in the Nick Miller series by Jack Higgins and was originally published in 1967. Reissued by Harper Collins in 2012, it has allowed those of us who hadn’t read it in the past, to enjoy Higgins’ earlier editions. Fast paced and a quick read, the action was full-on with a typical good guys/bad guys scenario. I thoroughly enjoyed Brought in Dead and recommend it highly.
December 3, 2025
I love Jack Higgins’ early stuff the best, and this Nick Miller story — the best of three in my opinion — is no exception. In books like Khufra Run and The Last Place God Made, Higgins seemed as though he’d been hold up somewhere reading spicy adventure and action pulps, finally deciding to tackle on himself. Here we get Higgins’ early spin on a rip-roaring police procedural — British style, of course — from 1967, and it’s great fun.
Detective Sergeant Nick Miller discovers the body of a young woman in the river. While at first it has the earmarks of suicide, it quickly becomes apparent that it wasn’t. The standard yet colorful cast of characters include a former British Colonel from special ops who was the dead woman’s father, the colonel's other daughter, who makes a lovely romantic interest for Miller, and a nightclub owner moving in on all things illegal. Brought in Dead is an enjoyable pulp-style tale of the drug trade and a father’s attempt to mete out justice because Miller and Brady are constrained by the need for legal proof.
Brought in Dead is an early one from Higgins for sure, but it's a fun and entertaining tale that practically turns its own pages. There’s humor, a dash of romance, some good investigating moments, colorful characters, and a breezy narrative driving Brought in Dead. Just a ripper of a read that’s great fun for fans of Higgins, but perhaps less so for others. Higgins is at his lean, bare bones, pulp storytelling best in Brought in Dead, and that's just fine with me.
Detective Sergeant Nick Miller discovers the body of a young woman in the river. While at first it has the earmarks of suicide, it quickly becomes apparent that it wasn’t. The standard yet colorful cast of characters include a former British Colonel from special ops who was the dead woman’s father, the colonel's other daughter, who makes a lovely romantic interest for Miller, and a nightclub owner moving in on all things illegal. Brought in Dead is an enjoyable pulp-style tale of the drug trade and a father’s attempt to mete out justice because Miller and Brady are constrained by the need for legal proof.
Brought in Dead is an early one from Higgins for sure, but it's a fun and entertaining tale that practically turns its own pages. There’s humor, a dash of romance, some good investigating moments, colorful characters, and a breezy narrative driving Brought in Dead. Just a ripper of a read that’s great fun for fans of Higgins, but perhaps less so for others. Higgins is at his lean, bare bones, pulp storytelling best in Brought in Dead, and that's just fine with me.
June 18, 2021
Gritty
Another gritty action packed story. It was intruiging. I like Nick Miller, and Chuck, and the rest of the cast. I like Duncan Craig, too.
Another gritty action packed story. It was intruiging. I like Nick Miller, and Chuck, and the rest of the cast. I like Duncan Craig, too.
January 5, 2026
I grabbed this book to read on the plane. Once I got to the airport and started it, I realized I'd read it already, but it was the book I had. It's actually pretty well written and flows pretty well, so I didn't mind reading it again.
Bits and pieces are a bit implausible, but not outlandishly so. The characters are all pretty believable. Some of the interactions between them are nicely laid out while others are just glossed over, but that's really ok. Otherwise the book would have been too long and drifted away from the primary storyline.
My main complaint the book just ends rather anti-climacticly. Part of me is disappointed and part of me thinks it's a bit implausible. But mostly it's just, "oh, we're done?"
Bits and pieces are a bit implausible, but not outlandishly so. The characters are all pretty believable. Some of the interactions between them are nicely laid out while others are just glossed over, but that's really ok. Otherwise the book would have been too long and drifted away from the primary storyline.
My main complaint the book just ends rather anti-climacticly. Part of me is disappointed and part of me thinks it's a bit implausible. But mostly it's just, "oh, we're done?"
June 14, 2025
Decent but why have a 3 series on a character if he isn't the focus of #2. Craig was the better character.
September 24, 2025
Typical Higgins novel and a fun read
March 27, 2019
3.5 Stars is about right for this story... an enjoyable read without any depth...
July 15, 2021
The second in Higgins' Sergeant Nick Miller series and it's a good crime story. Bringing back most of the characters from the first novel. In this one a young girl has gotten drunk and was shot up with heroin while she was out at a party held by a big hotshot club owner with criminal connections. She started going back to him to get more since she was hooked and slowly it destroyed her til she took her life. Now Miller has to prove it, which doesn't look possible. Though he may not have to, the girl's dad is a very capable man and he is declaring war.
Highly recommended, not read a bad Higgins novel yet. This one moves at a fast pace and never bores you.
Highly recommended, not read a bad Higgins novel yet. This one moves at a fast pace and never bores you.
March 5, 2022
The twentieth jack higgins /martin fallon /hugh marlowe /harry patterson /Henry patterson novel brought in dead published in 1967. nick miller returns in this second book in the series. An interesting police procedural about a body found in the river. The first half deals with solving the mystery of her identity and how she ended up dead. The second half really kicks into high gear when the tale of revenge comes to the forefront.
February 28, 2023
Wonderful reading. Nick Miller is my new favorite detective.
A girl is found dead. When he figures out why she would commit suicide he learns a mobster injected her with heroin turning a promising artist and wonderful woman into a junkie.
Her father, Craig goes after the bad guys with a wonderfully adept vengeance and great strategy
Delightful
A girl is found dead. When he figures out why she would commit suicide he learns a mobster injected her with heroin turning a promising artist and wonderful woman into a junkie.
Her father, Craig goes after the bad guys with a wonderfully adept vengeance and great strategy
Delightful
March 7, 2014
A very early story from Jack Higgins a police procedural which ends with Colonel Craig being unable to leave Maxwell to die. Although he will be serving a very long prison sentence.
April 2, 2018
Fast paced story , a page turner if there ever was one . A book about murder and retribution.
October 25, 2022
Jack higgins
The second book in the series Nick Miller what a read going to buy the third book what a author
The second book in the series Nick Miller what a read going to buy the third book what a author
April 13, 2020
Set in England in the 1960s, about one year after the events of ‘The Graveyard Shift’, Nick Miller investigates an apparent suicide in another police procedural novel, the second in the Nick Miller series (‘The Graveyard Shift’; ‘Brought in Dead’; ‘Hell Is Always Today’). Of the three, in my opinion this is the best and most closely resembles the more typical Jack Higgins yarn.
The plot is simple enough: Miller investigates the apparent suicide of a young woman, Joanna Craig, who is discovered to have been corrupted through heroine addiction by the local gangster-cum-businessman, Maxwell Vernon, a former military officer. Complicating matters is Joanna’s father, Colonel Duncan Craig, now a successful businessman at the vanguard of the electronics industry. Seeking vengeance, he wages a one-man war against Vernon, using commando tactics to singlehandedly dismantle Vernon’s criminal empire, piece by piece.
There is greater depth to the characters: Miller returns as the detective with a fierce sense of purpose and strong moral compass; Jack Brady develops as the older policeman, now in full acceptance of Miller’s higher position in the CID; Colonel Craig is a man of discipline, honour, self-control and military skill; Max Vernon cuts a villainous figure with a truly devious nature (far better characterised than Harry Faulkner, the villain in ‘The Graveyard Shift’); Chuck Lazer returns as a reformed drug addict, now a successful casino owner/operator and loyal friend to Miller.
This novel is interesting for two reasons: firstly, it explores how men with money and means engage in manipulation with malevolence (particularly when Vernon reveals that his desire for Joanna was born out of his predilection to twist one’s virtue); secondly, it provides an early illustration of electronic surveillance equipment that, when the novel was written, would have been almost unheard of and therefore very innovative.
Highlights for me include Craig’s fiery destruction of Vernon’s riverside warehouse, references back to events of ‘The Graveyard Shift’ (namely the demise of Harry Faulkner and his Flamingo Club), and the final confrontation in the isolated marshes - the imagery is simply stunning!
The Nick Miller series is a great read, but it does not compare with the Paul Chavasse series.
The Jack Higgins novels often contain numerous similarities: ‘A Prayer for the Dying’ also features a Detective Nick Miller, although it is unlikely to be the same character, as that one is street-smart rather than academically accomplished; the final marsh scene is redolent of similar marsh scenes in ‘Wrath of the Lion’, ‘Toll for the Brave’, ‘Sad Wind from the Sea’, ‘A Prayer for the Dying’; the burning down of Vernon’s warehouse is strikingly similar to the burning down of a farm house in ‘Night Judgement at Sinos’ which describes black silhouettes against bright flames in the night. If you know of other similarities, please comment.
Feel free to read my other reviews.
© François
The plot is simple enough: Miller investigates the apparent suicide of a young woman, Joanna Craig, who is discovered to have been corrupted through heroine addiction by the local gangster-cum-businessman, Maxwell Vernon, a former military officer. Complicating matters is Joanna’s father, Colonel Duncan Craig, now a successful businessman at the vanguard of the electronics industry. Seeking vengeance, he wages a one-man war against Vernon, using commando tactics to singlehandedly dismantle Vernon’s criminal empire, piece by piece.
There is greater depth to the characters: Miller returns as the detective with a fierce sense of purpose and strong moral compass; Jack Brady develops as the older policeman, now in full acceptance of Miller’s higher position in the CID; Colonel Craig is a man of discipline, honour, self-control and military skill; Max Vernon cuts a villainous figure with a truly devious nature (far better characterised than Harry Faulkner, the villain in ‘The Graveyard Shift’); Chuck Lazer returns as a reformed drug addict, now a successful casino owner/operator and loyal friend to Miller.
This novel is interesting for two reasons: firstly, it explores how men with money and means engage in manipulation with malevolence (particularly when Vernon reveals that his desire for Joanna was born out of his predilection to twist one’s virtue); secondly, it provides an early illustration of electronic surveillance equipment that, when the novel was written, would have been almost unheard of and therefore very innovative.
Highlights for me include Craig’s fiery destruction of Vernon’s riverside warehouse, references back to events of ‘The Graveyard Shift’ (namely the demise of Harry Faulkner and his Flamingo Club), and the final confrontation in the isolated marshes - the imagery is simply stunning!
The Nick Miller series is a great read, but it does not compare with the Paul Chavasse series.
The Jack Higgins novels often contain numerous similarities: ‘A Prayer for the Dying’ also features a Detective Nick Miller, although it is unlikely to be the same character, as that one is street-smart rather than academically accomplished; the final marsh scene is redolent of similar marsh scenes in ‘Wrath of the Lion’, ‘Toll for the Brave’, ‘Sad Wind from the Sea’, ‘A Prayer for the Dying’; the burning down of Vernon’s warehouse is strikingly similar to the burning down of a farm house in ‘Night Judgement at Sinos’ which describes black silhouettes against bright flames in the night. If you know of other similarities, please comment.
Feel free to read my other reviews.
© François
March 1, 2025
Nick Miller bir suçluyu sorgular ve dışarı çıkar. Deniz kenarında bir sigara içecektir ama aşağıya bakınca bir ceset görür. Genç bir kız cesedidir ve üzerinde kimliğe benzer tek şey Joanna Martin yazan bir kolyedir. Otopsi sonucu kızın uyuşturucu bağımlısı ve 2 aylık hamile olduğu ortaya çıkar. Ölümden dönen ve çalışmaya başlayan yardımcısı Jack Brady ile olayı araştırmaya başlar. Amiri Grant'e rapor verir. Bu ölümde bir gariplik vardır. Martha Grey adında bir kız ile görüşür. En başta onu tanımadığını, sadece iyi resim yaptığını söyler. Ama artık mekan sahibi olan Chuck Lazer'ın yardımı ile Martha'nın da çalıştığı Flamingo'ya gittiğini öğrenir. Kurallara uyan bir gangster olan Max Vernon'un yanında çalışan Martha, kızın Vernon'un yüzünden uyuşturucu bağımlısı olduğunu söyler. Okul ile yapılan görüşmede Joanna Craig olduğu ortaya çıkar. Ablası Harriet ve babası Albay Craig'e acı haber verilir. Dava görülür ama Vernon'u suçlayacak bir şey yoktur. Miller, Daniel Craig'den şüphelenir. O da zaten Vernon'a dünyayı dar edeceğini söyler. En başta Grant buna inanmaz. Harriet ve Nick kumarhaneye gider ve hileli zarlar sebebiyle kumarhane kapanır. Yardımcısı Stratton'u Craig üzerine salar ama o ölür. Morgan adlı birine banka soygunu teklif eder ama Craig onların yakalanmasını sağlar. Vernon'a ait bir içki deposunu yakar. Miller da Chuck Lazer'a saldıracak kopilleri yakalar. Max Vernon zor durumdadır Ama Craig ile hesaplamak ister. Onun bataklık kıyısındaki arsasına gider. Miller da oradadır. Ne olacaktır? Daniel Craig Vernon gibi soğukkanlılık ile onu öldürecek midir? Miller kolundan vurulduktan sonra ne yapacaktır? Keyifle soluksuz okunan bir roman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2022
Another freebee from the Folly Beach library. Det. Sgt. Nick Miller pulls the body of a young woman out of the canal. The coroner rules suicide. But why? She was a bookish art student … until she was turned into a desperate drug addict by crime boss Max Vernon. As Miller tries to nab Vernon, her father Duncan Craig tracks him down, beats up his henchmen, thwarts a robbery and finally has a showdown in the quicksand by the river. Pretty good, in an old-school kind of way.
July 18, 2025
The second out of three in the Nick Miller books. This one started out as a suicide and from the result of that comes a tale of revenge and justice. Miller actually takes a back seat to the two opposing characters. One SAS agent that is grieving and very upset with justice not being done. The villain is a smart, confident, and calm man who Miller realizes is dangerous. It's classic Higgins, and it is exciting. Highly suggest this one for a quick read. On to the next one.
November 29, 2018
Good book although it was set in England. The usual double agents but that was it. I agreed with Miller in his escapades. Did not believe suicide and he spent a lot of time pursuing his beliefs. I wonder about his other duties
August 6, 2022
By today's standards this is so anachronistic as to be laughable. However, it's a useful insight into a world of only c. 60 years ago, when women were birds and criminals were gents. Totally implausible, but a jolly caper nonetheless.
August 8, 2022
What's to happen next?!
Not as much "world-wide" movement of characters as Sean Collins series, but still a good read. The interactions/reactions of criminal, victims & law enforcement is fun to anticipate and try to predict.
Not as much "world-wide" movement of characters as Sean Collins series, but still a good read. The interactions/reactions of criminal, victims & law enforcement is fun to anticipate and try to predict.
September 15, 2022
Throughly enjoyable fast paced, classic crime writing that delves into a very gripping storyline.
This series is so easy to follow and is a nice welcome break from books that can be sluggish. Straight to the point and interesting but maybe conclude just a little too quickly!
This series is so easy to follow and is a nice welcome break from books that can be sluggish. Straight to the point and interesting but maybe conclude just a little too quickly!
November 24, 2023
This is one of the best Jack Higgins books I have had the pleasure of reading. Great pacing, characters, and descriptive finesse. I had not read a Nick Miller as hero novel as yet, and I'm sure I will get to experience many more.
Heroes and villains with no break in the action. Great fun!
Heroes and villains with no break in the action. Great fun!
October 17, 2024
An exciting thriller..
I enjoyed this thrilling novel a solid story with murder gangsters and an exciting ending, could see the TV movie with Edward Fox playing the role of Craig... Recommend to all Higgins fans..
I enjoyed this thrilling novel a solid story with murder gangsters and an exciting ending, could see the TV movie with Edward Fox playing the role of Craig... Recommend to all Higgins fans..
October 1, 2017
superb, throbbing, pulsating book
January 4, 2019
I enjoyed the story but the main character Nick Miller needs to be fleshed out more. Patrick Macnee is just fantastic as the reader bringing the various characters to life.
January 23, 2019
ok not his best writings
April 23, 2019
Very dated but still a fun read to see what it was like in London in early 60’s
Read
June 24, 2019character nick miller
January 7, 2020
Another solid thriller from the maestro
October 12, 2022
A 1967 Higgins book that would still work today. There are always ex-British soldiers - good and bad - readily available for a plot of murder - and revenge.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews