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Harpur & Iles #17
Kill Me
"[A] terrific series.... Get these books; settle into peril and chaos."― Bloomsbury Review Naomi Anstruther's undercover operation among the drug gangs, planned carefully by Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, has ended in a bloody shoot-out. Naomi escapes, but both her ex-boyfriend and her current lover―who shouldn't have been there―are dead. Now the biggest danger to Naomi is a young woman named Esme, who believes that she and Naomi should personally avenge Donald's and Lyndon's deaths.
"One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."―Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "[A] black and zestful police series.... Matchless stuff by the genre's finest stylist."― Literary Review "One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."―Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "A tremendous writer. . . . Where else can you find a mystery series with as many layers of gorgeous stuff?"― Chicago Tribune "Bill James's Harpur and Iles books are deliciously unsavory.―John Harvey, "The Crime Writer's Crime Writer," The Guardian "[A] brilliantly stylish series of novels .... A unique author who is an acquired habit, but once discovered, impossible to kick."― Daily Express [London], Frances Fyfield "British mystery writing's finest prose stylist...startling, achingly funny and sometimes wholly surreal.... Essential reading."― The Observer [London], Peter Guttridge
"One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."―Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "[A] black and zestful police series.... Matchless stuff by the genre's finest stylist."― Literary Review "One of the most exquisitely sardonic stylists writing crime fiction today."―Richard Lopez, Washington Post Book World "A tremendous writer. . . . Where else can you find a mystery series with as many layers of gorgeous stuff?"― Chicago Tribune "Bill James's Harpur and Iles books are deliciously unsavory.―John Harvey, "The Crime Writer's Crime Writer," The Guardian "[A] brilliantly stylish series of novels .... A unique author who is an acquired habit, but once discovered, impossible to kick."― Daily Express [London], Frances Fyfield "British mystery writing's finest prose stylist...startling, achingly funny and sometimes wholly surreal.... Essential reading."― The Observer [London], Peter Guttridge
Paperback
First published May 1, 2000
26 people want to read
About the author
Bill James
61 books26 followersBill 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)
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)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 16, 2021
Il meno soddisfacente della serie. E' come se gli mancasse un baricentro, e il personaggio di Naomi è troppo debole per catalizzare l'attenzione.
January 23, 2011
Having read about five of the Harpur & Iles books in a row now, Kill Me is trending back into grittier, more serious territory. Reading these books isn't so much like reading a novel as it is a long chapter in some larger, epic work.
Kill Me focuses on the disappearance of a lower level drugs dealer in Manse Shale and Panicking Ralphie's tenuous drugs empire; and all the subsequent suspicions, double crossings and machinations that are thrown into motion because of it.
As typical of James' Harpur & Iles series, things never get completely explained and loose ends are left lying about. James rewards dedicated readers by carrying some of those loose ends through in other novels.
Well worth a read, but probably not the book for a first time reader to drop into the story line on.
Kill Me focuses on the disappearance of a lower level drugs dealer in Manse Shale and Panicking Ralphie's tenuous drugs empire; and all the subsequent suspicions, double crossings and machinations that are thrown into motion because of it.
As typical of James' Harpur & Iles series, things never get completely explained and loose ends are left lying about. James rewards dedicated readers by carrying some of those loose ends through in other novels.
Well worth a read, but probably not the book for a first time reader to drop into the story line on.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews