Death of a Nobody

Lambert and Hook #8

by J.M. Gregson

Superintendent John Lambert is enjoying a fine spring evening alone on the golf course – until he spots a man calling to him from the nearby shelter.

It’s a rendezvous the pair have used before. Secrecy is important to them both, but to informant Charlie Pegg, it’s the difference between life and death.

A few days later, at half past nine, Lambert receives a Pegg has intel on notorious gangster Jim Berridge. But by midnight, the informant’s body is bleeding into a gutter.

Lambert knows it was a professional job, by men operating in the big leagues. These men feel safe even when the police are watching. They’re confident nobody has the evidence to lock them up. But the night he was murdered, Pegg obviously did.

If Lambert and Hook can decipher his breadcrumb trail, they’ll have the criminal for life.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie Pegg is a police informer and a reliable one. He is also a carpenter and general handyman which gives him plenty of opportunities for picking up bits of information. He does some work at a block of luxury flats, thanks to his friend George Lewis who is porter there, and as a result often works in the penthouse flat belonging to local businessman and criminal James Berridge. Unfortunately this time his activities have led him into trouble and he is murdered one night in a dark alley.

Lambert and Hook have a pretty good idea from the start who ordered the killing but they need to prove it and prove which of Berridge's muscle men did it. But Berridge is found shot dead in his car before they can unravel the case and work out what Pegg was going to tell them. This time no one wants to find the killer as everyone - police and associates - hated and feared the dead man but justice must be done.

I found this a tense well written crime novel with some interesting themes of justice and retribution. It shows how men who impose their will be violence often meet their untimely ends by violence. Lambert and Hook as ever work well together but DI Chris Rushton is starting to improve and together they all make a formidable team.

I recommend this series and the author's Percy Peach series to anyone who likes their crime stories with not too much on the page violence and bad language. The novels can be read as standalone stories and both series can be read in any order.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie Pegg is an informant for the police. Then he is found dead in a gutter. Lambert and Hook have to figure out what happened with some very dangerous suspects being in the mob!

Good police procedural. Enjoyed reading it.

[Sheridan Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book quickly took my attention as the characters were equally likeable/hateful.
The storyline itself was gripping from the get-go and I couldn't wait to read further to find out who and what and why!
I give this book an 8/10 and look forward to reading more from JM Gregson.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carpenter, Charlie Pegg, but also a police informat for Superintendent Lambert. His job means he can collect secrets. Was that why he was killed. That is the first murder Lambert and his team investigate but not the last.
An enterataining mystery
Originally published in 1995