Astride a Grave

Harpur & Iles #8

by Bill James

Le gang qui a défrayé la chronique en braquant une banque à Exeter fait de nouveau parler de lui. Le bruit court que le cerveau, Oliver Leach alias "le diplomate", se serait réfugié sur le continent en emportant avec lui le gros du butin. Ses anciens complices, qui ont dû s''enfuir les mains vides, veulent récupérer leur part. Ils n''hésitent donc pas à enlever la fille d''Oliver, Lynette, pour obtenir une rançon.   En bon flic, Colin Harpur soutient Patsy, la mère de la jeune fille, mais cherche aussi à savoir où se cache son mari. Le seul qui sache vraiment où se trouve le "diplomate", c''est son vieux complice Ralph Ember, le propriétaire du club le Monty. Mais Ralph ne peut rien dire, et pour une bonne raison. Cela ne l''empêche pas de gagner les faveurs de Patsy.   Flics et voyous se côtoient dans de savants chassés-croisés orchestrés par Bill James, dans une vision à la fois sombre et drôle de leurs mondes, pas aussi éloignés qu''on pourrait le croire. Mais au milieu de ce jeu de massacre grinçant, l''auteur sait ménager des moments de sincérité, rappelant ainsi l''humanité de ses personnages qui ne sont souvent que des prolétaires ou des petits bourgeois aspirant à un monde hors de leur portée.   "De tous les écrivains qui s''aventurent sur ce territoire crépusculaire où flics et voyous avancent leurs pions, James doit être le plus drôle..." (The Sunday Times)

Genres: Mystery, Crime

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1995

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

[Sam Reaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody does cool cynicism as well as Bill James. Cops and robbers, and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. A concise, elliptical style, often very funny, a scorched-earth approach to the delusions and hypocrisies on both sides of the law. A master.

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all. The detective and his subordinate seemed to be thinly disguising a deep hatred for each other. They were also written in a sort of psychotic way, going from calm to furious at a moment's notice--sometimes directed at each other, sometimes at suspects. This mystery was just not to my taste.

[Doo Rag · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He showed all the dud teeth in a smile, an unbeatable range of blacks and greens, like some golfer's trousers."