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Harpur & Iles #1
You'd Better Believe It
Harpur's domain is a small seaport city south of London. It's not unusual for the big-town criminals to consider such a spot as easy prey. At such times a policeman must rely keenly upon his colleagues, to be sure, and also upon his retinue of narks. This time it's a local bank branch that's the target.
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
3 people are currently reading
122 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 12, 2010
As Punch often said in the Punch and Judy skits: "Now THAT'S the way to do it!"
Writing police procedurals, that is.
I first read Bill James' "Roses, Roses" --which is actually the tenth book in the Harpur and Iles series --and it instantly made my "ten best" list of mystery novels.
I couldn't wait to go back and read the series from the beginning, but finding a copy of "You'd Better Believe It" in the US proved difficult. Ten years later, I finally got a copy and devoured it.
Knowing how great the later "Roses, Roses" is, I couldn't help but notice that this first effort is weaker, but there are strokes of genius: character development (of the show, don't tell variety), complicated ethical and moral dilemmas on the part of the police, and a blurring between good guys and bad guys.
This is an almost-perfect example of how a book can be gritty and street-smart, yet still be intelligent. I only say "almost-perfect," because I know James' style is only going to get better.
I can't wait for the ride.
Writing police procedurals, that is.
I first read Bill James' "Roses, Roses" --which is actually the tenth book in the Harpur and Iles series --and it instantly made my "ten best" list of mystery novels.
I couldn't wait to go back and read the series from the beginning, but finding a copy of "You'd Better Believe It" in the US proved difficult. Ten years later, I finally got a copy and devoured it.
Knowing how great the later "Roses, Roses" is, I couldn't help but notice that this first effort is weaker, but there are strokes of genius: character development (of the show, don't tell variety), complicated ethical and moral dilemmas on the part of the police, and a blurring between good guys and bad guys.
This is an almost-perfect example of how a book can be gritty and street-smart, yet still be intelligent. I only say "almost-perfect," because I know James' style is only going to get better.
I can't wait for the ride.
November 24, 2017
Even though you'll want to see the protagonist get out of the scrapes he gets into, and to have him succeed in his police work, you'll realize that he is a real shit! Kudos to the author for coming at you from an unusual angle.
November 26, 2011
A client recommended this to me. It's a taunt and terse, very British thriller about a cop's relationship with his confidential informants (or "narks," as they're called in the book -- very confusing for an American reader!). Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur has been told by one of his shadiest informants that a big bank robbery is about to go down. But he has to be cautious with his firepower, as he's only recently been the target of an investigation into a shooting that created a lot of unwanted attention from the press. An overeager young cop takes the investigation into his own hands and ends up murdered, causing Harpur to balance his need to find the killer with his need to protect his informants, please his superiors and retain his reputation. Well written but too spare for me -- I like more meat on the bones.
April 4, 2019
This first entry in the lengthy (20+ books) "Harpur + Iles" series is an excellent introduction to the murky world of DCS Colin Harpur, a rising star of a police officer in his mid-30s who spends a great deal of his time wading through very morally gray territory. Set in a fictional small seaside city on England's southern coastline, the book kicks off with Harpur and his crew staking out a Lloyd's Bank branch that they've been tipped off is going to be hit by some gangsters down from London.
When the heavy hitters don't show, Harpur applies pressure to all informants great and small, including high-profile wide-boy Jack Lamb and a shifty Jamaican hospital porter, in order to find out when the heist has been rescheduled for. What he doesn't expect is that one of his own overzealous officers is going to go missing -- the same officer whose wife Harpur is lining up for a little bit of adultery. Matters are further complicated when various small time hoods start turning up dead, as it appears the London gang are clearing the way of loose lips before they stage their raid. And when the raid goes off halfway through the book, Harpur's ambush doesn't come off textbook perfect, and the ringleader escapes. Driven by guilt, anger, and even fear, tracking the villain down becomes personal for Harpur -- to the detriment of clear, rational thought.
What's nice about the story is that it doesn't take the usual police procedural tack of the detective doggedly pursuing leads and tracking down his quarry via hard work and inspiration. Rather, Harpur is often totally lost, and the case is all but written off by his superiors until events boomerang on him. Another nice element is that while the story is built upon Harpur's squeezing his informers for information, it becomes increasingly evident that the relationship is a two-way street, and Harpur is entangled and implicated in his informers' shady dealings to his own potential disgrace. The book is a quick read at 155 pages, and the characterization is a bit thin as events build to a nice climax and dovetail nice and neatly by the end. The essentials are all there, but Harpur's wife makes only a token few appearances, and it isn't until almost the end of the book that one of his children makes an appearance. Still, the book sets the stage for many interesting recurring characters, including the dead cop's widow, Harpur's informant Lamb, Harpur's underling Grayson, and Chief-in-waiting Iles, who spends the book literally lurking in the Chief's shadow, waiting for him to retire. The prose is crisp and economical, and the pacing is dead on. I look forward to the rest of the series.
When the heavy hitters don't show, Harpur applies pressure to all informants great and small, including high-profile wide-boy Jack Lamb and a shifty Jamaican hospital porter, in order to find out when the heist has been rescheduled for. What he doesn't expect is that one of his own overzealous officers is going to go missing -- the same officer whose wife Harpur is lining up for a little bit of adultery. Matters are further complicated when various small time hoods start turning up dead, as it appears the London gang are clearing the way of loose lips before they stage their raid. And when the raid goes off halfway through the book, Harpur's ambush doesn't come off textbook perfect, and the ringleader escapes. Driven by guilt, anger, and even fear, tracking the villain down becomes personal for Harpur -- to the detriment of clear, rational thought.
What's nice about the story is that it doesn't take the usual police procedural tack of the detective doggedly pursuing leads and tracking down his quarry via hard work and inspiration. Rather, Harpur is often totally lost, and the case is all but written off by his superiors until events boomerang on him. Another nice element is that while the story is built upon Harpur's squeezing his informers for information, it becomes increasingly evident that the relationship is a two-way street, and Harpur is entangled and implicated in his informers' shady dealings to his own potential disgrace. The book is a quick read at 155 pages, and the characterization is a bit thin as events build to a nice climax and dovetail nice and neatly by the end. The essentials are all there, but Harpur's wife makes only a token few appearances, and it isn't until almost the end of the book that one of his children makes an appearance. Still, the book sets the stage for many interesting recurring characters, including the dead cop's widow, Harpur's informant Lamb, Harpur's underling Grayson, and Chief-in-waiting Iles, who spends the book literally lurking in the Chief's shadow, waiting for him to retire. The prose is crisp and economical, and the pacing is dead on. I look forward to the rest of the series.
October 16, 2018
The reviews of this book aren't terrible, so I may need to chalk this up to it just not being my style, but I thought I could use something different to read. It's a London detective novel, but not with gripping characters or intriguing twists like Sherlock Holmes. There is no real mystery for the reader to solve, but instead, you find yourself just following a detective trying to fight a serial killer, seemingly by continuing to make poorer and poorer decisions. The ending was also very anticlimactic and disappointing for me. If I had to pick a bright spot, I'd say the character Greenville was the only character written well enough for me to feel anything for him, but he was only in a few pages.
August 22, 2019
Clipped sentences, dialogue full of jargon and British police slang just didn't make for me.
August 1, 2010
The first in a series I've always heard good things about. Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a purist and was more willing to start a series on the third or fourth book after it has hit its stride.
That said, this is a solid read that is as much a police procedural as it is a hard-boiled story. A rough and tough cop story that wastes no time. Quick, with some interesting character traits and moral gray areas that I am sure will continue to grow as the series progresses.
All the necessary potential to send me to the bookstore to get the next couple of books in the series.
That said, this is a solid read that is as much a police procedural as it is a hard-boiled story. A rough and tough cop story that wastes no time. Quick, with some interesting character traits and moral gray areas that I am sure will continue to grow as the series progresses.
All the necessary potential to send me to the bookstore to get the next couple of books in the series.
August 5, 2022
This Bill James is a pseudonym for James Tucker, a Welsh novelist, born in 1929. He is not associated with baseball.
The story is fast-paced and ends nicely, though not as expected. The dialog is full of British euphemisms so be ready. If you are a fan of British detective stories or shows, this is a good read.
The story is fast-paced and ends nicely, though not as expected. The dialog is full of British euphemisms so be ready. If you are a fan of British detective stories or shows, this is a good read.
May 31, 2015
I always like to try new mystery series that are recommended in the NYT book review column by Marilyn Stasio. This is a Welsh detective - pretty good, not great. Not sure if I would read the whole series.
March 5, 2009
Outstanding
January 6, 2015
Gritty police/criminal interaction in England.
November 16, 2016
A good read, well drawn characters, great action sequences, and a terrific plot.
April 30, 2013
Very complex and twisted. There's not an admirable character in the bunch.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews