Bales & Co : A Financial Crime Thriller Series

by Lee Timms, Hugh Barker (Editor)

Peter ‘Bales’ Bailey uncovers financial crime for a living. He’s very good at it.

Saying no to Katie, a feisty personal trainer with a tax problem? Less so.

Katie’s brother is involved in something far nastier than late tax returns. Something people are willing to kill for. And now- through a mix of bad luck and worse judgement - so is Bales.

Dragged from Cambridge’s quiet boardrooms into corners of the city he never knew existed, Bales is about to learn a hard truth. Being brilliant with numbers offers very little protection when people want you dead.

Bales & Co is a sharp financial thriller set in Cambridge, England - perfect for fans of LEE CHILD, JOHN GRISHAM, MICHAEL CONNELLY, HARLAN COBEN and JOHN SANDFORD.

Book 3 - “No Reconciliation" Coming May 2026.

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2024

About the author

Lee Timms writes thrillers about money, murder, and the occasional missing biscuit tin. His Bales & Co series introduces Peter “Bales” Bailey, a forensic accountant with a Jaguar and too much curiosity, and Katie Taylor, his dynamic partner who knows how to land a punch when audits don’t cut it.
Lee lives near Cambridge with his partner Vanessa and dog Luna, and insists his own accounts are mostly reconciled.

Reviews

[Mr Mark Hawksford]

Bales & Co

I saw this book in an email sent to me and with it being set in Cambridge, which is close to where I live, and reading the synopsis made me download it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and characters. It had quite a lot of action and humour within it. I did think at one point that the ending was a little weak, but the final pages changed my view. I will be looking to download the next in the series. 4.75 out of 5. A good read.

[Mary Blackhurst]

Very enjoyable

A good plot and good writing. I am engaged enough with Bales to worry about his drinking, and Katie is a delight (I'll buying the next one just to see how she solves her tax affairs - or rather, how Bales solves them.) Just one thing - did Josh and Will have passports? It seems unlikely, but they couldn't get to Tenerife without them.

[K S Hawkes]

A good read

I very much enjoyed the story and found that the chapter endings made me want to keep reading.

The characters were also good but I would have liked a little more of their back stories as I think they would have been more rounded.

That said, I hope there is another one in the series!

[David Glover]

Loved the pace and the characters. I think it's a cross between Dick Francis and Lee Childs. Nice to have Cambridgeshire references. I think they would probably have both been arrested on suspicion of murder but that would spoil the story!!!!!

[Mrs Maureen]

Great start for Bales and Co.

A thoroughly enjoyable and crazy crime book, Bales and Katie manage to find and sort out Bales current forensic accounting case, and find the reason Katie's brother and friend were being hunted by a couple of 'heavies' which in turn ends up with the 'boss' arrested and awaiting a court hearing ... I cant wait for the next installment 👌

[Mrs J]

Great read

For a first novel it's a great read.
Good plot laughs a plenty and keeps you hooked can't wait to read for more adventures

[Elspeth Reid]

Very entertaining

[Jeff P]

An easy and fun read featuring a forensic accountant as its hero. Not entirely sure how realistic the whole Bales and Katie set-up is, and I’m a bit surprised that Bales encourages a pro bono client to commit tax fraud (though perhaps I’ve just had a sheltered upbringing). But I really liked the dry humour that pervades the book, whether it is the Mini-hating Bales sitting with his back to the sun so as not to emphasise his receding hairline, or weighing up the odds of getting his leg over with a new female, or optimistically asking a lesbian (with whom he is forced to share a room) if she fancies pushing their two beds closer together. You get the idea. Oh, and some might find the use of the F word excessive, even if in practice Bales is probably the sort of guy to use it, um, excessively.

[Angela Cottee]

Disappointed

I wanted this to be good. I move in the accounting world, Cambridge is local and then the added bonus that one of my favorite places Southwold play a part in the plot. But the truth is I found myself skipping lines towards the end whilst in the trees and I could not see the reason why they did not call the police at least 6 paragraphs before the end. Over all disappointed.

[Denise]

Should have been good