Charlie Priest was a newly promoted sergeant on the Leeds force when he was called to the scene of a tragic fire, deliberately set. Now a DI in nearby Heckley, Charlie jumps at the chance to re-open the investigation when a message left by a suicide suggests new leads. By a combination of luck, detective work and, Charlie would say, soaring flight of the investigative imagination, he is soon closing in on the perpetrators, but a cornered villain with nothing to lose can be dangerous for a copper who'll take every kind of risk in the hunt for justice...
Stuart Pawson lived in Fairburn, Yorkshire, with his wife, Doreen.
After a career as a mining electrical engineer, he worked part-time for the probation service for five years, mediating between offenders and their victims. This gave him a good insight into the criminal justice system, and it was during this period that he started to write his first book, The Picasso Scam.
Stuart believed he must have some cowboy genes somewhere in his genome because he always had a strong affinity for the American West. His first visit to the USA was to work for a month at a Wyoming coalmine, and he holidayed over there many times. Although tone-deaf (some would say stone-deaf) he always thought it would be good fun to be a songwriter. The thought of composing a three-minute song as opposed to a 300-page book had a certain attraction. He managed to combine the two themes - song writing and the West - in the opening chapters of Laughing Boy, and he enjoyed writing that one immensely.
Charlie needs to find out who the criminals are that are terrorising rich, elderly people. On top of that, an arson attack from a number of years ago has come back to haunt both Charlie and Dave.
It is a shame that a processing story had to be spoilt by so much gratuitous sexism and misogyny. I worry that the author may have been pandering to those who think this is OK. It is not; it is unessesary and adds nothing to either the story or the time in which it was set. Anyone who is not offended by it simply needs to take a good look at themselves and their so called values. I had to give it one star, which it does not deserve, in order to write this review - maybe a change to that rule is in order!
Charlie Priest received a promotion. His group of people are wonderful. There were a couple of times the book dragged just a bit, but the good parts are so good, and I have loved this series that I decided to go ahead and give it 5 stars. I won't spoil the ending, but I will tell you it is so choice and rich you'll like it a lot.
I do love my British mysteries and in my opinion, this series is one of the best. I have to slow donw, this is my fourth one of the year already, and because the author has died, there is a finite number left in front of me. DI Charlie Priest has become one of my favorite fictional characters.
Sort of odd and quite dated - some sexist comments that wouldn’t pass muster these days and some typical wise cracking that is simply irritating. The plot is ok as are the characters but I probably wont bother with another one.
This book was fun to read. I felt the author and/or his editors should have done some research on IS immigration policies. Just marrying a U.S. citizen 24 hours ago did not entitle a person to reenter the U.S. after over staying the visa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If you have read my previous reviews you will know how much I enjoy this series. It ticks all of the boxes for me. It did, however, take me a couple of goes to 'get' the funny which appears quite early in this book ( perhaps that was why ). Watch out for the Judge without thumbs !!