Club

For the last few years I've been slowly making my way through the Harpur & Iles series, rationing the slim books out. This is the seventh, and I think I've finally got it all figured out. These are procedurals, to be sure -- a great deal of attention is given to the minutiae and logistics of the crimes described, and of the police investigations. At the same time, James spends just as much time on the psychology behind the actions everyone takes. However, there is a third dimension as well, and that is style. The protagonists in the series are, in many ways indistinguishable (aside their attire, which is often described in great detail) -- everyone is faithless to their spouses, and everyone knows it, and moreover, they all speak in the same wonderfully dark and scathing clipped banter. Reading a Harpur & Iles book is much like watching a play (or film) written by David Mamet -- you know that no one in earth really speaks like this, but it's still thrilling to behold. In this installment, the book opens with the death of a small time hoodlum who had been cuckolding Iles. Everyone, especially Harpur and police chief, are gravely worried that Iles did it, but no one wants to point the finger. Meanwhile, a recurring underworld figure, Ralph Ember (aka Panicking Ralph) has been enticed from semi-retirement at his private club to participate in a bank heist (at least the third heist in the series so far). Indeed, while the investigation in the opening death continues as a major subplot, Harpur and Iles largely cede center stage to Ralph and his adventures. Ralph is a compelling enough character, likable up to a point, and one wants to root for him against the slick villains who trap him into the job. He's also full of surprises, and as always, it's good stuff, well told. And like most other books in the series, there isn't very much resolution, only the ending of a chapter, with lots of loose ends to be pursued in further books. The series really must be read in sequence to get much out of it, however those with a taste for razor-sharp dialogue can pick up pretty much any one in the series and get a good taste of what's on offer.

After just recently completing Astride a Grave, I have completed Club which is the book which precedes it in the series. Again, I am baffled as to why James' books are classified as police procedurals. This novel, like Astride a Grave, does not chronicle police procedures. In fact, it is a wonderfully entertaining novel which chronicles the procedures of criminals. And it does it so well. James has created a very compelling criminal character in Ralph Ember and the reader is taken along for the ride of this bank heist caper. While this book does not focus on the crime, it does focus on the planning and the inception of the crime which makes for very interesting reading.