Easy Streets: A Harpur & Iles Mystery

Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has maintained a weird balance of enforcement and tolerance in his English city. Drug lords Ralph Embers and Manse Shale divide up the profits and minimize violence in exchange for the police looking the other way. But a change in policy, with the government officially relaxing its attitude toward drugs, means that prices tumble. And with falling prices, the drug alliances are shattered. There simply isn't enough profit to sustain everyone. From the street level up to the top of the chain, dealers look for the chance to consolidate, to achieve monopoly. Iles watches his long-time policy shatter into violence and, to Detective Chief Superintendent Harpur, at least, Iles seems to fall into the uncomfortable position long held by their former boss, Mark Lane. Iles begins to see symbols in every act. 'Panicking Ralph' Embers has had a profitable relationship with Manse Shale, but when Shale's lieutenant offers to kill Shale and work for Embers, the temptation is hard to turn down. Especially when Shale embarrasses himself with a flip-chart presentation. Meanwhile, Harpur virtually stumbles over a gunfight--and can't persuade anyone that it wasn't a setup from the start. As with every Harpur and Iles story, there's more going on than author Bill James (...) reveals. Did Iles set up the murders in an attempt to persuade the government that their policy is flawed? Was the red Audi part of a police hit? Is Iles angling for a cut of the drug money with his retirement? Iles remains the spider at the center of a web that stretches into the unseen. Author Bill James offers a dark and cynical view of policing. The line between good and evil, police and criminal, blurs to the point of invisibility. The dialogue between criminals, between Harpur and Iles, and between criminals and cops is filled with misdirection, with answering questions not asked, and with unexpected turns. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but the story is far from funny. EASY STREETS is a very strong addition to the fascinating Harpur & Iles series.

For years there was agreement between Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles and drug kingpins Mansel Shale and Panicking Ralph Ember. The cops would wink at their drug deals in return they would keep the streets safe and peaceful for the law abiding citizen. However, classic supply and demand economics takes root over time; surplus drugs become available in a risk free buyer's market leading to increase in small owner competition that eats at the oligopoly's dwindling profit margin. Someone ends the truce, blowing up the home of dealer Ferdy Dubal, killing him and his daughter. Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harper and Iles know the peace is over, as they try to solve the double homicide. Meanwhile Colin's teenage Jill explains the by-product outcome of the street deal in economic terms making Iles wonder if he has done the right thing. As the detectives investigate, more killings occur and the open drug war threatens the city making both cops reflect on the ethics of blinking. The Harper-Iles police procedural has consistently been one of the best British police procedurals on the market for the past six or so years; the latest tale EASY STREETS perhaps is the best yet. Besides a fabulous investigation, readers see a fresh side to Iles whose conscience has taken a battering with the outcome of his drug policy yet he remains pompous and rigid as ever. Harper is his perfect sidekick but this single dad receives an education from his teenage daughters that open his eyes to the reality of the deal as much as the drug related murders do. Bill James is at his finest with this unsurpassed thriller that may prove to be the sub-genre's top novel of the year.