The Girl with the Long Back: A Harpur & Iles Mystery

This is a brilliant but dark story about drug dealers and detectives who are generally detestable but occasionally sympathetic figures, plying their hard, interlocked trades more or less oblivious to the rest of us. I appreciate the talent, but I don't think reading more of this genre would be good for my head.

Brilliant but insane Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has created a sort of peace in his city by allowing local druglords to operate without much opposition, but ruthlessly squashing outside influence. But the rumors are that the Chief, Mark Lane, is due to be promoted and that a new chief (definitely not Iles) will be appointed. With Iles losing influence, the three major drug lords of the unnamed English city are trying to decide which direction to take and looking at one another with guns drawn. Detective Chief Superintendent Col Harpur tries planting an undercover cop in the smallest of the operations--and nearly loses her when her cover is blown. But the rescue results in two dead criminals--and just might be the spark that sets off a drug war. Especially when Iles's primary informant is killed in what looks like a revenge murder. Harpur, Iles, and the surviving drug lords face off in a multi-sided game. Every man, even within the police department, is pursuing different objectives--yet no one really wants an end to the peace on the streets that Iles's rules have created. Author Bill James continues his fascinating exploration of law and disorder in the world of drugs. Harpur, co-protagonist along with druglord Ralph Ember, is always claiming that there are no gray areas, that good police work will be done and that the police are investigating all of the murders, but everyone knows that Harpur his hiding secrets, and that Iles holds even more secrets and far more gray areas within himself. Panicking Ralph Ember continues as a sympathetic character in his criminal and blustering way. In the world of Harpur and Iles, no one ever answers questions, no one comes out and says what they are thinking, and no one directly admits the truth that they all recognize but cannot speak out loud. The line between policeman and criminal is thin indeed, and Harpur's attempts to hold onto his sanity by imagining the potential that Chief Mark Lane might someday exercise his nominal authority over Iles are both sympathetic and reprehensible. Harpur & Iles Mysteries are strong and thoughtful accounts of the real world--where the police might just be more dangerous than the criminals they hunt and sometimes cooperate with, where informants are protected at all costs, and where the gray area is large indeed.

The balanced scale of the drug trade becomes shook to the core with the rumors that have reached the streets that Chief Constable Mark Lane' is being promoted and replaced by a hardliner. Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles worries that the fragile balance between peace and sales could end leading to hard core crime including a drug war and murder.The two leading drug lords Ralph Ember and Mansel Shade have heard the word of Lane leaving leading to reduced negotiability room for Iles and each one knows they must take action before the other has the edge. Newcomer Ferdinand Dubal sees this as an opening for him to carve out a major piece of the action. The violence explodes when he executes two of Dubal's thugs and a police informant is run over. Iles knows he must broker a new peace, but the brass wants numbers not tranquility.Talk about refreshing a long running series! Bill James returns with an entertaining economics of illegal drugs tale that will leave the audience shaking their heads wondering why bother with the drug wars. Iles is at his best trying to defuse a situation that is getting worse as three contenders battle for the heavyweight drug lord while his employers complicate matters with undercover operations. THE GIRL WITH THE LONG BACK is a delightful British police procedural with quite a twist that fans of Mr. James will fully appreciate.Harriet Klausner