Dictionary definitions of Cracker include: "exceptionally excellent person or thing; crazy," an apt description of charismatic forensic psychologist Dr. Edward Fitzgerald (or "Fitz" as he's known). Cracker is also the name of the Edgar Award-winning television series on A&E that has garnered worldwide critical acclaim. Fitz, brilliantly portrayed in the series as Robbie Coltrane, has been widely hailed as the most charismatic protagonist in the fictional British crime lineup since Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison.
He is a lovable mass of contradictions: a gambling, chain-smoking man in a troubled marriage who still manages brilliant insights into the human condition. Despite his irascible nature, Fitz is used by the Manchester Police Department to profile criminals.
In To Be a Somebody Fitz is called on to solve what looks like an open-and-shut case. A brutal racial attack in Manchester has left an Asian shopkeeper dead. A skinhead was seen leaving the shop shortly after and was fingered as the one and only suspect. No one, except Fitz, is willing to look deeper and see that this may not be just an isolated incident, but rather just on e small piece of an enormous crime puzzle.
