The Detective is Dead: A Harpur & Iles Mystery [Hardcover]

Bill James (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harpur & Iles Mysteries | Publication Date: February 2001

No One, including Detective Chief Superintendent Harpur, is willing to testify at the murder trial of three crooks in the drug trade, so the killers go free. Meanwhile, would-be drug kingpin Keith Vine is playing a dangerous double game as an informant -- a game that could help the police trap the drug lords but will probably cost Vine his life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A tremendous writer. . . . Where else can you find a mystery series with as many layers of gorgeous stuff? -- Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Bill James has been named a "Master of Crime" in a mystery roundup by the London Sunday Times, which said, "There is nothing else quite like this series of police procedurals. James is concerned with the dilemmas and difficulties of policing Britain's inner cities, and he addresses these in hard-edged narratives that leave readers gasping and flinching, praying the people in these stories never come to live in their streets."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First U.S. edition (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039305019X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393050196
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,966,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Bill James, February 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Detective is Dead: A Harpur & Iles Mystery (Hardcover)

A police procedural from the master of the genre. Hard edged narrative, terse dialogue. Bleak, cynical plot and characters expressed in an almost poetic style. The story is compelling and the characters unforgettable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thin Line between cop and criminal--excellent, March 4, 2001

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Detective is Dead: A Harpur & Iles Mystery (Hardcover)

In THE DETECTIVE IS DEAD, Bill James writes again of the thinline between cop and criminal. When a judge lets two killers walkfree, Ives decides the police need to take matters into his ownhands. The results aren't pretty although they are occasionallyhysterically funny and always disturbing.

Mark Lane, the chief, isnoble, believes in doing right, and is a figure of fun for his deputyIves. The criminals believe Ives is dirty--that he is making moneyfrom the very drug lords they are seeking to become--and the reader isnever quite sure if they are right. Harpur is more practical,interested in solving crimes and locking up criminals but lackingeither Lane's nobility or Ives' brutal thrust.

This is policeprocedural with a twist. There is never any doubt about thecriminal--there are plenty of those and much of the story is told fromtheir point of view. Some of them will succeed in their dreams ofbecoming the next drug lord, others will fall. Ives knows he can'tarrest them all and so, by default, becomes something of akingmaker. Watching him work, interact with Lane, Harpur, and thecriminals, makes the novel fascinating.

Each of the Harpur and Ivesmysteries can be read independently without losing much although theydo form a continuous and enjoyable series.