In Good Hands: A Harpur & Iles Mystery [Hardcover]

Bill James (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harpur & Iles Mysteries | Publication Date: November 2000

Fear Grips The drug underworld after two principals in the trade are murdered, and even ACC Desmond Iles is under a cloud of suspicion. Now the chief players start closing in on a fortune, while Iles, Chief Constable Mark Lane, and Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur plunge into their own fierce struggle to control the game.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An unconventional and spicy tour de force. . . . James is terrific. -- Frances Fyfield

There is not a nuance of the police-criminal interface that James does not convey effortlessly and with total conviction. -- Marcel Berlins, The Times [London]

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; 1ST edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039305005X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393050059
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,059,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, Cynical, December 31, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: In Good Hands: A Harpur & Iles Mystery (Hardcover)

In IN GOOD HANDS, Bill James describes a British police department torn between a chief who wants to follow the law, and his second in command who wants to enforce justice. When Assistant Chief Constable Iles is rumored to have killed two drug dealers (who were ruled not guilty in a police killing), Chief Lane wants him gone--and asks Harpur to help.

James writes with a good ear for language and you'll find yourself laughing out loud at some of the dialogue, situations and descriptions. Still, the novel is disturbing. The police who seek justice are far more sympathetically portrayed than the busy-bodies who want to enforce the law. Still, in both their conflicts and their sins, the police and criminals are portrayed as quite similar.

IN GOOD HANDS combines a police investigation with a caper story. Stan Stanfield is preparing a heist--and needs to know whether Iles is behind a copycat murder, or whether it is his victim. He decides it is Iles and goes forward with his crime.

The police investigation sweeps Stanfield into its reach, but doesn't stop his work. Rather, the police use Stanfield and everyone else for their own objectives.

The novel is compelling, cynical, humorous, and highly disturbing. Certainly it is not the teddy-bear view of British police that many novels present. It may stick with you a lot longer as a result.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Good Hands, January 4, 2005

By 

Marcia Kamien "Writer who Reads" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Good Hands: A Harpur & Iles Mystery (Hardcover)

Bill James is a brilliant writer. Period. I'm not sure how he writes so many novels, so quickly, and never misses a beat. Every word is so honest, it takes the breath away.