No Lovelier Death (DI Joe Faraday) [Hardcover]

Graham Hurley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2009 | Series: DI Joe Faraday

A judge and his wife go away on holiday and lose everything. While they are away their 17-year-old daughter throws a party, it goes out of control, there is a riot, and she and her boyfriend are murdered. A massive police investigation, stretching the force's resources to breaking point, is launched with D/I Faraday in charge. The judge's neighbor who has promised to keep a eye on things while he was away feels he owes the man a debt. And he has his own reputation to think about. He wants the name of the killer. The neighbor? Bazza McKenzie, a man who made his fortune supplying the city with class-A drugs. The man in his organization charged with getting the job done? Ex D/C Paul Winter. In Graham Hurley's gripping new crime thriller Faraday and Winter are finally on the opposite sides of the law. But they're both after the same thing. Paul Winter is treading his most dangerous line yet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Another gripping chronicle of crime in Portsmouth... A vivid portrait of a decadent society in which even the local criminal thinks crime is out of control' LITERARY REVIEW 'Portsmouth has provided rich pickings for this British author with its history and pride... Joe Faraday's ninth outing opens like an episode of Skins but Hurley expands to explore our need to belong.' ESQUIRE 'It's a mystery in itself why Hurley is not better known as a crime writer. His Joe Faraday police procedural novels are spot on - well-written and plotted, utterly convincing and really exciting... An excellent and complex crime novel' DAILY MAIL 'Faraday's gloom was a nice way to set off the decline of modern Britain, and Portsmouth a perfect petri dish of a setting for Hurley's perceptive eye, sharp ear, and sensitivity to all his characters... To my mind, this is the most undervalued of all the British police series, its arguably the most consistently interesting , and it's certainly as entertaining as any.' CRIME TIME 'Hurley never disappoints and here proves his standing as one of the UK's finest crime novelists.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Gripping' DEADLY PLEASURES 'a crime thriller that packs a punch' WESTERN MORNING NEWS 'As ever, Hurley's work is disturbing, gripping and committed' MORNING STAR 'Another fine Portsmouth thriller' PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH 'No Lovelier Death is another gritty and uncompromising slice of urban life from one of the country's finest crime writers' SHOTS 'Authentic, nerve-jangling and utterly compeling' LANCASHIRE EVENING POST 'A new book from Graham Hurley is a very welcome treat. You'll need to set aside a long weekend to devote to it, though, as it's not a quick, throwaway read... Hurley's world is so real and his creations so vivid that you feel like you'd meet them walking down any street in Portsmouth. And he proves again that he's one of the best crime writers around.' REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE

About the Author

Graham Hurley is an award-winning TV documentary maker who now writes full time. His sixth Faraday and Winter novel, Blood and Honey, was shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (February 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752868853
• ISBN-13: 978-0752868851
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ninth and best?, March 25, 2009

By 

Dr.D.Treharne (Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Lovelier Death (DI Joe Faraday) (Hardcover)

In the ninth and most recent Hurley book there's a subtle change of emphasis on the front cover where the by line now proclaims " A Faraday and Winter Story", acknowledging that Paul Winter has indeed gone 'to the dark side' and becomes a second equally central character in the storylines.

The City of Portsmouth (Pompey) is still the backdrop, with this story perhaps emphasising more than ever the social divides that increasingly divide the 'haves' from the 'have nots'. There's a murder as a starting point, but it involves the next door house to the villain of these stories, Bazza McKenzie, and one of the victims fathers is a judge who has taken a particularly outspoken part in sentencing those in the City involved in the drug scene. Mix in the ongoing relationship between Faraday and his lady friend Gabrielle, and also his unpredictable son JJ -together with the tension between Jimmy Suttle, still in the Police Force and the increasingly unpredictable Paul Winter in a murder in which the Police and Civil Authorities are desperate to solve quickly and the story unfolds grippingly and at times unexpectedly.

Many of the other usual 'faces' appear during the course of the story, and a couple of the twists are both violent and central to the plotting. Hurley also leaves many unresolved questions when the events that form the central plot are unravelled.

If you're not familiar with Graham Hurley's work then I would earnestly suggest that you read this as a preface to going back to reading the previous eight from an author whose work improves with every book.