Bill James - Page 1
British Pbk Original - Do Not Press (2003) |
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A Man's Enemies
The British intelligence services are smarting from a bloody internal power struggle and the unsolved murders of two officers. Worse, former agent Olly Horton is set to reveal-all in his explosive memoirs, aided by a veteran spook journalist.
Skilled black agent Simon Abelard and novice Iris Insole are detailed to stop publication. Is `publish and be damaged’ a sufficient threat? Will friend turn foe?
Little do they realise it will turn out to be their most difficult and dangerous assignment yet.
A direct sequel to the bestseller Split, A Man’s Enemies is a powerhouse action thriller marking the changing face of espionage pre- and post-9-11.
`British mystery fiction’s finest prose stylist’ Peter Guttridge, The Observer
'Bill James can write, and then some' Chris Petit, The Guardian
'John le Carré and Len Deighton grabbed the British spy story by the scruff of its neck and gave it a vigorous shake in the 1960s, and James provides the same valuable service today' Publishers Weekly
| British Pbk Original - Do Not Press (2002) |
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Middleman
Times are tough for 'middleman' Julian Corbett.
He operates as a half-respectable, half-crooked businessman in what was once the rough dockside of the Welsh capital. But a multi-billion pound redevelopment is transforming the seafront into the stylish Cardiff Bay marina-style housing and shopping area, and Corbett is determined to grab a piece of that action.
At first, Corbett thinks the opportunity to help shady developer Sid Hyson dispose of his lakeside casino/hotel/nursing home complex is his road to riches, but he soon realises that all is not well. Hyson is suddenly worried the sea might come flooding in and before that happens wants to 'liquidate' his assets. But £200 million isn't chicken-feed and potential buyers are asking awkward questions.
Time soon starts to run out for Corbett and he knows that if he doesn't find an acceptable buyer - and quick - he's as good as dead. The body of one failed 'middleman' has already washed up on a nearby beach. Then Corbett realises he's negotiating with people twice as ruthless as Sid Hyson.
Middleman is prime 'Welsh noir' from one of our finest authors.
| British Pbk Original - Do Not Press (2001) |
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Split
First In A Brilliant New Series From The Creator Of Harpur & Iles
Simon Abelard - black Oxford graduate from Cardiff’s dockland - was recruited by British Intelligence to be a spy. But since the Berlin Wall came down he finds that he’s working as a glorified cop.
Then Abelard is given the dangerous job of `bringing back’ a colleague who’s changed sides. But Julian Bowling has not defected to the Russians, the Chinese or the Iraqis. Instead, he took advantage of his security service training to become a big time crook. Now, he’s taken millions of dollars belonging to the crooked syndicate he helped create, and the ruthless drug dealers he robbed are after his blood.
As the bodies begin to pile up, Abelard finds himself fighting not only for his own life, but for the lives of his loved ones.
In the 21st Century, the spying game is changed forever.
‘As a thriller writer James is in the very top bracket.’ Crime Time
‘British mystery writing’s finest prose stylist writes with such verve and originality he transcends what can often be a stale mystery sub-genre to produce novels that are startlingly, achingly funny and sometimes wholly surreal. Essential reading.’ Peter Gutteridge, The Independent
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First British Edition Constable (2001) |
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Pay Days
At night, Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur’s special informant Jack Lamb, takes him out to a moored vessel in the dock and shows him the body of a tortured and murdered low-level drug pusher, Slow Victor. He is strung up in one of the cabins `like a leopard on a pole between safari porters’. Why has such a nonentity been punished and silenced so violently? As Harpur starts his inquiries he uncovers bit by bit a plot that stretches deep into the apparently distinguished realms of business and politics.
At the same time, Harpur and his malevolent superior, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond lles, have to accept the possibility that one of their senior colleagues is on the take, secretly telling major villains how to beat the police investigation. In turn, though, the villains suspect this seemingly bent officer might be tempting them into a clever trap. Amid the soaring tensions that result, nobody can trust anyone and in this atmosphere of fear people on both sides of the law are sure to die.
'Bill James is frontrunner among those who have turned the police procedural on its head. His prime law-enforcers have a wicked style all of their own.' John Coleman, The Sunday Times
'This author has a distinctive style, writes beautiful prose and insists the reader makes an effort (which will be well rewarded)… The suspense is almost unbearable, the latent truth uncomfortable and the result haunting' Frances Fyfield
'One of the kings of the dark hill.' Val McDermid
| Paperback - Pan (2001) |
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First British Edition Macmillan (2000) |
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Kill Me
'Esme's vengeance mission was preposterous and inspired. It could grip Naomi. Oh, yes, it could grip her...’
Naomi Anstruther's undercover operation among the drugs gangs - planned so carefully by DCS Colin Harpur - has ended in a bloody shoot-out on the Eton Boating Song floating restaurant. Naomi has escaped harm but her ex-boyfriend, Donald McWater, and her new lover, Lyndon Evans, are both dead.
However, it is not the consequences of this battle that have left Naomi extremely vulnerable. Nor is it the recent instability of the drug underworld, its fragile alliances tested as a London gang attempts a takeover. Nor is it the shameless behaviour of Naomi's superior officer ACC Desmond Iles, or the slow disintegration of Chief Constable Lane.
No, the biggest risk to Naomi now lies in the small, delicate form of a girl called Esme. For Esme believes that she and her friend Naomi should personally avenge Donald's and Lyndon's deaths.
But Esme does not understand the world she is stepping into. Or the danger she is about to bring upon herself, Naomi and Harpur...
‘Kill Me, as with the others in the series, is a comic novel of a high order in which the reader is constantly put off-balance not with plotting but with aspects of character and the sheer pleasure of the prose. Essential reading’ Observer
More Praise for Bill James
'Bill James is a writer who refreshes the parts his rivals in crime haven't located yet. Read and enjoy!' Philip Oakes, Literary Review
'Only too convincing, and quite unputdownable. Edna White, Irish Times
'James's normal, brilliantly portrayed beat is the morally twilight world where cop meets villain. James's skill in exposing the intensities behind police facades is undiminished, and his cop-station dialogue is unmatched.' Marcel Berlins, The Times
'James has to be one of the funniest crime writers now trespassing on that twilight territory where fuzz and felons make their moves and talk their humorous heads off, with menace constantly rippling the surface.' Sunday Times
'Quite brilliantly done, with moods expertly modulated and ribaldry kept under wraps.' Literary Review
'The restless, spiky style of James's brilliant dialogue was never more appropriate; the rose blooms without a hint of melodrama.' Stephen Walsh, Oxford Times
'James tells the story so skilfully as to make readers alternately quake with fear and quiver with laughter.' Gerald Kaufman, The Scotsman
About The Author
Bill James, whose other pseudonym is David Craig, has written many espionage and crime novels, one of which was filmed by Warner Brothers as The Squeeze, starring Stacy Keach, Edward Fox and Carol White and was adapted from the David Craig novel, Whose Little Girl Are You?
Pay Days is the eighteenth in the highly acclaimed Harpur and Iles series.
Protection, the fourth novel in the series, was adapted by the BBC into a two-part television drama entitled Harpur and Iles, starring Hywel Bennett and Aneurin Hughes. Hollywood is currently negotiating for Halo Parade, number three.
Bill James is a former journalist, and wrote for The Sunday Times, the Daily Mirror, the Spectator, The New Review and Punch. Short stories by David Craig (set around Cardiff docks, where he grew up) appear in various collections and by Bill James in collections and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. He is also the author of the critical work, The Novels of Anthony Powell, under his real name, James Tucker.
James is married, with four children, and lives in his native South Wales and divides his time between his home near Cardiff and a caravan on the Pembrokeshire coast. At present he is working on a sequel to Split, again featuring Simon Abelard. He is a part-time tutor in creative writing at the University of Wales, Cardiff.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
A Man's Enemies
(Do Not Press Pbk,
2003)
Pbk Sep 03
Middleman
(Do Not Press Pbk,
2002)
Split
(Do Not Press Pbk,
2001)
Pay Days
(Constable,
2001)
( Harper & Iles)
Kill Me
(Macmillan,
2000)
Pan Pbk Mar 01
( Harper & Iles)
Eton Crop
(Macmillan,
1999)
Pan Pbk May 00
( Harper & Iles)
Lovely Mover
(Macmillan,
1998)
( Harper & Iles)
Panicking Ralph
(Macmillan,
1997)
Pan Pbk 1998
( Harper & Iles)
Top Banana
(Macmillan,
1996)
Pan Pbk 1997
( Harper & Iles)
The Detective is Dead
(Macmillan,
1995)
Pan Pbk 1996
( Harper & Iles)
In Good Hands
(Macmillan,
1994)
( Harper & Iles)
Roses, Roses
(Macmillan,
1993)
( Harper & Iles)
Gospel
(Macmillan,
1992)
( Harper & Iles)
Astride a Grave
(Macmillan,
1991)
( Harper & Iles)
Club
(Macmillan,
1991)
( Harper & Iles)
Take
(Macmillan,
1990)
( Harper & Iles)
Come Clean
(Constable,
1989)
( Harper & Iles)
Protection
(Constable,
1988)
( Harper & Iles)
Halo Parade
(Constable,
1987)
( Harper & Iles)
The Lolita Man
(Constable,
1986)
( Harper & Iles)
You'd Better Believe it
(Constable,
1985)
( Harper & Iles)
A Man's Enemies
by Bill James
