Russell James

Page Updated: 11/12/00

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Russell James - Page 1

Painting in the Dark

pbk 16 Nov 00

Oh No, Not My Baby

Count Me Out

Slaughter Music

Payback

WebPage: http://www.russelljames.co.uk/

Books By Russell James

About the Author (Photo by Jill Logan)

Bibliography

British Pbk Original - Do Not Press (2000)

Painting in the Dark
A controversial and exciting modern crime novel set against the 1997 General Election when Blair's New Labour swept to power. An unscrupulous and gargantuan art dealer, Gottfleisch, believes that 85 year old Sidonie Keene is hiding a small hoard of her notorious sister Naomi's valuable paintings. Naomi was a British Fascist in the Thirties, a friend of Goering and Hitler, and was denounced at the time as a traitor. She died a forgotten artist but after her death her intimate portraits of Hitler and his friends became collectors' items, commanding high prices. Gottfleisch and his evil sidekick, Little Ticky, set out to steal the paintings from the old lady, not realising that there is more to her than meets the eye. Among her surprising secrets is her first-hand knowledge of Hitler's rise and fall.
'The Godfather of British Noir' Ian Rankin
'One of Britain's best noir writers' Andrew Taylor, Tangled Web
'Russell James is surely the best of Britain's darker crime writers' Chris Petit, The Times
'When it comes to crispness of plot and tightness of prose, Russell James is king' Time Out

British Pbk Original - Do Not Press (1999)

Oh No, Not My Baby
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
Did she fall or was she pushed?
It should have been a dream come true. Nick always fancied her at school but nothing came of it. Six years later he meets up with her again. This time she wants him.
Nick plays sax now in a jazz-rock band, while Babette, who always shone at school, went to university. As students do, she became involved with animal rights.
Nick drives Babette on a 'jaunt' to a local meat processing factory, where she intends to get photographic evidence of what goes on inside. But she doesn't come out. She has been killed in a horrifying 'accident'.
Nick's quest to find what happened leads him into the dark and complex labyrinth of food politics, in which heroes and villains do not come conveniently packaged. Businessmen can be human, animal rights activists can be vicious.
As Nick probes ever deeper into the murk, the story of what really happened to Babette - and why - becomes horrifying clear. Meanwhile, his band is preparing for its biggest ever opportunity - a slot at the world famous Glastonbury Festival. If Nick can make it.
Read a sample chapter of Oh No, Not My Baby

British Pbk Original - Serpents Tail (1996)

Count Me Out
See Review by Lynda Ross
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
Ł2,000,000 in used notes is an attractive proposition. Too attractive. And when Gottfleisch makes one mistake in his attempt to steal it, the cash disappears, and he knows exactly who's taken it . So do the police. And so does everyone else. What no one knows is where Scot Heywood has gone, and what he's done with the money. But they're all determined to find out. Which makes it all rather unpleasant for Heywood's abandoned wife and son, his brother, Jet, the fairground boxer, and most of all for Jet's eight-year-old daughter, who becomes the prime target of Heywood's pursuers.
Read a sample chapter of Count Me Out
"One of fiction's most rococo tough guys." The Guardian
"Few contemporary writers have so powerfully evoked the sheer bloody menace of our capital city." GQ

Paperback - Allison & Busby

Slaughter Music
When Tim Hawk, loner and hit-man, kills Clive Darren, he expects to be stalked - but not by Irena, newly married to the gang boss of south-east London.
Hawk wants only to perfect his deadly trade but finds himself drawn into an emotional whirlpool where jealousy and revenge conspire to topple the ordered structure of his life.
This dark depiction of London’s contemporary underworld is scored by the baroque music which so obsesses Hawk. And the modern tragedy reaches an explosive finale on 5th November, as the fateful triangle clashes and bonfires burn.
"He goes looking for trouble where more circumspect writers would back off" The Times
"James has carved out a unique voice for himself and is rapidly becoming established as one of the leading hard-boiled British writers" Britcrit, Mystery Scene

Paperback - Gollancz

Payback
Albie Carter has been killed. Was it an accident or murder? Returning to London for the funeral, his brother Floyd needs to find out what happened - if someone murdered Albie, Floyd will track the killer down.
But trouble follows him around. One gang leader wants Floyd to pay him back the Ł10,000 he claims Albie owed; another suggests that Floyd join his network of drug pushers. Only Floyd’s childhood friend Suzie provides a haven, but her teenage daughter is developing some dangerous habits.
Plunged into a world of drugs and violence, Floyd struggles to get to the truth of Albie’s death … but a lot more people are to die before he can resolve the mystery and exact his revenge. Black humour underpins the action of this fast-moving, hard-hitting thriller. Russell James "writes a muscular, undecorated prose" (Sunday Times) which perfectly captures London’s criminal underworld.
Praise for Russell James
"A weirdly effective piece of authentic British hard-boiled fiction, something like an unholy cross between Len Deighton and the great American noir novelist David Goodis … The most distinctive British thriller in a while" John Williams, the Face
"Britain in the Eighties seen as if through a gun-sight" Literary Review

About The Author
Russell James had seven years of military education before opting out to see the world. Among many jobs held down in a wandering career, his favourites include the dawn shift on a Mediterranean radio station and back-stage work at the Old Vic.
In a recent interview, he said: 'Most writers son't write crime novels; they write anti-crime novels - police procedurals, PI stories and puzzlers. I write crime novels - about criminals and victims'

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

Painting in the Dark (Do Not Press Pbk, 2000) Pbk Nov 00

Oh No, Not My Baby (Do Not Press Pbk, 1999)

Count Me Out (Serpents Tail Pbk, 1996)

Slaughter Music (Allison & Busby, 1994)

Payback (Gollancz, 1991)

Daylight (Gollancz, 1990)

Underground (Gollancz, 1989)