Stuart Pawson

Page Updated: 17/03/2006

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Stuart Pawson - Page 2

First British Edition Headline (1999)

Paperback - Headline (1999)

Some By Fire
See Review by John Boyles
Charlie Priest was a newly promoted sergeant on the Leeds force when he was called to the scene of a tragic fire, deliberately set. Now a DI in nearby Heckley, Charlie jumps at the chance to re-open the investigation when a message left by a suicide suggests new leads. The cat is well and truly among the pigeons for those who thought that, after two decades, they were safe from justice.
Meanwhile Charlie's under pressure to apprehend the burglars who're playing a dangerous game with wealthy elderly couples. The culprits are cheeky but ruthless, and there's going to be a fatality soon if they're not caught.
By a combination of luck, detective work and, Charlie would say, soaring flight of the investigative imagination, the Heckley force is soon closing in on the perpetrators of both crimes. And a cornered villain with everything to lose can be dangerous for a copper who'll stop at nothing to protect his team - but take every kind of risk with his own life…
Some by fire is tense, suspenseful and fast-paced; it will also make readers laugh out loud as Charlie Priest's dry wit lightens the dark mood of the world in which he moves.
'Pawson is very much an author to keep one's eye on' Birmingham Post
'Highly recommended' Crime Time
'Far outranks the usual police procedural. Pawson has a great future' Yorkshire Post

Paperback - Headline (1998)

First British Edition Headline (1998)

Deadly Friends
When Dr Clive Jordan's dazzling (and lucrative) career is brought to an abrupt end by a fatal bullet, his colleagues are devastated - especially the female ones. If the doctor hadn't been as discreet as an undertaker's cough, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest of Yorkshire's force would suspect a jealous husband, for Jordan was quite a Lothario. But it's not going to be that simple.
Charlie's got another case on his hands that he'd give his eye teeth to solve. Janet Saunders' description of her attacker makes him easy to find, but his story doesn't quite gel with hers. She's a slag, he reckons, and enjoyed his attentions; she's only complaining now because he didn't want to go back for more. It's quite clear to the police which is the true story - but who would take the word of a single mother who works in a pub over that of a confident, well-heeled young man?
Charlie knows for sure there's a killer on the loose - and almost certainly a rapist as well. With limited resources at his disposal, and a maze of legal restrictions to edge through, the chances of bagging both seem slim, but Charlie's a lot tougher and smarter than his affable manner indicates, and that's bad news for the villains on his patch…
'Priest's procedure is decidedly irregular… the Inspector is a lively personality' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
'Pawson's excellent debut, The Picasso Scam, is actually bettered in his second work [The Mushroom Man] … There's plenty of flair in the plot, and it all gels magnificently in this tale of a serial vicar-murderer' Yorkshire Post
'Priest is a welcome addition to the canon of fictional detectives' Yorkshire Evening Post
'Very much an author to keep an eye on' Birmingham Post
'A lively character....promising' Sunday Telegraph
'An intellectual and earthy detective, Charlie Priest could become for Yorkshire what Wycliffe is for Cornwall' Publishing News

Paperback - Headline

Last Reminder
Late for work for the first time in twenty years, thanks to the sloe gin he consumed the night before, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is faced with the grim evidence of a crime in his local park before a call comes saying that a new constable has discovered a body.
Hartley Goodrich has been found dead in his armchair, right beside the flower pot that caused the gaping gash in his scalp. It looks like foul play, and as Goodrich's financial advice has lost his clients a small fortune, there is no shortage of suspects. But is the case all it seems?
The enquiry re-opens an investigation that fizzled out years before, involving diamonds, drugs and stolen gold bullion. When everything he holds dear is threatened, Charlie knows he can't stop digging until he's found out exactly what's been going down on his patch. It all comes to a dramatic conclusion one moonlit night in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Paperback - Headline

The Judas Sheep
Detective Inspector Charlie Priest of the East Pennine force is officially on sick leave, but when Mrs Marina Norris's chauffeur is found dead from unnatural causes - namely a blast to the head from a Kalashnikov - Charlie is called in, for his reputation in murder cases is second to none. And so Charlie is the first to learn that Mrs Norris herself hasn't been home since the murder, though her husband, an American tobacco tycoon, is distinctly unfazed by this fact. Leads are few and far between and Charlie comes off the case, although he is convinced that there is a link between the murder and the disappearance.
Big-time drug smugglers on the Hull-Rotterdam run demand his attention. His contact, Kevin, is a lowly cog in the great smuggling wheel, and easily hoodwinked into believing that Charlie's line of business is similar to his own, but with much greater success. Kevin is impressed by Charlie's Jaguar and classy girlfriend, Annabelle, who is hastily re-named Sharron when she and a gang member meet. But the real villains are not such a pushover, and when Charlie sees a connection with his previous enquiry he realises that he's on very dangerous territory indeed.
"...manages to combine a spikily dry sense of humour with a fast-paced story. His hero ... is directly descended from Morse, but the story far outranks the usual police procedural. There is a warmth in the language, a liveliness, and Pawson is able to keep the reader's interest at all times. Pawson has a great future ... " Yorkshire Post.

Paperback - Allison & Busby (2004)

Paperback
Headline

The Picasso Scam
Detective Inspector Charlie Priest - "as in Roman Catholic" of Heckley CID is the kind of copper who likes to get on with the job, though his unorthodox methods have held him at Inspector level for a record-breaking length of time. Yet while few other modern detectives would chase a Rolls Royce down the lanes of West Yorkshire in a clapped-out Cortina, Priest does get results. When he's not putting crooks behind bars he's looking out for his team of young constables, only too aware that for them as much as for him the knockabout humour of the copshop is in stark contrast to the dangers they face on the beat.
Sheep stealing and shoplifting are everyday crimes in Heckley, but there are local villains with bigger fish to fry. When Charlie suspects a now-respected businessman, with a background of extortion and GBH, of involvement in an international art fraud, he's taking on an enemy with friends in high places. But Charlie can be persistent to the point of recklessness, and once he's realised there's a link to the doctored heroin that's striking down the local kids, no threat will stop him.
"... is written with successful jocular gusto. It's a good tale; Pawson is very much an author to keep one's eye on in the future." Birmingham Post.
"If you like the Touch of Frost series on TV then I suggest that you meet Mr Pawson's equally off-beat West Yorkshire sleuth Det Insp. Charles Priest. This is a great mixture of crime and Chuckles." East of England Journal