City of Vultures by
Ron Ellis
pbk out November 05
(Nirvana)
at £5.99
Another in the Johnny Ace series about a Liverpool private eye, who is
also a radio DJ, mirroring some of the activities of the author, who is a
local broadcaster and encyclopaedic source of information on Scouse
popular music, which he scatters liberally amongst his text.
This story concerns the invasion of ruthless property speculators who
have descended on Liverpool since it was named the 2008 European City
of Culture. All kinds of dirty tricks, including murder, are being
perpetrated in the scrabble to buy up land for development and Johnny
Ace gets involved in this big-time.
Having returned after a long sojourn in Spain to his partner Marie and
their young daughter, he revives his detective agency, though his previous
associate, a former policeman, has now retired. Johnny recruits a
formidable redhead Cameron, who surprisingly, he does not seduce,
though his fidelity does not extend to rejecting other old flames. Cameron
turns out to be a tower of strength, literally as she is six feet tall and is an
accomplished judo expert.
His first clients are all involved in the property scams, as one young
woman is the mistress of an estate agent who turns up headless one
morning and she needs protection. Another acquaintance who runs a car
showroom gets his stock vandalised, his chief mechanic killed and his
showroom set on fire, whilst yet another victim, a club singer named
Lucky Learoyd, gets death threats.
Johnny spends a lot of time rushing from one interview to another, often
with little result and the reader gets well-aquainted with both the
geography of Merseyside and the sleazier side of club and pub
entertainment.
I have the feeling that Ron Ellis made this story up as he went along,
without much planning, but his style is breezy, witty and informative,
with almost as many corpses as an episode of 'Midsomer Murders'
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
City of Vultures by
Ron Ellis
