A Man Without Guilt by
Robert Marshall Andrews
hbk out July 02
Published by Methuen
at £15.99
Scurrilous Superintendent Eddie Cole is reputed to be good at three things "locking up villains, knocking up other people’s wives and knocking back pints of beer". He’s also an energetic copper, though whether he’s honest depends on subtle definitions and one’s view of making the evidence fit the crime or the criminal. For Eddie Cole it’s simply a matter of the greater truth; his conscience is clear. When a judge’s daughter is kidnapped, Cole finds the trail leads to the legendary, East End psychopath, Roddy Nailor, the gangster Cole had framed for murder who is now free again. A disastrous rescue attempt involving Special Branch leads to deaths and a trial for murder begins at the Old Bailey, with Eddie Cole as a key witness.
Darkly comic, sometimes laugh aloud funny, brash and breezy, Marshall-Andrews takes a huge swipe at British institutions including the police force, the judiciary, the army, the security services and the legal profession in this debut novel. Balding, overweight, gloomy, embattled Eddie Cole is a brilliant creation. The author is Labour MP for Medway as well as a barrister but there’s no spin or flannel here rather a devilish exposure and debunking of the seedier, corrupt corners of the criminal justice system.
Manchester Evening News 27.9.03
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
New Books by Robert Marshall Andrews at Amazon.co.uk
A Man Without Guilt by
Robert Marshall Andrews
