The Devil's Redhead by
David Corbett
pbk out July 04
(Orion)
at £4.99
The style is noirish, the setting is the grim and bloody underworld of drug smuggling
and related crime in Las Vegas and Mexico. Corbett uses this backdrop for a
persuasive and tender love story between red head Shel Beaudry and Dan Abatangelo.
When the pair first meet the attraction between them is so intense that they run away
together the same night. Dan is one of the last so-called "gentleman smugglers",
bringing marijuana into the country but denying that this activity makes him into a
criminal. He's an outlaw with a code: "No guns, no gangsters. It's only money." But
a drugs bust destroys the operation and Dan takes a longer prison sentence to make
things easier for Shel. On his release from a ten year stretch he is eager to seek her out
even though that violates his parole conditions. His search triggers an escalating
bloodbath as things sour between Shel's current man and the rival gangs they are now
doing business with. Corbett worked as a private eye for fifteen years and his
familiarity with the criminal world serves him well. This is a devil of a debut which
delivers high octane action, operatic violence, excellent descriptive prose and writing
that sucks us in and doesn't let go. His next story will be eagerly awaited.
Manchester Evening News 10.1.04
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
The Devil's Redhead by
David Corbett
