Full of Money

October 19, 2009
Dodgy doings abound in James's ho-hum police procedural set in 1998 London, the prequel to Tip Top
(2006). When Det. Chief Supt. Esther Davidson investigates the shooting death of crime journalist Gervaise Manciple Tasker, she discovers from Tasker's notes that he'd learned too much about drug dealers at the rival Whitsun Festival and Temperate Park Acres council estates, in particular Whitsun gang leader Adrian Pellotte. As Davidson digs deeper, Larry Edgehill, the producer of a TV discussion show, A Week in Review
, attracts Pellotte's unwanted attention. In a Romeo and Juliet scenario, a star presenter on A Week in Review
, Rupert Bale (of Temperate), has become involved with Pellotte's daughter Dione (of Whitsun). Pellotte wants Edgehill to make sure Dione's treated properly. James's spotty gang warfare tale, hampered by unsympathetic characters and British cultural references that many American readers will find obscure, sputters to an unsatisfying conclusion.

November 1, 2009
London turf wars done to a turn.

The high drug traffic engendered by two of the city's more unseemly addresses, Temperate Park Acres and Whitsun Housing Estate, catches the practiced eye of investigative journalist Gervaise Manciple Tasker, whose interest leads to his murder. Detective Chief Superintendent Esther Davidson of the Met must juggle the delicate case with other responsibilities, especially the need to placate her egotistical husband, England's third best bassoonist, who's been invited on The Week in Review. The program's presenter, Rupert Bale, lives in Temperate. His sweetie, Dione, is the daughter of Adrian Pellotte, Whitsun's reigning mobster, who is not best pleased by their romance, especially when Dione's happiness is threatened by Bale's interest in the sexual come-ons of fellow TV personality Gabrielle Cornish. Pellotte and his bagman Dean Feston, fervent admirers of Anthony Powell, must deal with one of their drug salesman's profit-skimming while they're on the way to deliver a lecture in the writer's honor and upon reacquiring the money find undetectable ways to safeguard it. Deaths will of course ensue, along with much insufferable behavior from the bassoon player and many blind alleys for Davidson to traverse. But the show—that is, The Week in Review—must go on.

No slyer, wickeder plotter exists than James (Off-Street Parking, 2009, etc.), who manages to be at once droll and nasty.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from November 1, 2009
The always reliable James proffers a gripping London-based tale of drugs, murder, and revenge, liberally laced with his trademark dark humor and sharp dialogue. Journalist Gervaise Manciple Tasker has been brutally murdered for digging too deeply into the affairs of drug kingpin Adrian Pellotte. Meanwhile, Pellottes daughter, Dione, is dating television personality Rupert Bale; unfortunately, Bale hails from the Temperate Park Acres housing estate, which is a direct rival to Pellottes own Whitsun Festival patch. Worse, Bale has a sexy new cohost on his show, and Pellotte wants the shows producer, the innocent and naive Larry Edgehill, to make sure theres no funny business between Bale and his costar. Detective Chief Superintendent Esther Davidson is sure that a big drug war is about to break out between Pellottes Whitsun gang and his rivals from Temperate, and the pressure is on to prevent open warfare and arrest Taskers killer quickly, allowing Londons image as a safe, calm city to remain untarnished when the city puts in its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. The darkly hilarious dialogue, crisp writing, twisted plot, cryptic characters, and slam-bang ending make this another winner from one of Britains best crime writers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)