GOSPEL CL - Tapa dura

Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, who "projects the powerful appeal of a flawed man doing his best in a crummy job" (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review), is a shrewd observer of the greed, pride, and lust that motivate the criminals he pursues and sometimes the cops he works with, too. His own vulnerable spot is occupied right now by a dear and pretty college student with whom he is spending very pleasant afternoons. But when Denise drifts into the social circle of Harpur's wealthy and powerful underworld informant, and one of the crooks is shot to death during a robbery, Denise suddenly becomes the pawn in a deadly game of revenge. In the astonishing seriocomic complications that ensue, Bill James again delivers his unique and astute observations on the class aspirations and amorous entanglements of cops and criminals alike. Gospel, the ninth novel in this celebrated series, is a powerful and wry study of the intricate relationships between policemen and their counterparts on the opposite side of the law.

Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur is a shrewd observer of the greed, pride, and lust that motivate the criminals he pursues - and sometimes the cops he works with, too. His own vulnerable spot is occupied right now by a pretty and endearing college student with whom he is spending very pleasant afternoons. But when Denise drifts into the social circle of Jack Lamb, Harpur's wealthy and powerful underworld informant, and one of the crooks the police are pursuing is shot to death during a robbery, Denise suddenly becomes the pawn in a frightening game of revenge. With a cast including the cowardly and scheming Ralph Ember (a would-be pillar of the community) and the pompous, often cuckolded Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, Gospel is a suspenseful, mordantly humorous story of driving ambitions on opposite sides of the law.