- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton; Reprint edition
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0393323064
- ISBN-13: 978-0393323061
- Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 11.5 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,182,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not to my taste,
By
This review is from: Panicking Ralph A Harpur And Iles Mystery (Paperback)
A friend of mine loves this author and recommended his writings to me. Trusting his judgement, I bought several of them and this was my first read. I note that the commercial reviewer says that these books are an acquired taste..like a Guinness Stout. If so, he could not have picked a better description as I have never been able to stomach it. This book was not that bad..but quite frankly, I don't know what all the fuss is about.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strange Cops and Robbers,
By Brian Busek (Vermillion, SD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Panicking Ralph A Harpur And Iles Mystery (Paperback)
If you like your cops and robbers with a strange twist, British author Bill James presents one of the most drolly quirky rogues galleries in crime fiction. Set in a large industrial city in England James'lengthy series brings together crooks and cops with issues. In the course of crime fighting, cops cope with personal crisises like nervous breakdowns (the chief); a penchant for teenage girls and compulsive deviousness (the assistant chief) and wobbly managment and sassy daughter (ace detective Colin Harpur). The crooks, however, have their challenges. An excellent case in point being the rising and ruthless drug lord Ralph "Panicking Ralph" Ember, who is bogged down by a lust for respectibility and his famed "panics." At delicate moments the master crook suffers from paralyzing panic accompanied by drenching sweats. Panicking Ralph is among the most delicious entries in a dark and entertaining series.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, thoughtful, and thoroughly entertaining.,
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Panicking Ralph A Harpur And Iles Mystery (Hardcover)
If this is your first foray into the bitingly humorous world of Harpur and Iles, as it was mine, be prepared. Author Bill James is obviously having the time of his life here, tweaking all aspects of traditional police procedural novels and the characters who populate them. James's characters are unique: idealistic Commissioner Lane, who "[does] not presume to see himself as Christ, but at least as the one who rolled away the stone"; ACC Iles, an unrepentant sycophant who praises Lane's "gifted decisiveness," and thinks of him as a "towering sweetheart, someone I look up to as to a small god"; a dogged investigator, such as Harpur, who has no problem playing fast and loose with the law and everyone he meets to get what he wants; quirky crooks, such as Ralph Ember, with his "rich flair for panic" and "that greasy speed he could get into his sprinting, even over tricky ground" in his flight from trouble; and young Keith Vine, an up and coming criminal who insists on referring to himself as the third person "Keith Vine." As Harpur deals with these characters and investigates the growth of drug syndicates after the death of Oliphant Kenward Knapp, eventually becoming involved in one of them himself, the reader is treated to one amusing scene after another. Unlike some humorous mystery writers like Christopher Moore and Carl Hiaasen, James does not depend on outrageous, off-the-wall scenes and smart-mouthed fast-talk for most of his humor. He is a lover of ironic, often subtle, word-play. He gives poker-faced, lyrical descriptions of decidedly un-lyrical scenes, and he writes with intelligence and care about dangerous criminals, mocking them, while never making light of their cruelty and dangerousness to society. This novel is well plotted and exciting, and its absurdities echo with truth.
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