Pay Days: A Harpur & Iles Mystery

By Bill James

Book Overview

Meanwhile, the body of a pusher, Victor Goussard (Slow Victor), is found trussed up on a deserted boat in a city harbor--and then it disappears. His lover frantically, unwisely, starts to ask questions down at the docks; a snoopy television reporter sees a breaking story; and Ember, terrified of exposure, plots the murder of a man who knows too much. Harpur is fast on the trail to make the connections and prevent another crime, but it's a race against time--and treachery.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393337855
• ISBN13: 9780393337853
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Disturbing, funny, and wonderful

If you haven't discovered Harpur and Iles, you owe yourself a treat.ACC Iles's concept of a controlled city where drugs are handled locally and violence is kept off the streets is threatened by his boss, Mark Lane's desire for a crusade against crime, by one of his officer's apparent double-dealing (the Pay Days of the title), and by an outbreak of murder within the untrusting mobs that control the drug business. As usual, Detective Chief Superintendent Harpur is the only one who will face the moral dilemnas and try to achieve a solution.Author Bill James does a wonderful job detailing the fine line between police and criminal--their similarities are disturbing. His deft touch for dialogue made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Panicking Ralph Ember, in particular, has become something of a friend as well as a monumental villain.Harpur and Iles is a great series and this is a great example.BooksForABuck.I appreciate your helpful vote.

Another Harpur & Iles Winner

As a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I enjoy the books in this series written by Bill James. In PAY DAYS, James has pulled it all together once again. Harpur and Iles are in familiar form, struggling through their unorthodox crime-solving partnership. So are our heroes' criminal rivals Ember and Shale. James has a plot here featuring a possibly turncoat cop who no one on either side of the law knows whether or not he can be trusted. In PAY DAYS, Bill James does what Bill James does as well as any other writer working today. If you enjoy this type of mystery, read this book soon.