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Bill James
Full Series List in Order
A Harpur & Iles Mystery
1 - You'd Better Believe It (1985)2 - The Lolita Man (1986)
3 - Halo Parade (1987)
4 - Protection (1988)
5 - Come Clean (1989)
6 - Take (1990)
7 - Club (1991)
8 - Astride a Grave (1991)
9 - Gospel (1992)
10 - Roses, Roses (1993)
11 - In Good Hands (1994)
12 - The Detective Is Dead (Sep-1995)
13 - Top Banana (Mar-1998)
14 - Lovely Mover (Jun-1999)
15 - Eton Crop (Nov-1999)
16 - Kill Me (May-2000)
17 - Panicking Ralph (May-2001)
18 - Pay Days (Sep-2001)
19 - Naked at the Window (Dec-2002)
20 - The Girl with the Long Back (Mar-2004)
21 - Easy Streets (Jul-2005)
22 - Wolves of Memory (Jul-2006)
23 - The Sixth Man and Other Stories (Oct-2006)
24 - Girls (Sep-2007)
26 - In the Absence of Iles (Jan-2010)
27 - Hotbed (May-2011)
28 - I Am Gold (Dec-2011)
29 - Vacuum (Nov-2011)
29 - Undercover (Oct-2012)
30 - Play Dead (Jun-2013)
31 - Disclosures (Dec-2014)
32 - Blaze Away (Jun-2015)
33 - First Fix Your Alibi (Apr-2016)
34 - Close (May-2017)
35 - Hitmen I Have Known (Oct-2019)
36 - Low Pastures (Mar-2022)
A Simon Abelard Mystery
1 - Split (Mar-2002)Book List in Order: 54 titles
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You'd Better Believe It
- 1985
- / Police Procedural
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The first title in the popular Harpur and Iles series.Harpur's domain is a small seaport city south of London. It's not unusual for the big-town criminals to consider such a spot as easy prey. At such times a policeman must rely keenly upon his colle...
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The Lolita Man
- 1986
- / Police Procedural
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Harpur matches wits with a deadly killer: the "Lolita Man." Five teenage girls have been raped and murdered, and the criminal is still at large. Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, assigned to the case, is a tough hunter, but so is "the Loli...
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Halo Parade
- 1987
- / Police Procedural
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“Crackling dialogue and seamy people race a no-holds-barred operation to its wickedly satisfying denouement.” —John Coleman, [London] Sunday Times First time in U.S. paperback, the third in Bill James's standout, witty, well above t...
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Protection
- 1988
- / Police Procedural
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Forced to retire from the department under a cloud of suspicion, Detective Colin Harpur's colleague, Hubert Scott, concocts a scheme that will clear his name--one that is related to the kidnapping of underworld informant Bernard "Tenderness" Mellick'...
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Come Clean
- 1989
- / Police Procedural
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"Le Carré-like psychological ambiguities and fierce double-crosses―from an author who, in an understated sentence or two, can pack a knockout punch."―Kirkus Reviews
Sarah Iles's latest young lover, Ian Aston, and the seedy gangland club h... -
Astride a Grave
- 1991
- / Police Procedural
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A darkly comic mystery in which Chief Supt. Colin Harper hopes to find the missing brains of a bank robbing gang who has gone missing with more than his share of the loot, before the vengeful members of the gang go beyond simply kidnapping their lead...
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Roses, Roses
- 1993
- / Police Procedural
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"Bill James writes a superior brand of police procedural about a steely English detective named Colin Harpur, but he has never written a story as cold, dark and dangerously funny as Roses, Roses." -Marilyn Stasio ? New York Times Book Review-Megan Ha...
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In Good Hands
- 1994
- / Police Procedural
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Fear Grips The drug underworld after two principals in the trade are murdered, and even A.C.C. Desmond Iles is under a cloud of suspicion. Now the chief players start closing in on a fortune, while Iles, Chief Constable Mark Lane, and Detective Chief...
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The Detective Is Dead
- Sep-1995
- / Police Procedural
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No one, including Detective Chief Superintendent Harpur, is willing to testify at the murder trial of three crooks in the drug trade, so the killers go free. Meanwhile, would-be drug kingpin Keith Vine is playing a dangerous double game as an informa...
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Last Enemy
- Jan-1997
- / General Fiction
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In World War II, teenager Valerie Buck become involved with evacuee Peter, but one day he vanished. Valerie knew what had happened to him, and now 50 years later, the memories obsess her. Retracing her sexual awakenings forces a confrontation of the ...
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Top Banana
- Mar-1998
- / Police Procedural
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When thirteen-year-old drug runner Mandy Walsh is killed in a shootout between rival drug gangs, the police assume at first that she was accidentally caught in the crossfire. But someone shot her intentionally, and the deeper that DCS Colin Harpur an...
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Lovely Mover
- Jun-1999
- / Police Procedural
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Rivals A.C.C. Desmond Iles and D.C.I. Colin Harpur are confronted with a murder that threatens to tip the dangerous balance among the drug barons? and the police. It was tragic. There was no other word for it. Eleri ap Vaughan, sixty years old and st...
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Panicking Ralph
- May-2001
- / Police Procedural
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"Some of the finest black comedy in contemporary English fiction, criminal or otherwise."―Boston Globe's "New and Recommended"
Ralph Ember, owner of the shady drinking club The Monty, longs to be respectable. The trouble is, his money comes ... -
Double Jeopardy
- May-2002
- / Suspense
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With the aid of the victim's mother, married Detective Sergeant Kerry Lake investigates her older detective lover's connection to the cover-up of the murder of a young black American woman by two white men....
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Naked at the Window
- Dec-2002
- / Police Procedural
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The latest dark suspense from "the Elmore Leonard of Britain's underworld" ―Kirkus Reviews.
Big drug dealer Ralph Ember stumbles on a ghastly surprise when he and sidekick Beau Derek arrive at the house of yachtsman Barney Coss, his bulk sup... -
The Girl with the Long Back
- Mar-2004
- / Police Procedural
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Harpur and Iles are back on the scene, and this time the danger is even closer to home.
With the rumored transfer of Chief of Police Mark Lane, London's competitive drug lords are on edge. In the past, Desmond Iles has managed to maintain the ... -
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Easy Streets
- Jul-2005
- / Police Procedural
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"A brilliant combination of almost Jacobean savagery and sexual betrayal with a tart comedy of contemporary manners." ―John Harvey, The Guardian.
For years Colin Harpur's dubious boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, ran a questionab... -
Wolves of Memory
- Jul-2006
- / Police Procedural
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A large, carefully plotted "cash-in-transit" raid goes hopelessly awry when armed policemen intervene to seize the perpetrators. Relatives and friends of the incarcerated are convinced that information--the date, the time--was leaked by the only man ...
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The Sixth Man and Other Stories
- Oct-2006
- / Police Procedural
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An anthology featuring previously unpublished Harpur and Iles stories.All is not well in the underworld . . . With three entirely new Harpur and Iles stories, three more never before published together, plus a spicy little interlude with some crooks ...
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Letters from Carthage
- Mar-2007
- / Mystery
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A fresh and original take on a mystery within a mystery - Fresh from the inner city, Vince and Kate are new to the suburbia of Tabbett Drive, delighted to have accessed this middle-class paradise. They've even found the neighbours remarkably friendly...
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Off-Street Parking
- Mar-2009
- / Mystery
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A new mystery from this bestselling author - DC Sharon Mayfield is on routine surveillance when she spots a dead man in a car. The cars locks are sealed with superglue and Claude Huddart's face has been mutilated. As with most murders, there's a puzz...
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Full of Money
- Dec-2009
- / General Fiction
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Part social satire, part police procedural, Bill James returns with the stunning prequel to "Tip Top" In the drug-ridden Whitsun and Temperate housing estates a connection, once made, is only ever one thing: trouble.
Trouble for the journalist ...
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In the Absence of Iles
- Jan-2010
- / Police Procedural
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Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles's absence from a police undercover conference sets the stage for the moral and practical dilemmas faced by one of his colleagues, ACC Esther Davidson, as she works to bring down the largest gang operating in her...
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World War Two Will Not Take Place
- May-2011
- / General Fiction
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Set during an alternative version of 1938 with Bill James’ trademark satirical take on events - England,1938. War looms, but the Prime minister’s talks with Hitler in Munich seem to result in a pact of peace. Now Mount, a secret service officer,...
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Undercover
- Oct-2012
- / Police Procedural
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When Harpur and Iles are called in to investigate an undercover investigation gone wrong, they can sense dark, hazardous times ahead... After a gang shooting involving an undercover police officer, Colin Harpur and his boss Assistant Chief Constab...
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Disclosures
- Dec-2014
- / Police Procedural
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Panicking Ralph is a big-time villain -- but he’s a local villain -- and when his life is threatened, policemen Harpur and Iles are straight on the case Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond ...
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Blaze Away
- Jun-2015
- / Police Procedural
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Policemen Harpur and Iles get mixed up in the criminal world of fine art dealing Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur feels a sort of warmth towards Jack Lamb, a brilliantly prosperous but profoundly dodgy fine arts dealer. Lamb is the grea...
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First Fix Your Alibi
- Apr-2016
- / Police Procedural
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When a major drugs dealer seeks vengeance for the death of his family, policemen Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent a bloodbath Following the murder of his wife and son, tycoon drugs dealer Mansel Shale is determined to get vengeance ...
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The Principals
- Nov-2016
- / General Fiction
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This sharply satirical novel concerns a battle royal between two academic institutions and their principals. England, 1987. It’s all-out war. Two universities in the same city each aim to destroy the other and take over one another’s building...
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Hitmen I Have Known
- Oct-2019
- / Mystery
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Assistant Chief Constable Iles finds himself suspected of murder in the fast-paced 35th installment of the popular Harpur and Iles police procedural series. Tensions in the community are mounting following the gruesome deaths of two men, both of w...
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Big Day Out
- Jul-2020
- / Dystopian
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Bill James is the alter ego of two South African authors who have drunk together, sold books together, and now finally written a book together. That does not make it a bromance. Despite their having collaborated on a steamy sex scene.Their first book...
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Low Pastures
- Mar-2022
- / Police Procedural
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A well-dressed corpse found shot in the sand and gravel wharf sparks trouble for Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his unpredictable boss, Assistant Chief Constable Iles. "A must-read for devotees of British procedurals" - Boo...
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Between Lives
At the same time as she is ghostwriting the autobiography of film star David Gale, Louise Summers is writing a biography of Andrew Pax, a member of the Apostles, executed in 1941 for passing secrets to the Russians. When Gale plays Pax in a film and ...
