When salesman Tony Silkstone confesses to murder, the top brass of the Heckley police are keen to convict and close the lurid case. But Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is not convinced that things are as simple as they seem. A hitman turns up in town, a juvenile car thief wreaks havoc and Charlie complicates matters further when he starts dating one of his colleagues.As links between his case and another murder emerge, Charlie pursues the trail and finds himself faced with questions about his own friends and his feelings towards them.Review"The best police procedural I have read in a long time. ... its detail and ingenuity should garner a wider audience" -- Deadly PleasuresAbout the AuthorStuart Pawson had a career as a mining engineer, followed by a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire, and when not hunched over the word processor, Stuart likes nothing more than tramping across the moors, which often feature in his stories.

DI Charlie Priest was a newly promoted sergeant on the Leeds force when he was called to the scene of a tragic fire. Twenty years on, a new lead emerges and he has the chance to reopen the investigation – but meanwhile he's got trouble with a cheeky gang of burglars. By a combination of luck and good detective work, Charlie and his team are soon closing in on the perpetrators of both crimes. But a cornered villain with everything to lose can be dangerous for a copper who'll take every kind of risk in the hunt for justice.

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest’s day hasn’t started well. Late for the first time in twenty years, thanks to a hangover, he’s got a grisly workload to face.Hartley Goodrich has been found dead in his armchair, right beside the flowerpot that caused the gaping gash to his head. There’s little doubt that this was murder, and when Charlie discovers that Hartley’s financial advice had lost his clients a small fortune, there’s no shortage of suspects either.But is the case all it seems?ReviewPerfect for a long winter afternoon with the rain beating down on the windows. --Independent on Sunday About the AuthorStuart Pawson had a career as a mining engineer, followed by a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire, and when not hunched over the word processor, Stuart likes nothing more than tramping across the moors, which often feature in his stories.

Synopsis:D.I. Charlie Priest is on gardening leave – the neighbors have complained about his weeds – when the call comes. Ghislaine Curzon, girlfriend of one of the royal princes, is in Heckley to open the Curzon Centre, a new shopping mall and conference facility. But as she reveals the commemorative plaque at the opening ceremony it looks like someone has got to it first, defacing it with a single obscene word in foot-high red letters. The visiting dignitaries are aghast and the chief constable insists on Charlie investigating the case.Charlie would rather be investigating the burglaries perpetrated by a two-man gang, armed with a pit bull terrier, but he welcomes the opportunity to meet Ghislaine, known as Grizzly to her friends, at the family’s stately home in East Yorkshire. He also meets and befriends Toby, her precocious thirteen-year-old sister. The jollities cease, however, when the mayor of Heckley and driving force behind the construction of the Curzon Centre is found dead, killed by a single shot to the head.The subsequent investigation involves a cornucopia of characters from the rich farmland of East Yorkshire. As one of them tells Charlie: ‘We do things different in the country’. Charlie is not averse to doing things differently himself, to the displeasure of the superintendent in charge of the investigation, and it’s going to take more than standard police procedure to crack this case.Biography:STUART PAWSON had a career as a mining engineer, followed by a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire, and when not hunched over the word processor likes nothing more than tramping across the moors, which often feature in his stories. He is a member of the Murder Squad and the Crime Writers' Association.