Bill James: 112 books

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 Iles, worry about the safety of one of the...

Harpur & Iles to uncover a trail of illegal art trading and money laundering. “I found I had a flair for tag-along, street level stealth. It thrilled me. It killed me. Do you mind if I tell you how?” Thomas Wells Hart drifted into a dodgy career as a private investigator and...

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 whom were accused yet acquitted of the murder of an...

*“A droll, delightful, skillfully written piece of academic satire” Booklist Starred Review **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 third title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur is disconsolate: his mistress, the widow of a fellow officer, has recently married another cop; and Ray Street, the young policeman that Colin sent undercover to infiltrate a druglord's gang,...

When Oliphant Kenward Knapp's drug-dealing empire comes up for grabs, there's a rush to control his domain. Caught in the middle is Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur who must protect his informant, Keith Vine, and his pregnant girlfriend. Unfortunately, his amoral superior Desmond...

Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his amoral superior Assistant Chief Constable Desmond lles face a political and personal dilemma when they suspect fellow Officer Nivette of taking bribes from underworld villains, panicking Ralphy Ember and Mansel Shale. Is Nivette doing some unauthorised...

The twenty-seventh title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. A street shooting leaves a mother and child dead on the school run. But was this a random attack? Unlikely, when it transpires that the victims were the wife and son of well-known drug baron Mansel Shale. Having committed...

Thirteen-year-old Mandy Walsh has been gunned down in the street, caught in the crossfire between rival drug gangs. For Chief Constable Lane there is only one option - infiltrate the drug syndicates and rid his patch of this menace. Unfortunately, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has...

For years Panicking Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale have run profitable drugs empires in peaceful cooperation with each other - and Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles turns a blind-eye to their trade as long as it keeps violence off the streets. But this happy arrangement is threatened by foreign...

With the rumoured transfer of Chief of Police Mark Lane, London's competitive drug lords are on edge. In the past, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles has managed to maintain the peace on the streets in an old-fashioned system of give a little, take a little. But suddenly Iles is in danger of losing...

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 colleagues, to be sure, and also upon his retinue...

The second title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. 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 'Lolita man' watching the school playgrounds. Now...

The fourth title in the popular Harpur and Iles series. When Bernard 'Tenderness' Mellick maims Ivor Wright with a blowtorch, Wright retaliates from his hospital bed by sending his men to kidnap Mellick's 11-year old son. At the same time, a colleague of Harpur's, Hubert Scott, is the subject...