cover image Full of Money

Full of Money

Bill James, . . Severn, $27.95 (187pp) ISBN 978-0-7278-6813-8

Dodgy doings abound in James's ho-hum police procedural set in 1998 London, the prequel to Tip Top (2006). When Det. Chief Supt. Esther Davidson investigates the shooting death of crime journalist Gervaise Manciple Tasker, she discovers from Tasker's notes that he'd learned too much about drug dealers at the rival Whitsun Festival and Temperate Park Acres council estates, in particular Whitsun gang leader Adrian Pellotte. As Davidson digs deeper, Larry Edgehill, the producer of a TV discussion show, A Week in Review , attracts Pellotte's unwanted attention. In a Romeo and Juliet scenario, a star presenter on A Week in Review , Rupert Bale (of Temperate), has become involved with Pellotte's daughter Dione (of Whitsun). Pellotte wants Edgehill to make sure Dione's treated properly. James's spotty gang warfare tale, hampered by unsympathetic characters and British cultural references that many American readers will find obscure, sputters to an unsatisfying conclusion. (Dec.)