The Girl with the Long Back — Bill James

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 peace on the streets in an old-fashioned system of give a little, take a little. But suddenly Iles is in danger of losing his power when the new chief constable comes to town, and, to preempt the new regime, the drug gangs begin a struggle for dominance. Adding to this volatile situation, Harpur sends a female undercover agent to infiltrate one of the gangs. With a dangerous mix of greed and fear, the looming threat of a stricter police force, and three sudden deaths, all sides are preparing themselves for a full-scale battle of the ugliest kind.

A deliciously witty addition to a classic series, The Girl with the Long Back heightens the urgency and pace of the tantalizing London underworld in which cops and criminals, and all of their clever asides, are sketched in fantastic detail.