I Am Gold

October 10, 2011
Asst. Chief Constable Desmond Iles and Det. Chief Supt. Colin Harpur remain effective colleagues, despite their bickering, in James’s solid 27th Harpur & Iles mystery set in an unnamed English seaport (after May 2011’s Hotbed). The uneasy détente between the town’s police and criminals is shattered when a gunman riddles gang leader Mansel Shale’s Jaguar, killing his wife, Naomi, and his school-age son, Laurent. Was Ralph Ember (aka Panicking Ralph), Shale’s rival, behind the attack? Will there be blood in the streets? After the gunman crashes his car, he flees on foot, seizes a hostage, and bolts into a nearby shop, where he takes several more hostages. Iles proclaims himself “Gold”—in absolute charge of the hostage situation—though Harpur has his own idea of how it should be handled. In flashbacks, James adds another colorful piece to his serial crime saga by describing the meeting and wooing of Shale and Naomi.

Starred review from December 1, 2011
James' twenty-seventh Harpur and Iles idyll begins as a single story concerning the murders of drug-lord Mansel Shale's new wife, Naomi, and son, Laurent, as Naomi drives Manse's two children to school. Police pursue the shooter, and a hostage situation in a charity shop ensues. But then the book fragments into two separate tales that occur two years apart: the hostage situation, as described by Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, and Manse's very decorous meeting and courting of Naomi, which is aided by their mutual appreciation for Pre-Raphaelite paintings. James devotees will find everything they have come to expect from the master: brilliant writing, hilarious and fierce dialogue, grins and guffaws, some authentic bits of police procedure, and sparkling and arch digressions and discursions that illuminate his characters' characters. Readers new to the series might wonder that Manse's reaction to the murders of his wife and son isn't addressed here, but it is the subject of Vacuum (2011), published just two months ago. The world of crime fiction should hope that the already prolific James can continue at this pace.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)