Tony R Cox is an ex-provincial UK journalist. The Simon Jardine series is based on his memories of the early 70s - the time of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll - when reporters relied on word of mouth and there was no internet, no mobile phones, not even a fax machine.
Paul Finch is a master at constructing a plot as if he’s completing a jigsaw. First there’s the shock of a heinous crime, then further, even worse crimes, and finally a criminal scenario that makes all else pale into mediocrity. He treats his readers like a recalcitrant marlin: lets us thrash around, but he’s always holding the line and reeling us in. Stolen, the latest DC Lucy Clayburn thriller, shows he’s mastered the technique.
We are also introduced to one of the best characters I’ve ‘met’ for many years. Sister Cassie isn’t quite the ‘heart of gold with a rough exterior’: she’s a drug-addicted, ex-nun, prostitute who feeds her habit (pun intended) with ‘services’ to other down-and-outs. The vision of Cassie on the back of DC Lucy’s Ducatti on a derelict wasteland with her nun’s regalia flying in the wind will stay with me forever.
The Manchester depicted in Stolen is not just a great setting for crime, it is a hot bed of the most insidious and vicious violence – from organised dog fights to acid baths dissolving human victims. There’s extortion and drug dealing, blackmail and cold-blooded murder, and that’s before the plot slips up a gear. Our police heroine is in the thick of it as is one of the cap-di-capo villains – her own father.
Will DC Clayburn solve the unsolvable? Will she turn her vicious gangland capo-di-capo dad into a legit businessman? Will she drum any common-sense into her mother? Most importantly, will she steal the centre of the stage from Sister Cassie? Paul Finch has the all-seeing eye of a journalist, the depth of knowledge of a former policeman, and the immense skill and underlying humour of one of the best crime fiction writers we have.
