Carlisle United are playing Millwall and the Major Crimes Team are assigned to crowd control as punishment for
their renegade ways. Typically DI Harry Evans has other ideas and tries to
thwart the local firm’s plans to teach Millwall’s notorious Bushwhackers an
unforgettable lesson.
Meanwhile an undercover cop is travelling north with some of
the Millwall contingent. His mission is to identify the ringleaders and gather
evidence against them.
Three illegal immigrants have been transported to Carlisle
and are about to meet their new employers.
Nothing is as it seems for Evans and his Major Crimes Team
as they battle to avoid a bloodbath while also uncovering a far more heinous
crime.
My thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me on to the blog tour and for sending me a review copy.
My Thoughts:
I was really pleased to be invited to do this blog tour as I really enjoyed the first outings for Harry Evans and you can read my thoughts about that here.
This book, well novella really picks up where we left off and I love the fact that it feels as if we have never been away. There is an atmosphere around the Police Station. Harry Evans is somewhat of a renegade, someone who also goes out on a limb but is ironically a little anti establishment. He likes to do things his own way and unfortunately after last time, himself and his colleagues are feeling the heat. They need results and they need to do the job the right way.
With a strong sense of location, I love these stories. This one revolves around football hooliganism and illegal immigration. The author is not afraid to tackle bold themes and weaves them expertly into a taut plot.
Harry is now on the way to retirement but I can't wait to read more about him. He is a vibrant character who breathes the life into these stories, whilst having an amazing supporting cast who are all great in their own ways.
Graham Smith has delivered again, a fast paced and thrilling story whilst keeping it realistic and me on the edge of the seat.
More please!
I am delighted to welcome Graham to the blog today and he has written a great guest post on the location of his Harry Evans stories, thanks for stopping by:
Apologies for the somewhat cheesy headline, but for this
guest post I thought I’d talk about the locations I’ve chosen for my DI Harry
Evans novels, novellas and short stories.
I’ve set them in Cumbria which includes the fantastically
beautiful Lake District, the Northern Pennines and hundreds of miles of
coastline. Cumbria is home to the city of Carlisle, countless small towns and
villages, a plethora of wide open spaces consisting of moorland, rolling fells,
deep lakes and small forests. (Many of these are good places to dump a body
which is always important for us crime writers.)
Stepping outside the City of Carlisle, the towns and
villages are tourist traps, ports, market towns. Tourism is huge business in
the Lake District, but Cumbria also plays home to a nuclear power station, a
naval base and factories which produce everything from crisp packets to
biscuits via tyres. Farming is a huge part of the community and there are many
dairy, sheep and cattle farms throughout the region although the hills do mean
there’s a distinct lack of arable farming in the area. (This diversity of
location gives me the opportunity to write a rural or city based story without
having to move my characters away from their usual stomping ground as the whole
of Cumbria is their patch.)
The M6 motorway and countless A and B roads afford access
around the county, but there’s also many single track roadways when you get off
the beaten track. (For a crime writer these are great for allowing speedy
progress or causing tension inducing displays as required by the story.)
Cumbria has an amazing history which includes the Romans,
the reiving families of the borders and the many wars between Scotland and
England. All of this makes for a landscape which is rich in varied influences
and ancient cultures. (West Cumbria had its own unique language which still
shows in the speech patterns of those local to the area.)
Another governing factor in my choosing Cumbria and the Lake
District as my location of choice is the fact it is an area which many readers
from the north of England and Scotland are likely to have visited. Most readers
like to read about places they know and as such it was something of a
no-brainer for me to choose to write about and area I’m local to and fairly
familiar with. (Don’t tell anyone, but one of the main reasons I chose Cumbria
is so I can have a nice day out in the Lake District and call it research.)
A lesser but still important consideration was that very few
people are setting crime stories in Cumbria. All the other cities close to me
have already been claimed by those who know them far better than I
With all these attributes available in a location so close
to my home in Scotland (I live just three miles from Cumbria) I’d have had to
have been very brave or foolish to choose anywhere else.
I might be a coward, but I’m not an idiot!
About the Author:
Graham Smith is married with a young son. A time served
joiner he has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends
meet. Since Christmas 2000 he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding
venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.
An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid
Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular
reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since
2009
He is the author of four books featuring DI Harry Evans and
the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team.
Matching the Evidence
Snatched from Home
Lines of Enquiry
I Know Your Secret – Out October 2016
Website
www.grahamsmithauthor.com
www.grahamsmithauthor.com
Please do have a look at the others stops on the blog tour:
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