I’ve loved the North London police dramas written by Oliver Harris for a while, mainly because they are well-written, fast-paced, and star a hard-nosed, but fair-minded and gentle-hearted police detective, Nick Belsey. This third instalment in the Belsey crime thriller series sees our police detective hiding out in a boarded up Hampstead Police Station. He has been suspended, and is lying low with an internal investigation hanging over his head.
Belsey’s down and out lifestyle is temporarily elevated when, following a plea from an elderly lady to find her missing son, he gets embroiled in the life of a famous singer and celebrity Amber Knight. Belsey’s situation soon worsens when a body of another young socialite is found in Mayfair, very close to a club where the ex-policeman spends a night out with Amber.
While the body count increases, and Belsey has a possible murder charge hanging over his head, adding to his already long list of misdemeanours with the Metropolitan police force, he doggedly continues his investigations. Soon he discovers a suspicious international organisation, promising a better life to its members. As he delves deeper into the strange goings on, his own life is under threat from a much more familiar direction.
If you want a thriller you cannot resist picking up when you should be doing something else (like writing your own novel, ahem), this is the book for you. A bonus for those who love crime thrillers set in London is the authenticity of the settings. I know many of the backstreets and alleyways Belsey visits, and they’re spot on. (What that says about me is another matter …)
The House of Fame by Oliver Harris
Hardcover £9.74 / Kindle £9.99
*****NEWSFLASH*****
Oliver Harris will be talking about The House of Fame at The Crouch End Festival during Desert Island Books on 14th June 2016. He will also talk more generally about what it takes to be a successful author as part of an expert panel of an event called, So You Want to Be a Writer, on 15th June.
Both events are free to attend!
More details on the Crouch End Festival and both of the above events, click here.
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