“The Fall Guy” by Simon Michael

Barrister Charles Holborne finds himself caught up in the world of 1960s pop music. 

An American pop group has started its British tour, the prelude to a longer European tour. A British promoter is handling both the British and European itineraries. That is, until a 15-year-old-girl is found dead where the pop group is staying, with a heroin needle hanging out of her arm. And it’s the promoter who’s charged with her death and related crimes.

 

Holborne smells a rat. This is a period when the London Metropolitan Police is riddled with corruption of all kinds – drugs, shakedowns, blackmail, and organized theft rings. Through his contacts, detectives, and friends, the attorney learn his client is innocent, but he’s going to have to dip into the criminal world of the police to prove. And that can be as dangerous as the “regular” criminal underworld itself.

 

But if the music promoter is willing, there’s an opportunity to rip the lid off the entire mess.

 

Simon Michael

The Fall Guy is the 10^th Charles Holborne legal thriller by British writer Simon Michael. It’s a doozy of a story, based like its predecessors on real events and real people (London’s police was indeed riddled with corruption in the 1960s). A former practicing attorney, Michael knows his police procedure, law, and criminal trials, and that understanding undergirds each of the Charles Holborne stories.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

Each of the Charles Holborne novels has been a consistently enthralling story. Michael draws his characters deeply and well, including the minor characters. Details matter. And the stories make you care about what’s happening, what should happen, and what will happen. The Fall Guy is yet another great story about crime, the law, and the people who try to navigate both – for good and for bad.

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

 

My review of The Final Shot by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Nothing But the Truth by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of Death, Adjourned by Simon Michael.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The shameful wat the BBC covers the migrant protests – Chris Middleton at The Critic Magazine.

 

Neil Postman’s Tips for Tech – Joshua Pauling at Modern Age.

 

Tindals Burying Ground (Bunhill Fields) – A London Inheritance.

 

Sweet Thames run softly while I sing my song – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.