“Dead and Gone” by Stephen Puleston

The case begins with a phone call. A university colleague of his partner says he’s in trouble. And then he disappears. Another colleague is found in a ditch near a park; she’s apparently the victim of a hit-and-run driver. His boss at the North Wales Police believes the crimes are unconnected, but Detective Inspector Ian Drake knows there must be a connection. Somehow. 

The trouble is finding it. 

 

Drake and his team conduct an exhaustive, and exhausting, investigation. The missing man is later found dead, murdered by a stab wound to the neck. His computer suggests ties to both right-wing and left-wing groups, both of which border on terrorism. But evidence of a connection between thew two deaths is elusive, and suspects for each death re questioned but let go. Examination of the dead woman’s bank account shows she was receiving regular payments in the same amount that was being withdrawn by the other victim. That suggests blackmail, but why?

 

Stephen Puleston

Dead and Gone is the ninth DI Ian Drake mystery by Welsh writer Stephen Puleston. It’s heavy on police procedure; it’s lighter on Drake’s behavioral issues with being on the autism scale  than the previous books in the series. Drake is now divorced and living with his new partner, and the change seems to have done him considerable good.

 

Puleston publishes two series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, and Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional hero lives and works.

 

Dead and Gone is the story of what happens when a murder investigation seems to be leading to dead ends and blind alleys. But when the resolution finally begins, it happens very quickly.

 

Related:

 

My review of Written in Blood.

 

My review of A Time to Kill.

 

My review of Another Good Killing.

 

My review of Brass in Pocket.

 

My review of Worse than Dead.

 

My review of Against the Tide.

 

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

 

My review of Dead Smart.

 

My review of Speechless.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

"A Cold Dark Heart" by Stephen Puleston

It looks like a burglary gone wrong. An elderly man, living alone in a retirement community of detached houses, is found dead with a head wound. Police theorize he struggled with a burglar and fell, hitting his head. Valuable books and china have been stolen. Detective Inspector Ian Drake of the North Wales Police Force and his team investigation, patiently tracking down leads, including one from a rare book dealer. 

But it looks like a burglary until two more reports come in, both of elderly men who died in their homes. Both apparently suffered heart attacks. But the coroner is suspicious, and tests to see if his hunch is correct. The two didn’t die of heart attacks; they were injected with enough air to cause heart attacks. A few exhumations are ordered. And now it begins to look like there’s a serial killer loose, targeting the elderly.  

Stephen Puleston

A Cold Dark Heart by Stephen Puleston is the eighth Detective Inspection Ian Drake novel, and it gradually builds toward an on-the-edge-of-your seat conclusion. And Puleston plays Drake not only against a cunning killer but also his own boss, a new superintendent who’s looking for glory and is more obstructive than helpful. Drake still has the habits of his obsessive-compulsive disorder – rearranging post-it notes on his desk, moving picture frames an eighth of an inch, checking the cleanliness of his own car and those of his fellow officers. But it’s much more under control than in the earlier novels.

Puleston publishes two series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, and Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional hero lives and works.

A Cold Dark Heart is another solid entry in the Ian Drake series, with a nail-biting thriller of a conclusion.

Related:

My review of Written in Blood.

My review of A Time to Kill.

My review of Another Good Killing.

My review of Brass in Pocket.

My review of Worse than Dead.

My review of Against the Tide.

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

My review of Dead Smart.

My review of Speechless.

My review of Nowhere to Hide.

"Nowhere to Hide" by Stephen Puleston

Dawn Piper, a recovering drug addict, is making her way carefully through the Saturday night streets. She has a destination in mind, a friend’s house, but she wants to arrive there, and she’s watching for a black Audi that is likely following her. The friend’s house is within sight when she hears the voice, “Hello, Dawn.” Her body is found in her flat, but it’s clear she’s been killed somewhere else. 

Detective Inspector Ian Drake and Detective Sergeant Sara Morgan of the Wales Police Service investigate. And Drake has his hands full with non-investigation stuff – community meetings organized by a rabble-rousing politician; his boss retiring and a new superintendent arriving who seems distinctly cold and calculating; trying to balance time with his children and his new girlfriend (Drake is divorced). He also continues to obsess with neatness, coffee, and his Sudoku games.

Stephen Puleston

Drake and Morgan and their team gradually learn that Dawn’s death may be tied to local crime bosses and others running drugs into Wales. A second death occurs. Drake’s former wife, with the children in the car, is run off the road – a clear warning to the detective. Then there’s a third death, and the mysterious black Audi is playing a role again.

Nowhere to Hide by British author Stephen Puleston is the latest entry in the Detective Ian Drake detective series. Puleston publishes two series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, and Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service. Nowhere to Hide is the seventh DI Ian Drake novel.

It’s a solid, fast-paced police procedural story, complete with drug kings, semi-civilized gangsters, departmental politics, and an ongoing romance. 

Related:

My review of Written in Blood.

My review of A Time to Kill.

My review of Another Good Killing.

My review of Brass in Pocket.

My review of Worse than Dead.

My review of Against the Tide.

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

My review of Dead Smart.

My review of Speechless.

“A Time to Kill” by Stephen Puleston

A Welsh antiques dealer is lured to a museum near a small town in Wales and murdered with what is eventually determined to be an old German handgun from the World War II period. Little can be gleaned from the crime scene; the murder happens at night and there are no witnesses.

Suspects abound. As Detective Inspector Ian Drake and Detective Sergeant Sara Morgan of the North Wales Police Service investigate, they soon learn that the killer might be the victim’s wife, his common law wife, a gangster who deals in antique thefts, any one of a number of people protesting a local development project, and several other people.

Drake has a set of personal problems. He’s recently divorced and trying to stay in the lives of his two daughters. Politics in the police force always threatens to interfere with investigations, including this one. And Drake is an obsessive-compulsive when it comes to cleanliness, germs, the cleanliness of his car, and the orderliness of his desk. He’s a good investigator, but he behaves almost automaton-like, until he meets a history professor during the investigation. DI Ian Drake starts falling in love and the romance saves the man (and the reader from getting aggravated).

These are the people and this is the world of A Time to Kill by Welsh writer Stephen Puleston.

Stephen Puleston

Puleston publishes two series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, and Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service. A Time to Kill is the fifth DI Ian Drake mystery.

Other killings begin to happen, and Drake and Morgan find themselves in a race against the killer’s next victims. The motive, as it is often is, is buried in the past but wrapped in events in the present.

A Time to Kill is a good story; Puleston writes consistently good police mysteries. One minor oversight: we don’t learn Sara Morgan’s last name until almost a fifth of the way through the story, with her first name as the only reference. It’s a small thing, and fortunately doesn’t detract from the high quality of the overall story.

Related:

My review of Another Good Killing.

My review of Brass in Pocket.

My review of Worse than Dead.

My review of Against the Tide.

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

My review of Dead Smart.

My review of Speechless.

Top photograph by Nick Scheerbart via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Stephen Puleston’s “Brass in Pocket”

We’ve recently becomes fans of the British television series “Hinterland,” a police procedural show starring Richard Harrington as DCI Tom Mathias. It’s set in Wales, and the series is actually filmed in both English and Welsh versions. We just started watching the second season, and the third is being filmed or scheduled for broadcast.

The sweeping Welsh vistas in the series are gorgeous, often looking desolate and empty but with a stark beauty that is simply awe-inspiring. Those same vistas play a backdrop role in Stephen Puleston’s Ian Drake novels, police procedurals that evoke a strong sense of Welsh identity.

The first in the Ian Drake series is Brass in Pocket, the title taken from a 1979 song by the Pretenders. Detective Inspector (DI) Ian Drake works for the Wales Police Service, stationed in Caernaffon in North Wales, and is paired with Detective Sergeant Caren Waits. Thewy’re called to investigate the crime that every policeman hates – the murder of two policemen, traffic cops, on an isolated highway known as Crimean Pass.

The two have been killed with a crossbow. A paper left at the scene indicates the number 4.

Drake and Waits, assisted by a task force, begin the investigation, trying to determine if there’s any link in the two policemen’s pasts that might suggest a motive and a killer. The case quickly becomes like turning over the proverbial rock – and finding what lies underneath. And then there’s another killing – this one denoted as “#3.” Now the case becomes a race against time, as the two detectives try to prevent #2 and #1.

I

Stephen Puleston

n DI Drake, Puleston has created a hero with interesting attributes – a tendency to speed while driving, an addiction to Sudoku number puzzles that provide both distraction and the ordering of his mind, a man of rather fierce loyalties than can at times be blinding, and an intense preoccupation with order and arrangement that can drive his colleagues crazy. He is also addicted to his work.

Puleston, a native of Wales, trained as a lawyer at the University of London. His work in  criminal and family law serve him well in his stories. In this particular novel, Puleston provides a cameo role for Inspector Marco of the South Wales Police, who features in his other police procedural series. (And Puleston has a page about “Hinterland” on his blog.)

Brass in Pocket is a riveting, tense read, as the detectives race against a taunting, intelligent killer determined to wreak revenge.

Photograph of the pier at Ilandudno Beach in north Wales by Irena Jackson via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.