Crime capers

Do not look up Manchester Vice on the internet as you will find something different; or assume the word ‘vice’ in the title means immorality. You will have to buy the book to find out what it means. This is a crime thriller not a whodunit, one of a new series of noirvellas from a publisher I have not previously come across. The author was a lawyer at one point in his career, which also included working in a morgue and digging holes.

This is a very good yarn which starts dramatically enough and is well worth sticking with, provided you do not take the premise too seriously. The hero is a crime correspondent on a Manchester newspaper who has ready access to private detectives, criminals and police. The tale includes a police interview with a solicitor who actually earns his money and does not sit back passively (as we are usually portrayed).