By Gwendoline Butler
The invention of a pile of youngster skulls and a grisly triple homicide are only the beginning of leader Commander Coffin's concerns during this gripping crime novel from probably the most universally well-known English secret writers. London's moment urban has been the scene of many a terrifying crime, however the discovery of a pile of child skulls unearthed close to police headquarters is especially scary. one other significant fear for John Coffin, leader Commander, is a triple homicide on his patch, that of a midwife and her daughters. the most obvious suspect is her son, Black Jack Jackson, a neighborhood villain, yet either Coffin and DI Phoebe Astley are reluctant to simply accept his guilt. additional murders upload renewed urgency to either investigations: certainly one of a physician, came upon in a sanatorium laboratory surrounded via grisly trophies, may perhaps good be hooked up to the disinterring of the children's skulls; the opposite, of a infamous moment urban legal, with the brutal midwife killings. Coffin is ready to take all this in his stride, notwithstanding, until eventually the becoming violence comes towards domestic – at once threatening the protection of his spouse, the actress Stella Pinero.
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Extra info for A Cold Coffin (John Coffin Mystery, Book 32)
Example text
When he saw me he got up and took a Sig Sauer pistol from the table, stuffing it into his waistband, the grip hanging over the lip of his drawstring pants. We shook hands and he walked me over to my bike. He straddled it, started it up, and rode the throttle in neutral. He yelled over the engine, “That Spectre pistol Core's selling you? ” “Mommy. That's too much for a pistol, Bird. It was me I'd charge you three hundy” “That's cool of you, dude, but he ain't budging. ” I stuck my chin at the bike.
Or get shot here and let my partners waste him? Or hope one of them gets a clean line on him right this second? Or lie down and try to stay out of the way of everyone's bullets that were sure to puncture the Monte Carlo any second? Or, or, or … drop the keys? Yes, drop the keys. If I was going to die, then he was going to die too. I pulled the keys out of the ignition and let them fall into the footwell. ” “Motherfucker—” I leaned forward and Provestgaard did too. Mellor, who was closest to the passenger's side of the car, stuck his revolver in the rear window gap and emptied it.
Shoot, in that year, 1987, he probably even had his own computer. It didn't appeal to me. The bullet put the rush of the streets in me and through me. It guaranteed I'd never direct anything but myself, and convinced me that large desks were for castrated dummies. I thought, Fuck that, I'm gonna be an undercover. ” AUGUST 2001—JANUARY 2002 IF ANYTHING, THE shooting proved that my job, and therefore my life, was not glamorous in any way. Pathetically, I'd imagined that undercover life would be like Miami Vice—full of cigarette boats, fast cars, expensive clothes, and perfect tens in bikinis sitting in my lap while I negotiated with drug kingpins.