Eric Ward Mystery S.
4 total works
Following the devastating impact of foot-and-mouth disease, hill-farmer Paddy Fenton is facing financial ruin. When a casual acquaintance offers to lease one of his outbuildings for cash, the temptation of making a little money on the side is too good to turn down. He agrees - and doesn't inquire too closely into what might be happening there. It's the worst decision Fenton has ever made. A police raid on his barn uncovers the production of 'smokies' - illegal meat manufacturing - and the farmer is accused as an accessory. The criminal underworld that Fenton has unwittingly entered stretches far beyond the local countryside. It is down to lawyer Eric Word to rescue Fenton but it soon becomes apparent that meat manufacturing is the least of their worries. Botched operations, a divided and corrupt workforce, and a bleak landscape filled with desperate and disillusioned characters provide the backdrop for Ward's chilling journey into the dark underworld of the north, where it is not always clear who is running, or exactly whom they are running from.
Solicitor Eric Ward maintains a small criminal practice on Newcastle's Quayside. This simple life, however, is soon to change. Eric's reluctant attendance at an annual dinner leads him to meet Ben Shaw, a merchant banker who seems to know an awful lot about him. What Shaw tells Eric leads to the uncomfortable dredging up of his past. It seems Jason Sullivan QC- the reason behind Eric's marriage break up- is involved in something big and it is up to Eric to find out what. Meanwhile, DCI Charlie Spate's investigation into illegal immigration has revealed a new level of organization. Prostitution. Drugs. It's big business. However, Spate is strangely pulled off the case in favor of re-opening a cold case: the killing of Michael Podro, an old man whose murder bore a striking resemblance to Nazi death camp killings. A strange, undetermined tattoo on his shoulder may be the only clue to the truth behind his murder. As past and present collide, Roy Lewis takes us on a gripping and suspense-ridden trip that keeps the pages turning until at last the two seemingly unrelated stories explode into one.
Eric Ward thinks he is happily married -- until he discovers that his wife, Anne, has been spending rather too much time with a business associate. Suspicious and angry, Ward finds comfort in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But when his new lover is found dead, he must do everything he can to avoid becoming the focus of a murder inquiry that could wreck his future. As police pressure looms, Ward makes his own inquiries. Increasingly desperate to find the girl's killer, he begins to learn more about a shady Tyneside world of drugs, dodgy property deals and illicit nightclubs. And when he learns that the trouble in Newcastle has its roots in Asian big business, he begins to fear for his own life as he seeks the final answers on the Tyne. Tense and gripping, hurtling forward to a nail-biting finish, A Form of Death is the latest in Roy Lewis's popular Eric Ward series.