Dark Side of the River

Book excerpt: Dark Side of the River is an edgy crime thriller, full of strong characters and set in 1930s Liverpool Detective Sergeant John Bridle thought the dockland bare-knuckle fight would be hard training for his police club boxers, but it’s a case of wrong place wrong time as he is caught up in the murder of the son of a local shipping magnate. Bridle and his acerbic partner Detective Constable Tommy Lodge are seconded into a hostile squad of detectives investigating the murder, led by the toxic Inspector Radford. Bridle’s investigation moves through the slums and street gangs of Liverpool in the 1930s and into the palatial country houses of the Wirral peninsular. His path crosses with a maverick Irish rebel called Riley who is driven by vengeance and is set on a course of political disruption and indiscriminate violence. Bridle has to deal with personal issues as the investigation becomes entwined with his wife’s middle-class family and their hostility to his working class status. Bridle and Radford have a bitter personal conflict as they clash over the investigation and Bridle is almost brought to breaking point but is helped through by the loyal but cynical Tommy Lodge. Bridle and Riley have a violent and fatal confrontation during a major street riot which leaves Bridle scarred. This incident and the lack of evidence to arrest his main murder suspect forces Bridle to question his future.