Once Upon a Crime

out now

the exciting new sequel to 'a list to die for'

Lisa Harvey has only one question on her mind. Where’s the money? The two million pounds that her husband obtained, then hid, after fencing the proceeds of an armed robbery on a jeweller’s in Kensington London.

Unfortunately, Lisa can’t ask him where it is because Frank suffered a heart attack while on remand and died shortly after. So she hires a private detective, to help her track down the cash. The plan is to find it and turn it over to the insurance company for a legitimate finder’s reward and split it fifty-fifty with the detective.

But she’s not the only looking for it. There are the other three members of the robbery gang that Frank double-crossed, who will kill if necessary to get their hands on the loot. The Met, who still believe Lisa was involved in the robbery in some way , and the insurance company that reimbursed the jeweller’s of the twenty million stolen, determined at all costs, whatever those costs might be, to find the money before anyone else. Then there’s the detective, who Lisa knows only through a friend of a friend. Can he be trusted if two million in hard cash is found?

Enjoy the beginningread here for free

Buy Nowfrom Amazon.co.uk

Superb book. Enjoyed every minute of it and finished it the day after I bought it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I look forward to Burlem's next book.
Mr. Ronald Gerard

A List to Die For is an enthralling detective story in the style of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler - with fast moving action, witty dialogue, sharply drawn characters and an intricate well-crafted plot. Shorn of literary pretension, the author writes crisply and economically. There are four sentences in the first line of the book alone: “He said to be there at 4pm . I was. On the dot. Because you didn’t keep Jack Kreeger waiting. The black electric gates closed behind me. The tyres of my Beema crunched on the driveway gravel. The sun slipped behind some clouds, things turned grey. I hoped it wasn’t an omen. Someone opened the driver’s door.” And so it continues in lines the author himself might have described as being “like the thud, thud, thud of slugs in the back from a snub nosed colt .38”. As when the detective accepts the assignment after the following exchange: “I’ll give you ten grand upfront” It did make me think twice. And then he said cash. And that made me think a third time …It says in The Bible that you should give to the poor. But it doesn’t say you have you be one of them. The tough guys in the book are hardboiled and laconic, the women are sexy and their voices are husky. And although much of the story consists of dialogue and action, it is by no means at the expense of excellent characterisation and descriptions of locations. In brief, a page turner. Never a dull paragraph, leaving the reader hungry to find out what happens next.
Edward Laing

Not my usual read but it was recommended to me and once I started reading I had to keep going to find out what happened next. An enjoyable and gripping page turner.
Sheila from Barnet