Description:

A Bill Slider Mystery - When ex-BBC correspondent Ed Stonax is found dead, the last thing Detective Inspector Slider needs to complicate his life is the reappearance of an old enemy issuing death threats. Trevor Bates, aka The Needle, is on the loose and trying to kill him, and with a high-profile murder to solve, Slider must try to find a spare moment to marry Joanna before their baby is born and stay alive long enough to do it . . .

From Publishers Weekly

In Harrod-Eagles's elegant 11th Bill Slider mystery (after 2005's Dear Departed), the detective inspector investigates the murder of civil servant Ed Stonax, a former high-profile BBC correspondent, found dead with his skull smashed on the floor of his West London flat. Stonax had been looking into something to do with a building site in Scotland, but no one can break his computer code to find out exactly what. Meanwhile, Slider's ladies' man of an assistant, Jim Atherton, falls for Stonax's grieving daughter, Emily, and Slider and his musician love, Joanna, are trying to marry before their firstborn arrives. To complicate matters further, convicted murderer Trevor Bates (aka The Needle) is at large and threatening to get even with Slider. The various plot lines neatly intersect at the highest levels of government by the end of this appealing English whodunit. (June)
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From Booklist

Starred Review The versatile Harrod-Eagles is a dab hand at everything from historical romances and sweeping family sagas to teen fiction and police procedurals, and her latest book, another winning entry in the Bill Slider series, shows off her writing skills to perfection. Slider is soon to become a husband and, shortly afterward, a father, because his fiancée, Joanna, is expecting their first child. But when journalist Ed Stonax is murdered, Slider must shift his priorities. Stonax was a respected newspaperman who resigned to join the government. Shortly afterward, he and a colleague were photographed in a compromising situation with a young woman, and Stonax suffered a spectacular fall from grace. Now he is dead, and Slider must find his killer. On top of that, Slider’s old nemesis, arch-criminal Trevor Bates, has started a campaign of taunts and intimidation designed to annoy Slider—or worse. Suddenly, Slider is juggling concern over Joanna’s pregnancy, death threats from Bates, and one of the most complex murder cases of his career. A bit slow to start, the story soon picks up speed and rumbles along to a satisfying finish. Like John Harvey’s Charley Resnick, Slider’s mix of toughness, sensitivity, and melancholy works on all levels. --Emily Melton