Brock And Kolla - 09 - Spider Trap
Read Brock And Kolla - 09 - Spider Trap Online
Authors: Barry Maitland
Tags: #Mystery, #Contemporary, #British Detective
| Spider Trap | |
| Brock And Kolla [9] | |
| Barry Maitland | |
| (2006) | |
| Rating: | **** |
| Tags: | Mystery, Contemporary, British Detective |
“Gripping…Maitland brings the particular world he depicts unforgettably alive. No one who reads this haunting, unnerving work will ever again think about contemporary artists the same way.” – _Publishers Weekly
on
No Trace_
“A craft and well-crafted showpiece of the genre…Altogether an intricate and maze-like tale well told and well worth the telling.” –
Los Angeles
_ Times Book Review_ on
The Chalon Heads
“Maitland, perhaps the most underrated writer in the field, puts it all together – a memorably twisty plot, cut-and-thrust investigation, unsparing forensics, psychological penetration – in the complete mystery package.” –
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review) on
No Trace
“As a procedural, it is first-rate; as a crime thriller, it is compelling; and as a reflection of of contemporary life, it is fascinating.” –
Dallas
_ Morning News_ on
Silvermeadow
“In what may be his best book yet, Maitland starkly contrasts the modern art worldview of life as art/art as life with the police attitude that life is not a game.” –
Library Journal
on
No Trace
When human bones are discovered in Cockpit Lane, a poor area of inner south London, D.C.I. David Brock and D.S. Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard are called in to investigate. The first twist in the case comes when Brock and Kolla learn that the victims died over twenty years ago, during the Brixton riots, information that leads the two of them on a dangerous journey into the heart of the West Indian community in London. Making matters worse, a formidable old antagonist, Spider Roach, returns, weaving together past and present in an intricate web of deception and intrigue. Now the two have to uncover the truth of those long ago deaths, and be able to prove it with a crucial piece of evidence, in order to prevent the violence of the past from revisiting itself on them.
- Praise for Barry Maitland's Brock and Kolla series
- Also by Barry Maitland
- Title page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
PRAISE FOR BARRY MAITLAND’S BROCK AND KOLLA SERIES
‘There is no doubt about it, if you are a serious lover of crime fiction, ensure Maitland’s Brock and Kolla series takes pride of place in your collection.’ —
Weekend Australian
‘Barry Maitland is one of Australia’s finest crime writers.’ —
The Sunday Tasmanian
‘Comparable to the psychological crime novelists, such as Ruth Rendell . . . tight plots, great dialogue, very atmospheric.’ —
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Maitland is a consummate plotter, steadily complicating an already complex narrative while artfully managing the relationships of his characters.’ —
The Age
‘Perfect for a night at home severing red herrings from clues, sorting outright lies from half-truths and separating suspicious felons from felonious suspects.’ —
Herald Sun
‘A leading practitioner of the detective writers’ craft.’ —
Canberra Times
‘Maitland does a masterly job keeping so many balls in the air while sustaining an atmosphere of genuine intrigue, suspense and, ultimately, dread. He is right up there with Ruth Rendell.’ —
Australian Book Review
‘Forget the stamps, start collecting Maitlands now.’ —
Morning Star
‘Maitland gets better and better, and Brock and Kolla are an impressive team who deserve to become household names.’ —
Publishing News
‘Maitland stacks his characters in interesting piles, and lets his mystery burn busily and bright.’ —
Courier-Mail
Also by Barry Maitland
The Marx Sisters The Malcontenta All My Enemies The Chalon Heads Silvermeadow Babel The Verge Practice No Trace
BARRY
MAITLAND
spider trap
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
First published in 2006
Copyright © Barry Maitland 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The
Australian Copyright Act 1968
(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia
| Phone: | (61 2) 8425 0100 |
| Fax: | (61 2) 9906 2218 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Web: | www.allenandunwin.com |
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Maitland, Barry. Spider trap.
ISBN 978 1 74114 816 9.
ISBN 1 74114 816 2.
1. Brock, David (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Kolla, Kathy (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 3. Murder— Fiction. I. Title.
823.914
Set in 12/16 pt Bembo by Asset Typesetting Pty Ltd Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Good stories need good sources. For inspiration, information and wise counsel I am indebted to many, including Pauline Edwards and her moving memoir of growing up in Jamaica,
Trench Town
, Dai Havard MP, Dr Tim Lyons, Andrew Harrison, Scott Farrow and the crew at Southwark OCU, Lyn and Kirsten Tranter, Annette Barlow, Christa Munns and Ali Lavau, and especially my wife Margaret.
one
S
now began to fall over the city late on Thursday night, in mean little flakes at first, but then in plump silent gobbets. By dawn, when the security guard reached the school at the end of Cockpit Lane, the whole of London lay under a muffling blanket of white. As he checked the gates and fences he noticed what looked like a fresh trail leading through the snow beside the empty garage building next door, as if something had been dragged from its rear door. He was very much inclined to ignore it, but the garage was technically part of the school premises, and there had been a spate of fires recently. Investigating, he found the door slightly ajar. Inside, his flashlight picked out two figures curled up together on the bare concrete floor. He took them for children and might have said they were asleep, except that it was far too cold to be lying like that without blankets. They didn’t respond to his challenge, and he noticed a spatter of dark stains all around them on the floor. When he moved closer he made out plastic tape binding their wrists, and then the shocking wounds in the backs of their heads.
The murders in Cockpit Lane might have passed without much public notice except that the victims were two young girls, only sixteen years old, both shot through the head. They had also died in the constituency of Michael Grant, Member of Parliament for Lambeth North and a vigorous campaigner against crime in his inner South London community. The youngest black member of the House of Commons, Grant was a charismatic speaker whose compelling voice and handsome face were soon all over the media, describing the Cockpit Lane girls, Dana and Dee-Ann, as only the latest in a long series of tragic victims of,as he put it,an evil alliance of poverty, drugs, guns and criminal business interests operating in the district.