TWO WAY CUT

by Peter Turnbull ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 1988

Glasgow's police constable, Phil Hamilton, has seen a lot in his few years on the force--but never anything like the headless corpse he discovers in an empty lot on his early A.M. beat. The corpse appears even more mystifying when Forensic informs Detective Inspector Donoghue that the body was washed and dressed in new clothes after death. The lab's meticulous work leads to rapid identification of the dead man as Samuel Lurinski, a seemingly well-liked, respectable bachelor financier. Meanwhile, the finding of a bundle of blood-soaked clothing, with a sodden matchbook nearby, brings officers Montgomerie and King to the Zambesi Club and its obese owner Rudolph Stein--a true nasty obsessed by the Orient and the slow destruction of his alcoholic wife. Eventually, hard routine work and some inspired hunches uncover Lurinski's brand-new Chinese wife, a tragic victim of AIDS, and a connection to some unsolved cases of arson. Uncovered, too, are a few pitiable lives--in and out of the police force--and a kind of justice outside the law. Plenty of gritty Glasgow background and solidly detailed police routine, in another of Tumbull's absorbing procedurals (Big Money, etc.). Tops of its kind.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION