NOVELS

Material Evidence

The body of Stephanie Burnham is discovered by her husband, Michael, when he returns to their neat, suburban home after a day at the races. It looks like murder, and a particularly brutal one at that: the woman has been subjected to a savage assault and then shot at close range.

For DCI Jack Carston, the case is a conundrum. All the evidence points to Michael Burnham as the murderer. Everyone knows that his marriage had become a sham. His wife had a lover, and Burnham’s been having an affair with a powerful, manipulative woman who's unwilling to let anything get in the way of her pleasures. There are plenty of clues and yet, somehow, the pieces of the jigsaw just don’t fit together. Would he really be so stupid as to leave so much incriminatory evidence?

Everyone Carston talks to paints a different picture of the victim – from high-flying businesswoman to middle-aged drunken depressive – and he slowly realises that only when he has solved the enigma of Stephanie Burnham’s personality will he be able to uncover the truth about her death. And when he does, it proves to be even worse than he'd imagined.

There’s a new American edition of Material Evidence (2007). It’s published by Bloody Books and is part of the Bloody Brits series, which is designed to introduce readers in the USA to what publisher Kelly Smith calls ‘the best of British’.

Review

"NOW here's a rare event: a nationally published crime novel set near Aberdeen. Bill Kirton has put together a fine debut with intense plotting, strong characters and just the right touch of acid in the dialogue (particularly the female dialogue). The story concerns murder and adultery in the Aberdeen commuter town of Cairnburgh. But who did what to whom? That's what DCI Carston has to unravel. Fine Rendellian touches and a structure and depth that is rare in a first book make this a cracking page-turner. The denouement, when it comes, will shake you."
Press and Journal, Aberdeen (4.11.95)

Rough Justice

Floyd Donnelly has already spent four of his twenty-six years in prison for robbery with violence. Foul-tempered and amoral, he's exhausted the patience of his fellow squatters in Forbeshill Road, Cairnburgh - he couldn't be less interested in their communal values. He seems to have a limitless capacity to anger everyone he meets, but it’s still a surprise for all of them when his body’s discovered outside the only night club in Cairnburgh.

DCI Jack Carston thinks he knows who's behind Floyd's death: David Burchill, consultant engineer, self-made man and Carston's personal bête noire. Burchill owns the house in which Floyd was squatting and admits to sending round the 'bailiffs' the day before the murder. But, as usual, he has a cast-iron alibi.

Burchill is also a possible suspect in another of Carston's cases: a protection racket. Hilden, an unsuccessful antiques dealer from the poorer part of town, has been threatened on a number of occasions and has finally been beaten up by a thug who also destroyed much of his stock. Carston desperately wants to nail Burchill - but his prey always seems one step ahead. And with Hilden reluctant to identify his attackers, Carston fears that both cases are destined to remain unsolved for a very long time.

This tough, gritty murder mystery takes readers back once more to the granite streets of Cairnburgh and Aberdeen.

The American edition is due for publication in the Bloody Brits series in 2008.

Reviews

"There is a brutal rape in Rough Justice by Bill Kirton. It isn't there to titillate, but to carry the story forward and ultimately bring about the climax to a thoughtful and thought provoking book. The detective leading the hunt for the killer of a young thug from a local squat is also after a local self-made man he believes to be behind various rackets and who is protected by fellow masons in the senior ranks of the police force. The book involves some very human, intelligent Scottish coppers and ought to bring Bill Kirton the attention he deserves."
Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph (1.12.96)

"A downright rogue and social reject is found murdered in a Scottish city, but has he been murdered by an equally roguish tycoon, as seems obvious, or is the web a good deal more tangled and shocking than that? That's the simple premise of Bill Kirton's second crime novel set in Cairnburgh and Aberdeen and, although the premise is simple the structure and plotting – the core of any decent read – are sound and compelling. Some of the Scots dialogue is a little suspect and inconsistent, but that doesn't spoil the pleasure in the plot twists, the flashes of humour and the denouement."
Press and Journal, Aberdeen (21.12.96)

The Figurehead

The one historical novel I’ve written has waited a while to be let out in public. Part of the reason for that is that it took a while for it to make up its mind whether it was a crime novel or a romantic novel. Well, it’s both. As I’ve been writing it, the relationship between the central couple has grown stronger and drawn me into exploring it more than I’d originally intended. The trouble is that agents, publishers and probably readers like to know where they are with an author. If they buy a book by someone who’s titillated them by slowly peeling flesh from a screaming victim bound t o a hot steel crucifix, they don’t want to read how Leticia feels her bodice tighten as she watches Roger leap from the saddle of his black hunter. (Unless, of course, he then ties her to a crucifix, etc., etc.) Anyway, The Figurehead is now scheduled for publication In the USA by Virtual Tales. It’ll appear as an ebook and a paperback.