Rough Treatment
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4.3 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A willing victim complicates a case for Detective Charlie Resnick, "one of the most fully realized characters in modern crime fiction" (Sue Grafton).
Maria Roy is in the tub, musing on her hatred for her movie producer husband, when Grabianski and Grice break into her house. Though she is fearful at first, something about Jerry Grabianski's confidence calms her down. Over tall glasses of Scotch, she directs them to her valuables—jewelry, bonds, her wedding tape—even doing them the favor of unlocking her husband's safe. There Grabianski finds a surprise: a kilo of cocaine. He leaves with the drugs, the valuables, and a piece of Maria's heart.
This is not the story she tells to police inspector Charlie Resnick, but Maria's confusion makes the disheveled detective doubt her account of the robbery. As he combs Nottingham for the burglars, Maria and Jerry's love affair charges ahead. She is about to learn that not even love can keep crime from turning bloody.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspector Charlie Resnick, first encountered in Lonely Hearts , counters a drug-trafficking ring and suspected police corruption in this well-executed and very human British police procedural, set in an unnamed Midlands city. When Jerzy Grabianski and Trevor Grice burglarize TV director Harold Roy's house, they find his bored wife, Maria, who becomes attracted to Jerzy. Among the valuables the thieves snatch is a kilo of cocaine which Roy, dabbling in drugs and on the verge of losing his job, has been keeping for a dealer acquaintance. Maria supplies a false description of the criminals, prompted by her interest in Jerzy, who returns to begin an affair and negotiate selling back the cocaine. Resnick concentrates heavily on the case, meanwhile contending with other crimes that include a possible Chinese feud. On the domestic front, the inspector attempts to sell his house because it holds unpleasant memories of his failed marriage, and the superintendent's daughter is arrested for shoplifting. Harvey's policemen are real people, some appealing, some not, and all suggestively portrayed.
