Welcome to Litsy!

The book is a fictional re-imagining of real events in Manchester in 2008. The charismatic but priapic Chief Constable of GMP, Roger Mason, has gone missing. Why? Was it anything to do with his relationship with PR executive Clara Henderson who he directly promoted into the Force? Had he got too closely involved with Manchester's unlikely 'Gangster No 1', Paul Smith?But then again is anyone really bothered? The Manchester Evening News has replaced its top crime reporter with the incurious and prosaic Jenny Aaronovitch who just wants a comfortable life. The investigation into his disappearance by the self-styled 'Philosopher King' HMI Paul Kenyon is going nowhere and the Force is now being led by the oddball Chief Constable Gabriel Hooker who wants to ditch everything Mason did and get everyone to hug each other.On the North Manchester Division managers have concerns of their own. DCI Sharon Bentley is trying to lead a manhunt for a triple murderer but finds herself stymied at every juncture by useless men. Chief Inspector Brian Ashton is trying to get his crime figures down so he can get promoted, but it is a lonely battle. Junior officers PC Bob 'Hong Kong' Brazier and Sgt. Chris Hayes, when they are not thinking about sex, are trying to work out how they can avoid responsibility for neglecting a man in Custody who is now in a coma. Inspector Brody Jones and Sergeant Karl Parker, meanwhile, are separately trying to create as much mischief as possible because, well, it entertains them. Together with a psychopathic footballer, a Thatcherite security consultant and the stereotypical angry black woman these stories link up to a final terrible denouement. Written by an ex GMP Superintendent in GMP, this dark comedy depicts GMP in 2008 in the grip of a chaotic, incompetent and shabby culture. If you want to read the truth about Greater Manchester Police you won't find it in this book, but then again you won't find it anywhere else either.