‘Rough Justice’ by Biba Pearce

Published by Mortlake Press,
24 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-73854030-3 (PB)

When the dead body of lap dancer Bianca Rubik is found near Waterloo Station in London, police begin to look for a male vagrant who was caught on CCTV near the place she was found.  DC Gareth Trevelyan is handed the case, and his first task is to identify the unknown man.  When two officers show a still image of the possible suspect to Shrap Nelson, another rough sleeper, she recognises his face and agrees to go with them to assist the detective in charge. 

The officers take Shrap to Southwark Police Station unaware that she is a veteran who had served with the Royal Engineers before moving into the Royal Military Police.  During her time in the army, Shrap frequently faced the possibility of injury and capture in hostile environments around the globe.  Her luck ran out when she encountered and was incarcerated by the Taliban.  The gutsy soldier survived and returned to the UK to resume her military duties, but just twelve months later her experiences took their toll.  Diagnosed with PTSD, her career and long-term relationship were destroyed.  For the past two years she has been sleeping and living on London’s streets amongst the homeless, drug addicts, drunks and gangsters.  This comes with its own problems, but it’s the memories of her time in the armed forces that haunt her.

Shrap tells DC Trevelyan that the man in the photo is called Doug and that he’s ex-army.  What she doesn’t confide to the detective is that her fellow veteran had talked her out of taking her own life some months earlier.  When she realises that Doug is a suspect in a murder case, Shrap decides to employ the investigative skills she learned as a Military police officer to prove her friend’s innocence. 

Then Waterloo gives up yet another corpse.  This time it’s Doug, and Trevelyan thinks that the old soldier must have murdered Bianca before he deliberately or accidentally killed himself.  This would be convenient and solve two suspicious deaths in one go, but Shrap isn’t having any of it.  She convinces Trevelyan that there are some anomalies that throw doubt on Doug’s culpability and suddenly the pair find themselves working in tandem.  It’s an unlikely alliance and one that puts them both in danger.

Rough Justice is a fast moving and well plotted crime thriller.  Each chapter is concise, compelling, and carefully constructed.  Violence is sometimes described graphically, yet without ever becoming gratuitous.  Shrap and Gareth both have complicated histories, they are the perfect protagonists as they negotiate the case from very different situations.  London is depicted with realism; the sights, smells and sounds of the city are realistic and a sense of edgy jeopardy lurking just below the surface is palpable.  Brilliant!

Biba Pearce has created a page-turner full of attitude with twists and turns galore.  Highly recommended. 
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent 

Biba Pearce grew up on the wild eastern coast of Southern Africa. She now lives in Surrey, and when she isn’t writing, can be found rambling through the countryside or kayaking on the river Thames. She writes gritty police procedurals and is the author of the bestselling DCI Rob Miller series published by Joffe Books. She was the winner of Best Crime Fiction at the 2024 National Indie Excellence Awards and was a finalist for the 2024 Feathered Quill Award for Best Mystery Thriller

Website: www.bibapearce.com 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.