Hard Place(1981)

Douglas Stewart

In this first of series, free-wheeling London detective Todd “Ratso” Holtom is on the front-line against a ruthless international gang that imports drugs into the UK and Europe. His nephew has died from drug abuse and Ratso is obsessed with bringing down the London king-pin who seems immune from arrest. The trail leads to the USA and the Bahamas where he is helped by Kirsty-Ann Webber, a svelte Florida detective who has troubles of her own. Mayfair club-land and the Mediterranean feature as Operation Clam races to a climax in a series of dramatic confrontations. Inspired by the facts of true crime and set against the background of the war in Afghanistan from where the drugs are coming, Ratso enters a political minefield involving London and Washington D.C.