No More Heroes（ISBN=9780151014590）

'Banks is part of the post-Rankin generation for whom hardboiled is not just a state of mind but a reality.' The Guardian'Ray Banks is a superb writer who has a tight grip on his de*ivetoning and who is making his dialogue snappier and moreblack-humoured with every outing.' --Shots

It's the hottest summer on record in Manchester, England, and down-at-heel private eye Cal Innes is struggling to keep cool. He has taken a job evicting families on behalf of local slumlord Donald Plummer, while the English National Socialists bring racial tensions to the boiling point. A firebomb attack on a Plummer property thrusts Innes into the spotlight as he rescues a child from the burning building. But when Plummer hires him to track down the arsonists, Innes finds himself dealing with more than neo-Nazis and his rapidly worsening painkiller addiction. Time's running out and the temperature keeps rising. Manchester needs a hero and Cal Innes is the closest it has. Discover why bestselling author Laura Lippman declared that Ray Banks "raises the bar for hardboiled fiction on both sides of the Atlantic."

Ray Banks was born in Kirkcaldy and now lives in the middle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He went to school. He wentto university for two years before he dropped out, something he insists was an achievement. After that, he spent his time as a double-glazing salesman, croupier - he left after the casino was ramraided by armed gunmen - and dole monkey. He thinks he's a cult. He's almost right.