The Last King of Brighton

In the first half of this novel, author Peter Gutteridge presents the reader with the criminal world of Brighton in the 1960s.  Dennis Hathaway is the prince of the underworld and he gets his son, John, involved in criminal activities.  John gets to like the benefits of crime, but there are some aspects that he doesn't care for.

We move on to the modern era in the second portion of the novel; a man has been found murdered in a very grotesque way.  Sarah Gilchrist is on the case.  She also has been informed by former Chief Constable Bob Watts that a prominent fund raiser for the West Pier has been found dead of an apparent suicide.  Questions are also arising about the possible fire bombing of the West Pier.  On top of that a wealthy yacht owner has been found on his yacht skinned.  His wife is missing.

Watts and his friend Jimmy Tingley figure that the above incidents have been perpetrated by Vlad the Impaler, a rogue Bosnian who did such things during the Bosnia/Serbian war.  They inform Gilchrist of their ideas. 

As Gilchrist looks into the firebombing of the West Pier, a body comes to light, that of an old girlfriend of John Hathaway, but Gilchrist is unaware of the connection.  Watt's research makes the connection.  Watts and Tingley inform Hathaway that the Bosnians are moving into his territory with the intention of taking it over.

Hathaway's dilemma is how to get out of his lifestyle without giving in to the European usurpers.  He chose to go to war.  He also got a note from an old friend telling him it was time.

In the sequel to City of Dreadful Night, the author exposes the reader to the nastiness of crime life and how certain actions can result in payback.  An intense read.