Halo parade - Bill James

Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur is disconsolate: his mistress, the widow of a fellow officer, has recently married another cop; and Ray Street, the young lad whom Colin sent undercover to infiltrate druglord ``You-know-who'' and his gang, is now also snorting up and recklessly endangering himself.

When Street is murdered, Harpur plants evidence implicating You-know-who, but a crafty barrister sways the jury, and You-know-who is free to go after drug courier-turned-witness Peter Lowery, soon an arson victim with his former pal Celia. The extralegal comeuppance for You-know-who finds rank-and-file cops applauding the vigilante justice rendered by their superiors, who have avenged one of their own, the dead Ray Street.

A gritty, unpleasant look at the dark side of passion, from Street's servicing of the homosexual druglord to Harpur and his mistress resuming their affair just days after her marriage. A dark, dour study of good men with sour edges.