Kate Power Books
First edition hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, in very good condition. Slight creasing to the jacket edges, and spine is lightly cocked. LW
Detective Sergeant Kate Power of Birmingham CID has had bad luck with romance, so when a polite stranger flirts with her on an airline trip home from Florence, she's more than a little suspicious. She gives the man her business card and forgets all about him. Two days later he's found hanging from a canal bridge-with Kate's card in his pocket the only means of identification. The easy conclusion for the investigating officers is suicide, but Kate isn't convinced. As her subsequent investigations prove, the cause of Alan Grafton's death-and it's consequences-are more serious than she and her colleagues could have imagined. Still regarded as a newcomer in the Birmingham police force, still battling against prejudice and intimidation among the ranks, still fighting to prove that she's got what it takes, Kate is determined to stick to her guns until she finally uncovers the shocking truth. Judith Cutler's keen insight into the contemporary police force and her winning sleuth Kate Power are a recipe for excellent crime fiction, and Staying Power is the second compelling novel in a gritty modern cop series that's been praised by critics and fans alike.
A spate of warehouse fires, culminating in the death of a homeless person, is taking up Kate Power's time, while off-duty she becomes fascinated by a pile of antique buttons that have been unearthed in her garden. She is called to investigate the body of a woman found at her own tennis club.
Still finding her feet in Birmingham, DS Kate Power is back in the Fraud Squad, under-staffed, under-funded and under the leadership of a hostile boss, jealous of Kate's relationship with DI Graham Harvey. But if Graham's marriage keeps him from Kate, Kate's new case makes her neglect him: a complex case involving a forged will soon includes murder and an investigation into what may have been an unnatural death a generation ago.
Kate is working undercover, with a colleague obviously damaged by something in his past. And they don't just work together: they have to live together, as man and wife. Not much fun for either of them.
Kate Power is newly promoted and is now in charge of her own police station. Soon she is plunged into a case involving a missing police officer, illegal immigration and prostitution. Her colleagues think the officer is swinging the lead but Kate is sure something sinister has happened to him.