A Glimpse of Death(1993)

Roger Ormerod

George Coe an ageing ex-police sergeant, is now a works-policeman, running guard duties and long night shifts. His heyday of busting drugs dealers and solving murders seems very much over…

Times are hard for George and he jumps at the opportunity to earn a quick buck when a mysterious figure offers to pay him for spying on his wife, whom he feels is having an affair.

While George has slipped away from his shift to begin his observation of the young woman in question, he notices something odd about the fact that during her apparent encounter with this other the light was switched off and not switched back on until the morning.

However, when it is discovered that while George was away from his duty, a large drugs robbery had taken place, he is fired.

His ability both as a policeman and a security guard are called into question by Grace Pearson, the new Detective Inspector and things don’t seem to add up.

Grace is suspicious that George was paid off by the robbers.

Not only that, but the husband of the young woman, Berenice, whom George was hired to spy on has been found dead.

This man, Henry Saturn, is a known hit-man and associate of Sarturo, an ageing king-pin within the city know for large-scale drug distribution.

It all seems too coincidental for George who, although no longer employed, begins his own investigation.

After repeated interviews with Berenice and Larry, the man she was meeting, George still can’t pin down the perpetrator of either
the murder or the robbery.

Were they connected?

While investigating, George meets a very young drug addict by the name of Carol, who drives him to visit Sarturo.

When Sarturo keeps Carol as a ransom, George realises he doesn’t have much time left in order to save her from the life of a junkie…

With no-one trusting him and charges of possession against him, can George unravel this mess and distinguish the innocent from the guilty?

A Glimpse of Death is a gripping thriller filled with intrigue and dark suspense.



"Eclectic, underrated Ormerod can be relied upon to come up with the startling goods" Sunday Times

"I am glad to announce that the detective novel is still alive and well in Mr Ormerod's skillful hands " - The Spectator

"Fast-moving, with well-orchestrated jiggery-pokery; not unlike an early Dick Francis in tone and method” - Times Literary Supplement

Roger Ormerod (1920-2005) was a prolific writer of ingenious and densely plotted crime novels - some 35 in all - which were published in the UK and the USA. He lived in Wolverhampton and amongst other things worked as a civil servant and as a Social Security inspector – backgrounds which he made full use of in his fiction.