Hard Place

Free-wheeling London detective Todd "Ratso" Holtom is on the front-line against a ruthless international gang that imports drugs into the UK and Europe. His nephew has died from drug abuse and Ratso is obsessed with bringing down the king-pin who seems immune from arrest. The trail leads to the USA and the Bahamas where he is helped by Kirsty-Ann Webber, a svelte Florida detective. Mayfair club-land and the Mediterranean feature as Operation Clam races to a climax in a series of dramatic confrontations.

Inspired by the facts of true crime and set against the background of the war in Afghanistan from where the drugs are coming, Ratso enters a political minefield involving Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Defence in London and the Pentagon and State Department in Washington D.C.

Douglas Stewart of Las Vegas, CA and Isle of Man

Born in Glasgow, Douglas Stewart spent his childhood in Kent, and attended Cranbrook School before reading Law at Durham University. Following articles of clerkshop in London, he became a solicitor in the West Country, remaining there for about fifteen years before returning to London in 1984. He is also a successful and widely-read author. In the mid 1970s, Douglas started writing the novels to counteract the boredom of the Christmas television schedules, originally using the pen name Cameron Ross. He now uses his own name and has adapted a number of his novels and short stories for film and television and splits his time between Las Vegas and Isle of Man.