Stealth – Hugh Fraser

Delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Hugh Fraser’s Stealth, the fourth book in his bestselling Rina Walker series, following on from Harm, Threat and Malice. Today I’ve got a short extract from Stealth for you. London 1967 I’m sitting at a corner table in a pub in Wardour Street waiting for Bert Davis. It’s Friday night and the place is heaving. I look at my watch, see it’s near closing time and I’m wondering if he’s going to turn up. He wants to talk about a bit of work his governor George Preston has got for me. I’ve been able to stay well out of the game since I scored the money my dad left behind from a blag he pulled off before he got shot, but George, who ran a big firm with my dad, has got so much on me he could have me away for life anytime he wants. Even though I doubt if he’d break the code, I can’t risk turning him down. The landlord shouts time and I’m about to finish my drink and leave, when I see a face called Jack Fenton coming through the crowd with his eye on me. He’s big man with a long reach and I’ve seen him do some damage in the ring. He sits down and leans across the table until his ugly red face is close to mine. ‘You think you’re so fucking clever, you slimy little bitch.’ I put my hand in my jacket pocket and slip my fingers into the knuckle duster. ‘I know you offed Charlie and I’ll have you screaming in pain with a blade up your drawers before I do you the same way you did him.’ Stealth, by Hugh Fraser is published by Urbane Books on 4th October. You can buy a copy here. When a step out of line means a fight to the death… London 1967. A working girl is brutally murdered in a Soho club. Rina Walker takes out the killer and attracts the attention of a sinister line-up of gangland enforcers with a great deal to prove. When a member of British Military Intelligence becomes aware of her failure to fulfil a contract issued by an inmate of Broadmoor, he forces her into the deadly arena of the Cold War, with orders to kill an enemy agent. Rina needs to call upon all her dark skills, not simply to survive but to protect the ones she loves. Hugh Fraser is best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot’ and the Duke of Wellington in ‘Sharpe’. His films include Patriot Games, 101 Dalmatians, The Draughtsman’s Contract and Clint Eastwood’s Firefox. In the theatre he has appeared in Teeth’n’Smiles at the Royal Court and Wyndhams and in several roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also composed the theme to Rainbow!