From Library Journal
Wingfield writes the mystery/police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Jack Frost, dramatized for television in the series A Touch of Frost (seen in America on the Arts & Entertainment cable channel). This novel, Wingfield's fourth book in the series, is read by British actor and announcer Robin Browne, who skillfully imitates, for the benefit of the television series' fans, the voice and accents of actor David Jason, who portrays Frost on TV. The novel finds the insubordinate, coarse, yet intuitive Frost stumbling from crisis to crisis with a caseload that simultaneously includes the murder of a burglar-blackmailer, a child-murder and related child-abduction, the kidnapping and ransom of a local teenager, a child-stabbing pervert, and the murder of three children by their unbalanced mother, all while under severe time constraints and while dealing with personnel pressures within the department. The portrayal of the Denton police force, especially the dialog and interplay among characters, rings true, depressingly so at times. The novel is essential for all mystery collections.AKristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"What impresses me most is the extraordinarily  vivid interplay between the police characters. Frost  himself is splendidly drawn." -- The  Times, London.


Review
"What impresses me most is the extraordinarily  vivid interplay between the police characters. Frost  himself is splendidly drawn." -- The  Times, London.


Book Description
Detective Inspector Jack Frost, Denton Division, is not beloved by his superiors. In fact, he's something of a pain in the brass: unkempt and unruly, with a taste for crude humor and a tendency to cut corners. They'd like nothing better than to bounce him from the department. The only problem is, Frost's the one D.I. who, by hook or by crook, always seems to find a way to get the job done. It's a high price to pay for a pak of smokes when Frost interrupts his vacation to filch some of Commander Mullett's cigarettes and finds himself pressed into emergency duty. Denton Division is shorthanded after a car crash involving several tipsy high-ranking cops, and on Guy Fawkes night there's more mischief abroad than just a few children making the rounds begging for pennies and lighting firecrackers. In the next few days, Frost will deal with a parade of miscreants, including a blackmailer, a shifty businessman, a not-so-greiving widow, a sexual pervert or two, a crazed housewife, and a cold-blooded kidnapper. The clock is ticking, and Frost is perilously short of clues...


The publisher, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
"Detective Inspector Jack Frost, Denton Division, is not beloved by his superiors. In fact, he's something of a pain in the brass: unkempt and unruly, with a taste for crude humor and a tendency to cut corners. They'd like nothing better than to bounce him from the department. The only problem is, Frost's the one D.I. who, by hook or by crook, always seems to find a way to get the job done. It's a high price to pay for a pak of smokes when Frost interrupts his vacation to filch some of Commander Mullett's cigarettes and finds himself pressed into emergency duty. Denton Division is shorthanded after a car crash involving several tipsy high-ranking cops, and on Guy Fawkes night there's more mischief abroad than just a few children making the rounds begging for pennies and lighting firecrackers. In the next few days, Frost will deal with a parade of miscreants, including a blackmailer, a shifty businessman, a not-so-greiving widow, a sexual pervert or two, a crazed housewife, and a cold-blooded kidnapper. The clock is ticking, and Frost is perilously short of clues...

"What impresses me most is the extraordinarily vivid interplay between the police characters. Frost himself is splendidly drawn." -- The Times, London.


From the Inside Flap
Detective Inspector Jack Frost, Denton Division,  is not beloved by his superiors. In fact, he's  something of a pain in the brass: unkempt and unruly,  with a taste for crude humor and a tendency to cut  corners. They'd like nothing better than to bounce  him from the department. The only problem is,  Frost's the one D.I. who, by hook  or by crook, always seems to find a way to get the  job done. It's a high price to pay for a pak of  smokes when Frost interrupts his vacation to filch  some of Commander Mullett's cigarettes and finds  himself pressed into emergency duty. Denton Division  is shorthanded after a car crash involving several  tipsy high-ranking cops, and on Guy Fawkes night  there's more mischief abroad than just a few  children making the rounds begging for pennies and  lighting firecrackers. In the next few days, Frost will  deal with a parade of miscreants, including a  blackmailer, a shifty businessman, a not-so-greiving  widow, a sexual pervert or two, a crazed housewife,  and a cold-blooded kidnapper. The clock is  ticking, and Frost is perilously short of clues...


From the Back Cover
"What impresses me most is the extraordinarily vivid interplay between the police characters. Frost himself is splendidly drawn." -- The Times, London.

ANNOTATION

Conned into looking after another inspector's cases for a night, Jack Frost finds himself dealing with a missing child, a corpse in the woods, one man's horrific loss, and a kidnapped schoolgirl. But Frost's real problems may lie with two colleagues--a disgruntled detective-sargeant and a co-worker who shares a past with Frost. Original.

FROM THE PUBLISHER