Dead Simple by Peter James.

Michael Harrison is on his stag night and 4 of his mates are playing a prank on him. This prank goes wrong and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace leads the hunt to find Michael who is now missing.

But there is more to this tale than a missing person and a stag night prank. Dead Simple is a thriller about when things go wrong and efforts to fix things backfire. There are many twists and turns in this story with plenty of important details woven into the plot. It is set around Brighton and is an enjoyable tale where you do not know how it will pan out. It keeps the reader guessing. There is a good plot and motives are developed from actual true cases in the past when criminals have been brought to justice. It deals with jealousy and the hold women can have on men.

Dead Simple is one in a series of Roy Grace novels. These books can be read as standalone novels because there is plenty of back story to make them work. They give a clear illustration of police culture, although it does seem that Peter James attended an open day at Sussex Police HQ taking loads of notes to use in his novels. He is very good at describing police procedures. There is some lovely dry humour between the characters. A good example is on page 47 when Roy Grace is being cross-examined in court...

'So you regularly turn to the dark arts in your work as a senior police officer, do you, Detective Superintendent Grace?'
An audible snigger rippled around the courtroom.
'I wouldn't call it the dark arts,' Grace said. 'I would call it an alternative resource. The police have a duty to use everything at their disposal in trying to solve crimes.'
'So would it be fair to say you are a man of the occult? A believer of the supernatural?' the silk asked.
Grace looked at Judge Driscoll, who was staring at him as if it was he himself who was now on trial in this court. Desperately trying to think of an appropriate response, he shot a glance at the jury, then the public gallery, before he faced the silk again. And suddenly it came to him.
Grace's voice notched up a gear, more strident, more confident, suddenly. 'What is the first thing this court required me to do when I entered the witness stand?' he asked.
Before the silk could respond, Grace answered for him. 'To swear on the Holy Bible.' He paused for it to sink in. 'God is a supernatural being - the supreme supernatural being. In a court that accepts witnesses taking an oath to a supernatural being, it would be strange if I and everyone else in this room did not believe in the supernatural.'

...Dead Simple was written in 2005 and has 457 pages. This is a good book which entertains and is awfully British. I vote it 4 stars. The ending is rather far fetched but Peter James is a big fan of the paranormal.