R. C. Bridgestock Books In Order

Publication Order of D.I. Jack Dylan Books

Publication Order of D.I. Charley Mann Books

R.C. Bridgestock is the pen name of a married couple that is made up of Robert and Carol Bridgestock. The couple has nearly half a century in combined police experience. They take this experience and turn real cases it into fictional stories. Bob was on the force for thirty years. Together, they write the “D.I. Jack Dylan” series.

Carol knew that Bob would make a great story teller because of all of the things that he had experienced in his life. He would not try to do anything about it until 2008 when he enrolled both of them in a college class on how to write your first novel. They self-published their first novel “Deadly Focus” in 2009 and was later re-published by a small publisher in 2011. Both work as story consultants for RED Productions (a BAFTA award winning company), and have lent their talents for the same thing for a police drama called “Happy Valley” for two series, an award winning show that aired on BBC 1.

In the year 1961, Carol was born in Halifax which is located in West Yorkshire, and left Grammar School while she was only sixteen years old. She would study hairdressing in college and it helped her become a hairdresser at her salon, that by twenty she was able to make into a successful enterprise. She also taught at the college, and would go on to work with the police department in the late eighties as a member of the administration department as part of the support staff.

Bob was born in Huddersfield, also located in West Yorkshire in the year 1952. At the age of fifteen, he left Grammar School and would serve with a Butcher as an apprentice. He would leave and go work in a dye works and join the police in the year 1974. As a detective, he earned a trophy for outstanding detective work in the year 1981. He was a highly decorated officer, with over twenty commendations for his work on his cases. He taught future officers of CID, who came from all over the world, at every rank. In the last three years that Bob was on the police force, he led 26 murders (that includes the largest multiple murder the WYP investigated in forty years), drive bys, over fifty suspicious, 23 major incidents, and many sexual assaults. He also had training in negotiating with hostage takers dealing with suicide interventions, extortion, and kidnap.

The couple goes on the speaker circuit doing speeches after dinners, they talk for groups, schools, Literary, Art, Crime Festivals, and clubs as well.

“Deadly Focus” by R. C. Bridgestock is the first book in the “Detective Inspector Jack Dylan” series that was released in the year 2011. Everyone is a suspect in a case when a school girl vanishes. This is quite the test for the man in charge and his team. The killer stays one step ahead and eventually another body is found. Is Dylan going to be able to solve this case, what with his health going bad and his private life is not doing much better?

Fans of the novel enjoyed the way the author’s use their experience to portray crimes well and keep you on the edge of your seat, while you want to know more and what will happen next. You may be able to tell who did it, but it will not take away with the experience that you will have while reading it. Some were able to read it in just a day, and they had found a new series to start following. Fans of the novel were left white knuckled throughout reading it. This here, say some, is a must read for British Police Procedural fans. Some see what it takes to be a cop in Britain, what is demanded and the sacrifices that have to be made in order to be a cop.

Some did not like the way the characters were in this novel, bland and were not unique. The detective and his girlfriend were the worst, and there was not much development there, just the same things happening each and every day with the two of them. Some find that the novel was more like the case file of something, rather than an actual novel. Some readers found that the protagonist is a bully and a narcissist. Some did not like all of the minor characters in the novel getting a lot of attention, because it took away from the solving of the crime.

“Consequences” by R. C. Bridgestock is the second book in the “Detective Inspector Jack Dylan” series that was released in the year 2012. Jack Dylan has many things he has to do. He has two homicides that he needs to solve, and they are unrelated. One involves a young woman named Liz who was found in the park and was burned alive; he needs to find about a half million pounds of the woman’s money. And the other is a small child . He must also find a missing detective who may have been involved in the woman’s death. How is he supposed to do his job (one that involves long hours) and keep his relationship alive?

Fans of the novel found that this novel was even better than the first in the series, and found with more experience the author duo was able to be more confident. It is a mix of characterization, knowledge, and emotion. This novel more than lives up to first novel in the series. Fans felt that this novel does not pull any punches or shy away from showing what will really happen to a body that has been murdered. This is a novel that will keep you from getting things done, it is that good.

One Response to “R. C. Bridgestock”

1. Michelle Mitchell: 2 years ago

   I have the pleasure of being a character in one of their books . I would like to restock them all with the new front covers starting at the beginning.

   Reply