Les Cowan - All that Glitters

Table of Contents

Praise for the first book in Les Cowans David Hidalgo series, Benefit of the Doubt:

The joy of Benefit Of The Doubt is that the author has crafted well-rounded and highly believable characters, and meticulously researched the environments they live in. That gives the book a real sense of place. This truly is a breath of fresh air from the hard-man-style detective novels, yet the undercurrents it creates are just as threatening Masterful!

Living Orkney magazine

Well-written and thoroughly enjoyable in every twist and turn of the story. David Hidalgo is a great character and I expect to see more of him.

One Man in the Middle blog

Good storyline, which kept moving on and was a real page-turner! The author has created believable characters and this is a thriller with a bit of a difference. Really looking forward to the next instalment in the David Hidalgo series.

A gripping journey through Spain and Edinburgh that keeps you by the side of the main character, Seor David. Following his challenges through the underworld of drug barons, abductions, and personal doubts, it results in a cliffhanger ending. Its pleasing to read a realistic, yet non-graphic crime thriller that has a thought-provoking strand of spirituality running through it.

Super book. A gripping tale. The characters in this novel are very believable. The story unfolds and pulls you in. I loved all the action in Edinburgh; Im sure Ive met a couple of these folk! Really interesting questions of faith are explored all set around a tragedy. A really gripping read. Cant wait for the next one in the series!

Extracts from reviews on www.amazon.co.uk

Books by Les Cowan

The David Hidalgo series:

Book 1: Benefit of the Doubt

Book 2: All that Glitters

Book 3: Sins of the Fathers (coming soon)

Non-fiction titles:

Loose Talk Collected

Orkney by Bike

Text copyright 2018 Les Cowan

This edition copyright 2018 Lion Hudson IP Limited

The right of Les Cowan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Published by

Lion Hudson Limited

Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Business Park

Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England

www.lionhudson.com

ISBN 978 1 78264 253 4

e-ISBN 978 1 78264 254 1

First edition 2018

Acknowledgments

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicized. Copyright 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. NIV is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Extracts on p. 9 and p. 283 from The Authorized (King James) Version (the KJV), the rights in which are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom, are reproduced here by permission of the Crowns patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Cover image: Dennis van de Water/shutterstock.com

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

For Angus

Test reader, sympathetic (and knowledgeable) critic,

and encourager-in-chief

CONTENTS

Once again I want to thank all those who made this story possible both in practical ways and by way of general encouragement.

Firstly, thanks to Fiona, Angus, Dot, Mija, and Janet for reading early drafts and commenting. Im glad you feel it has been a story worth telling.

Secondly, thanks to the many readers of Davids earlier adventures in Benefit of the Doubt, who have pleaded for more. Can I once again apologize for the cliffhanger ending and promise that itll never happen again. I hope you feel it has been worth the wait. In particular, thanks for your many Facebook comments, emails, and Amazon reviews. (Particular thanks to Montse in Ribadeo, who told me she had found a new hero!)

Thanks to John Ross Scott and One Man in the Middle for your favourable published reviews.

Thanks also to those who came to launch events, parted with their cash, and have said they enjoyed Book One. I hope you are willing to do the same for Book Two.

Grateful thanks to Jessica Tinker at Lion Hudson (and Tony Collins previously) for believing in David Hidalgo and doing what needed to be done to bring him to the reading public.

Thanks to Julie Frederick for your attention to detail in proof editing and for making me question things that made sense to me at the time but to no one else after that.

Thanks also to Stromness library staff for putting up with me hogging the nice window seats while writing day after day and to Soo for providing caffeine to fuel the muse.

Finally, thanks to you who are reading. I hope you enjoy this story and will let me know at lescowan@worldofdavidhidalgo.com. Find out more about this series at www.worldofdavidhidalgo.com.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this

Matthew 13:24-28, KJV

J uan Hernandez was just about to give the horn another blast when the tenement door he was watching opened and a slim, upright man, perhaps into his fifties, but apparently still spry and energetic, emerged. Juan leaned across and pushed the passenger door open.

Buenos das, hermano. Qu tal? David Hidalgo threw a battered leather briefcase into the back seat, just missing Juans left ear, jumped in, and took off a grey fedora.

Ok, I suppose, he said, in the circumstances.

Juan gave a grunt and pulled out into traffic.

So, where to?

David unfolded a crumpled scrap of paper.

Colinton Mains Rise. Sixty-seven. Holy Corner then out Colinton Road. Past Tesco.

Ok. Venga. Vamos. Juans Hacienda restaurant van gave a wheeze and a cough before getting into its stride as if unused to such an early start.

Just us?

No, the others are making their own way there. Mrs MacInnes insists on taking the bus. Im sure she thinks every free journey on her bus pass helps make up for the millions wasted on the trams.

Juan smiled as he pulled through stop-start Saturday morning traffic. If only their stalwart church treasurer had been in charge of public finances in 2008; then the crisis still raging, particularly in Spain, could surely have been avoided. Profligate bankers would have got such a telling off they would have humbly returned their dodgy millions, sacked the rogue traders, and offered to pick up litter in the park if that would have helped.