History Literature / TheBusinessOfDying

While investigating the Miriam Fox case, Dennis delves into the red-light district of London and learns of a connection between Miriam's death, a welfare house for wayward children and his contactman, Raymond Keen. With his double-life beginning to overlap, Dennis is determined to get to the bottom of this business and retain his freedom -- as well as his life, for he can tell that he's got a target on his back.

* TopOnTheHead: Averted on all occassions.

* BlackScaryMan: Mark Wells is a very tall and buff black man, whose presence already radiates intimidation and aggression. Several characters denote stories of him having become violent with people that crossed him.

''The Business of Dying'' is a 2002 detective-mystery novel written by Simon Kernick and the novel that introduces Dennis Milne, who becomes a protagonist for further novels.

One rainy November evening in London sees Dennis Milne, a full-time police officer and part-time professional hitman, in a parking lot of the Traveller's Rest Hotel and waiting for his three targets. After they arrive and he kills them, he returns home and is ready to ignore the events and go about his regular business.

The next day, his job as a police officer has him be put onto the case of a murdered prostitute, Miriam Fox, just after learning that the three people he killed the night before were not drug dealers, as he had been told. They were custom officers and one civilian accountant.

Trying to keep a cool head, Dennis works on the Miriam Fox case and begins to see a connection between her death, a welfare house for wayward children and his old 'business partner', Raymond Keen. With his double-life beginning to mingle with each other, he tries to get to the bottom of the entire deal, all while keeping his freedom - and his life, because he can tell he's got a target on his back...

!! The Business Of Dying contains examples of:

* AlphaBitch: Miriam Fox. Considered herself better than most people because of her rich home and was overall a very, very nasty person to begin with.
* AssholeVictim: Oh, where to start, because there are a lot. [[spoiler:Alan Kover, the child molester; Dr. Roberts, who is also a child molester; Raymond Keen, the corrupt and slimy funeral man; several of the assassins, whether they are sent by Mehmet Illan or someone else...]]
* {{Blackmail}}: Apparently, this was a preferred strategy of Miriam Fox. [[spoiler:She blackmailed Dr. Roberts, because she knew he molested the children he was in charge of and was part of the whole 'disappearing kids' thing; she also blackmailed Carla Graham about her being a call girl, though Carla quickly stopped paying her.]]
** BlackmailBackfire: Her continued tendency to blackmail people is what ultimately gets her killed. [[spoiler:Carla quickly decided to ignore Miriam's continued blackmail attempts, thinking that even if Miriam were to reveal that she worked as a call girl on the side, nobody would believe a 'drugged-up junkie prostitute'.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: The child molester, whose story is told in the very beginning of the novel, turns out to be important. [[spoiler:He was the one who murdered Miriam and Dr. Roberts and gives Dennis the clue that Raymond is connected to Miriam's and the custom officers' deaths.]]
* DirtyCop: Dennis. After becoming jaded, he did a few small, bad little things as a police officer, like selling some confiscated drugs to Raymond or abusing his power to have access to such drugs to help Danny with some petty revenge.
* DisposableSexWorker: [[spoiler:The reason why wayward, young prostitutes were usually picked to give to Nigel. Nobody would care that they disappeared or worry too much.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Sure, Dennis is a killer, but he has standards. He doesn't want to hurt innocent civilians and only ever killed people who were the absolute scum of the earth, which he thinks also gives him the right to state his opinion about them, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite not being innocent himself]]. The fact that he learns that his recent targets were probably decent people gives him a lot of grief.
* HarmfulToMinors: Several of the kids at the Coleman house tended to have bad family lives or similar and some of the girls in the house prostitute themselves.
** Molly Hagger had it especially bad. She was sexually abused by her mother's lover ''and'' her mother from the age of four onward, leaving her with a very mature way of dealing with sex, but also intense hatred for authority. [[spoiler:Then she gets kidnapped and sexually abused for a corrupt customs executive and ultimately killed.]]
* JadeColoredGlasses: Dennis used to be a very idealistic police officer, only intent on keeping civilians safe and getting criminals their just desserts. But he grew cynical, especially when he shot a man during a hostage case and realized he honestly didn't care. It's one reason why he became acquainted with Raymon Keen and began his double life.
** Carla Graham was married to a man years ago, but he began to see another woman, their marriage fell apart, and she was left alone and poor enough to have to leave their old home. Her rather unthankful job of taking care of wayward children in Coleman House has also led to her being jaded about things. [[spoiler: The broken marriage and lack of money eventually made her try out escorting as a side activity.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Dennis. Despite having killed multiple people, forced to flee from his job and home and turn himself into a fugitive, he ultimately makes it out of England and heads off to the Phillippines to live a good life.]]
* LivingADoubleLife: Dennis Milne. He's a decent, if a bit cynical, police officer and a professional hitman at the same time. His police colleagues don't know about his other life, though [[spoiler:Welland seems to know what little underhanded deals Dennis did as a police officer]].
** It turns out that [[spoiler:Carla Graham]] also leads a double life. After her regular job, she becomes an escort that heads to social gatherings with men and sometimes has sex with them later, in exchange for payment.
* MyGreatestFailure: Dennis feels that [[spoiler:Carla]]'s death is something that he should, and could, have prevented, had he not jumped to conclusions and looked past his initial reactions.
* NeverFoundTheBody: This is the fate of Molly, as well as [[spoiler:the other children that were taken, abused, and disposed of]].
* PoliceAreUseless: Not useless per se, because they are doing their jobs with the information and options they have available. But they are a little too intent on getting Mark Wells convicted of Miriam's murder, even if there are a lot of inconsistencies or unanswered questions.
* RedHerringShirt: Anne is introduced as one of the kids from Coleman house and quickly states that she has nothing to do with Miriam. She becomes a bit more important when a scene occurs where she almost gets kidnapped by a customer and talks with Dennis about what little she knew of Miriam and Molly, before she disappears and is feared to be the next 'disappeared prostitute' victim. [[spoiler:She turns out to be okay, having done her usual thing of running away from Coleman house, getting high, having fun and returning several days later.]]
* SayingTooMuch: Carla Graham eventually lets slip a detail about Miriam's murder that wasn't released to the public, which strengthens Dennis' idea that she has something to do with it. [[spoiler:She has nothing to do with it, she only knew about the detail because Dr. Roberts, who did have a hand in her death, let it slip during conversation.]]
* TapOnTheHead: Averted on all occasions. [[spoiler:Barry Finn]] gets knocked on the head and it shakes them out of a stupor, giving them a chance to run. [[spoiler:Alan Kover]] requires two hard knocks on the head before they lose consciousness, but come to again very fast. [[spoiler:Dennis Milne]] is a little numb after getting an iron pipe to the head, but is still conscious.
* VillainProtagonist: Dennis, again. No matter what his standards are, he has killed people and his actions become pretty reprehensible in the end.
* VocalDissonance: Dr. Roberts is a middle-aged, chubby man and has a rather pleasant, high-pitched and soft voice. [[spoiler:He uses his unique voice to impersonate a woman's on the phone when planting evidence against Mark Wells.]]

!! The Business Of Dying contains Examples Of

* AssholeVictim: Oh, where to start, because there are a lot. [[spoiler: Alan Kover, the child molester; Dr Roberts, who is also a child molester; Raymond Keen, the corrupt and slimy funeral man; several of the assassins, whether they are sent by Mehmet Illan or someone else...]]
* {{Blackmail}}: Apparently, this was a preferred strategy of Miriam Fox. [[spoiler: She blackmailed Dr Roberts, because she knew he molested the children he was in charge of and was part of the whole 'disappearing kids' thing; she also blackmailed Carla Graham about her being a call girl, though Carla quickly stopped paying her.]]
** BlackmailBackfire: Her continued tendency to blackmail people is what ultimately gets her killed. [[spoiler: Carla quickly decided to ignore Miriam's continued blackmail attempts, thinking that even if Miriam were to reveal that she worked as a call girl on the side, nobody would believe a 'drugged-up junkie prostitute'.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: The child molester, whose story is told in the very beginning of the novel, turns out to be important. [[spoiler: He was the one who murdered Miriam and Dr Roberts and gives Dennis the clue that Raymond is in connection of Miriam's and the custom officers' deaths.]]

* DisposableSexWorker: [[spoiler: The reason why wayward, young prostitutes were usually picked to give to Nigel. Nobody would care that they disappeared or worry too much.]]

** Molly Hagger had it especially bad. She was sexually abused by her mother's lover ''and'' her mother from the age of four onward, leaving her with a very mature way of dealing with sex, but also intense hatred for authority. [[spoiler: Then she gets kidnapped and sexually abused for a corrupt customs executive and ultimately killed.]]
* JadeColoredGlasses: Dennis used to be a very idealistic police officer, only intent on keeping civilians safe and getting criminals their just desserts. But he grew cynical, especially when he shot a man during a hostage case and realized he honestly didn't care. It's one reason, why he became acquainted with Raymon Keen and began his double life.
** Carla Graham was married to a man years ago, but he began to see another woman, their marriage fell apart and she was left alone and poor enough to have to leave their old home. Her rather unthankful job of taking care of wayward children in Coleman house has also led to her being jaded about things. [[spoiler: The broken marriage and lack of money eventually made her try out escorting as a side activity.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Dennis. Despite having killed multiple people, forced to flee from his job, home and turn himself into a fugitive, he ultimately makes it out of England and heads off to the Phillippines to live a good life.]]
* LivingADoubleLife: Dennis Milne. He's a decent, if a bit cynical, police officer and a professional hitman at the same time. His police colleagues don't know about his other life, though [[spoiler: Welland seems to know what little underhanded deals Dennis did as a police officer]].
** It turns out that [[spoiler: Carla Graham]] also leads a double life. After her regular job, she becomes an escort that heads to social gatherings with men and sometimes has sex with them later, in exchange for payment.
* MyGreatestFailure: Dennis feels that [[spoiler: Carla]]'s death is something that he should, and could, have prevented, had he not jumped to conclusions and looked past his initial reactions.
* NeverFoundTheBody: This is the fate of Molly, as well as [[spoiler: the other children that were taken, abused and disposed of]].

* RedHerringShirt: Anne is introduced as one of the kids from Coleman house and quickly states that she has nothing to do with Miriam. She becomes a bit more important, when a scene occurs where she almost gets kidnapped by a customer and talks with Dennis about what little she knew of Miriam and Molly, before she disappears and is feared to be the next 'disappeared prostitute' victim. [[spoiler: She turns out to be okay, having done her usual thing of running away from Coleman house, getting high, having fun and returning several days later.]]
* SayingTooMuch: Carla Graham eventually lets slip a detail about Miriam's murder that wasn't released to the public, which strengthens Dennis' idea that she has something to do with it. [[spoiler: She has nothing to do with it, she only knew about the detail because Dr Roberts, who did have a hand in her death, let it slip during conversation.]]
* TapOnTheHead: Averted on all occassions. [[spoiler:Barry Finn]] gets knocked on the head and it shakes them out of a stupor, giving them a chance to run. [[spoiler:Alan Kover]] requires two hard knocks on the head before they lose consciousness, but get to again very fast. [[spoiler:Dennis Milne]] is a little numb after getting an iron pipe to the head, but is still conscious.

* VocalDissonance: Dr Roberts is a middle-aged, chubby man and has a rather pleasant, high-pitched and soft voice. [[spoiler: He uses his unique voice to impersonate a woman's on the phone when planting evidence against Mark Wells.]]

* TapOnTheHead: Subverted. When Dennis gets hit on the head with an iron pipe, he's disoriented and stunned for a bit, but doesn't lose consciousness.

** Molly Hagger had it especially bad. She was sexually abused by her mother's lover ''and'' her lover from the age of four onward, leaving her with a very mature way of dealing with sex, but also intense hatred for authority. [[spoiler: Then she gets kidnapped and sexually abused for a corrupt customs executive and ultimately killed.]]

''The Business of Dying'' is a 2002 novel written by Simon Kernick and the noval that introduces Dennis Milne, who becomes a protagonist for further novels.

The next day, his job as a police officer has him be put onto the case of a murderer prostitute, Miriam Fox, just after learning that the three people he killed the night before were not drug dealers, as he had been told. They were custom officers and one civilian accountant.

Trying to keep a cool head, Dennis works on the Miriam Fox case and begins to see a connection between her death, a welfare house for wayward children and his old 'business partner', Raymond Keen. With his double-life beginning to mingle with each other, he tries to retain his freedom - and his life...