I wonder, who is it?

There's a series of detective novels, featuring a character called Nick *something*. They're rather noir, published in the late eighties to early nineties. The author's male and English and they're set in London. The protagonist is a private detective who (I think) is an ex-copper who was fired for corruption - or something. He has a girlfriend in the early books who gets killed at some point in the series, and a preteen/teenaged daughter. Either his ex-wife or his daughter is named Hazel (I think). The books' titles are rock music references - I can't recall if they're actual song titles or just clear allusions to song titles. I'm fairly sure one of them is an Elvis Costello reference. The plots feature a lot of gangsters, guns, cocaine, nastiness, fast cars, adrenaline and angst for the protagonist.

Anyone out there know who I'm talking about? I've tried typing all the references I can remember into Google and come up with nothing, I spent an hour looking at Wikipedia's crime fiction section last night, and I also trawled through Amazon clicking on all the vaguely similar-themed crime books I could remember to see if the name came up on the "customers who bought this book also bought..." thing. No joy anywhere and I am now officially being driven out of my mind.

Help?

EDIT: I hate my brain. This has been driving me batshit for 24 hours. It magically popped into my brain five minutes after I posted this.

I wonder, who is it?

There's a series of detective novels, featuring a character called Nick *something*. They're rather noir, published in the late eighties to early nineties. The author's male and English and they're set in London. The protagonist is a private detective who (I think) is an ex-copper who was fired for corruption - or something. He has a girlfriend in the early books who gets killed at some point in the series, and a preteen/teenaged daughter. Either his ex-wife or his daughter is named Hazel (I think). The books' titles are rock music references - I can't recall if they're actual song titles or just clear allusions to song titles. I'm fairly sure one of them is an Elvis Costello reference. The plots feature a lot of gangsters, guns, cocaine, nastiness, fast cars, adrenaline and angst for the protagonist.

Anyone out there know who I'm talking about? I've tried typing all the references I can remember into Google and come up with nothing, I spent an hour looking at Wikipedia's crime fiction section last night, and I also trawled through Amazon clicking on all the vaguely similar-themed crime books I could remember to see if the name came up on the "customers who bought this book also bought..." thing. No joy anywhere and I am now officially being driven out of my mind.

Help?

EDIT: I hate my brain. This has been driving me batshit for 24 hours. It magically popped into my brain five minutes after I posted this.

Shall we wrestle...?

Spike just got told off by me and then smacked around by Cassie for nosepoking Shona a bit too hard and sudden-like. I have to watch him. It's very easy to say he loves cats and doesn't want to hurt them, and it would be broadly true, but it's too easy to subscribe to the Lassie myth, especially with a dog like Spike.

What's really going on with Spike and cats is that he wants to herd them. He does understand very well that biting is not the done thing when herding, but I don't entirely trust him to remember that infallibly. I especially don't entirely trust it when he's extremely worked up, when Cassie's losing her mind with protectiveness and attacking him, or when there's more than one kitten and they're moving fast in front of his nose.

Constant vigilance.

sadly, I just failed to photograph Shona lying on her back with Spike's whiskers touching her belly, Shona walking under his belly and rubbing against his leg and Shona pouncing on his paw, because the batteries in the recharger were in loose and didn't recharge. So no kitten pics today. But they're charging properly now and I shall be making forty-eight LJ entries tomorrow, so I think I can safely promise you kittens in the very near future.

Had another of my recurring dreams when I fell asleep this afternoon - one of the good ones. Another thing I'm saving to be subject matter for tomorrow.

I'm so very unprepared for this. But I will do it, even if the last twelve entries are breakdowns of my fridge contents or a catalogue of the unreachable items under the couch... I will do it.

Shall we wrestle...?

Spike just got told off by me and then smacked around by Cassie for nosepoking Shona a bit too hard and sudden-like. I have to watch him. It's very easy to say he loves cats and doesn't want to hurt them, and it would be broadly true, but it's too easy to subscribe to the Lassie myth, especially with a dog like Spike.

What's really going on with Spike and cats is that he wants to herd them. He does understand very well that biting is not the done thing when herding, but I don't entirely trust him to remember that infallibly. I especially don't entirely trust it when he's extremely worked up, when Cassie's losing her mind with protectiveness and attacking him, or when there's more than one kitten and they're moving fast in front of his nose.

Constant vigilance.

sadly, I just failed to photograph Shona lying on her back with Spike's whiskers touching her belly, Shona walking under his belly and rubbing against his leg and Shona pouncing on his paw, because the batteries in the recharger were in loose and didn't recharge. So no kitten pics today. But they're charging properly now and I shall be making forty-eight LJ entries tomorrow, so I think I can safely promise you kittens in the very near future.

Had another of my recurring dreams when I fell asleep this afternoon - one of the good ones. Another thing I'm saving to be subject matter for tomorrow.

I'm so very unprepared for this. But I will do it, even if the last twelve entries are breakdowns of my fridge contents or a catalogue of the unreachable items under the couch... I will do it.

A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

Just hauled sixteen tons of groceries back from Asda. Relatively healthy snacky type foods that don't need preparation - wraps, pitta bread, sliced Edam, ham, coleslaw, cooked chicken, sandwich spread and lots of fruit. Coffee - check. Tampons (typical good timing there) - check. Plenty of squash and fruit juice - check. Tobacco and papers - check.

Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever get.

Also, totally kicked Squish's arse on the way home. Completely unintentional, natch. He has this stupid habit of freezing onto interesting scents with no warning, and this time he was right in front of me, too close for me to stop. Poor spotted dog, he has such a hard life.

Some fun with Shona the Brave Exploring Kitten when we got home, but I'll save that to write about tomorrow.

...ha. I seem to have got my second wind. What's the betting I can't get to sleep tonight?

A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

Just hauled sixteen tons of groceries back from Asda. Relatively healthy snacky type foods that don't need preparation - wraps, pitta bread, sliced Edam, ham, coleslaw, cooked chicken, sandwich spread and lots of fruit. Coffee - check. Tampons (typical good timing there) - check. Plenty of squash and fruit juice - check. Tobacco and papers - check.

Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever get.

Also, totally kicked Squish's arse on the way home. Completely unintentional, natch. He has this stupid habit of freezing onto interesting scents with no warning, and this time he was right in front of me, too close for me to stop. Poor spotted dog, he has such a hard life.

Some fun with Shona the Brave Exploring Kitten when we got home, but I'll save that to write about tomorrow.

...ha. I seem to have got my second wind. What's the betting I can't get to sleep tonight?