All about Dev Shah
‘You,’ said Strike, struggling into a standing position on his one leg, and holding out his hand, ‘have just won Employee of the Week.’
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
Dev Shah proves himself an invaluable asset during the investigations into the death of Edie Ledwell (The Ink Black Heart), and the Universal Humanitarian Church (The Running Grave), repeatedly wrapping up cases on the agency’s books. He’s also good at the job, committed and has a talent for undercover work. So, what do we know about this ex-Met officer, so good-looking he could, in Pat’s words, give Imran Khan a run for his money?
He was shorter than both of his new male colleagues, with eyelashes so thick that Robin thought they looked fake.
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
The growing agency is struggling to keep up with the work after Andy Hutchins hands in his notice a week after Strike’s birthday. By early December though, Strike has taken on Dev Shah, poaching him from rival firm, Pattersons. There’s bad blood between the agencies, so when Strike asks Dev why he’d be interested in moving, and he replies he’s tired of working for idiots, Strike hires him on the spot. He is well-liked by the rest of the agency from the start. Strike finds him methodical in his record keeping, and quick on the uptake. He’s a team player, with no apparent need to outshine his fellow subcontractors which earns him the approval of Midge and Barclay, and Pat approves of his looks. Robin appreciates his dry sense of humour, and what she inwardly terms his lack of dickishness. He’s also married with a young and growing family which means Pat doesn’t try and play cupid between him and Robin which is a relief after Pat took a liking to another of their subcontractors, the handsome but creepy Saul Morris, during the Margot Bamborough investigation (Troubled Blood).
Dev proves himself capable from the start. The ex-boyfriend of client Miss Jones leads a blameless life for weeks, then Dev catches him buying coke and companionship. When Edie Ledwell is murdered in Highgate Cemetery, Robin worries at first that they don’t have the manpower to get involved with the case (The Ink Black Heart), but Dev has just scored another success. He has found the leaker in the office of their ‘patent pending’ client and got photographs of her with the head of a rival firm.
‘Excellent,’ said Strike. ‘I mean—’
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
‘No, I get it,’ said Dev, who sounded pensive. ‘Total fucking bastard.’
It is still early days though in the relationship between Dev and the agency and he is initially suspicious when Strike asks him to watch the husband of his ex-fiancée, Charlotte Campbell, the wealthy, vulpine, Jago Ross. Patterson, Dev tells Strike, had a sideline in using his agency to fuck over people he had personal grudges against. All done cash in hand, off the record, but sometimes Patterson “forgot” to pay. Strike assures him this is business, and he’ll put it through the books.
He does the job well. Dev, pretending to be mending his bike on the road near the Ross’s country estate witnesses Jago’s violence towards his children from his first marriage. He later manages to get into conversation with one of the family’s nannies in a pub in Knightsbridge. She ends up telling him that neither of the people she works for – Charlotte and Jago – are not fit parents.
‘Mr Masoumi prides himself on his discretion,’ said Dev, deadpan.
The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith
Realising that Dev has charm as well as good looks, Strike asks him to go undercover as an art dealer. After weeks of surveillance trying to find evidence that ‘Fingers’ is stealing from his stepfather, the agency client, subcontractor Midge discovers that his mother is also involved in the thefts. Strike suggests Dev chat up the client’s soon-to-be-ex-wife posing as a discreet broker for the sale of the stolen objects d’art. Dev claims to know ‘f**k all’ about art, but with an impressive looking business card naming him Azam Masoumi, he chats up the target in a bar and, after being asked up for a nightcap leaves with pictures of the stolen items. He has to make a dinner date to avoid the eager advances of Fingers’ mother.
By the end of the investigation into the death of Edie Ledwell, Dev has proved himself honourable, quick-thinking and good-hearted. Like the other subcontractors, he’s annoyed when Strike’s carelessness about his health leads to him being incapacitated at a time when the agency is at full stretch, still when he sees Strike is on crutches, reporting back at the office, he offers to stay and help out rather than take his much-needed time off.
Strike took a right turn before saying, ‘Dev found the bloke Shanker’s after, by the way.’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘Oh good,’ said Robin,
As investigations begin into the Universal Humanitarian Church (The Running Grave), Dev is still proving his worth, tracking down the man Strike’s old friend Shanker need to find quickly. He can’t go undercover at the church though, not with his young and growing family. He and Midge though are to help prepare for Robin’s undercover mission. They make a careful survey of Chapman’s Farm, and he finds a location for the fake rock that Robin will use to send and receive messages from the outside world while she is searching for the truth about the church and its practices.
Though Dev struggles with some of the information Robin uncovers while she is at the farm, he proves himself a discreet and helpful part of the team in her absence. Talking to an old colleague from Pattersons, he learns the Strike’s latest hire, the bizarrely taciturn ex-SIB investigator Clive Littlejohn worked with their detested rival until recently. Strike quickly realises the distrust and dislike the other subcontractors have for Littlejohn might be well-founded.
‘Have you read this?’
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
‘No,’ said Strike.
Shah flicked through the magazine, then handed it across the table. Strike saw a column circled in pen.
It’s also Dev who spots an article in Private Eye about Strike’s two-night stand, Bijou Watkins, linking her to Andrew Honbold QC, and to Strike. The article also wonders if she’s been getting tips on hidden cameras and microphones from the ‘increasingly news-worthy’ detective. Strike knows his dalliance with Bijou was a bad idea and can tell Dev thinks so too. Still, when the UHC start trashing Strike and Robin online, Honbold is a useful source of advice and as the tide turns, Patterson discovers that illegally bugging the office of a leading QC is not a good move for him or his firm.
‘Bit of a comedown, heating engineer,’ he said.
The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith
Dev ends up working undercover again while the investigation into the UHC unfolds. A different client’s husband, codenamed Bigfoot, has been frequenting ‘Chelsea Cloisters’, a large hotel on Sloane Avenue which Dev reports is chock-full of sex-workers. Having discovered they are unlikely to get information from the girls, Strike decides the best way to get the evidence they need against Bigfoot is to send someone in disguised as a tradesman. Dev takes the job, and ends up with a split lip, puffed eye and swollen nose, which he assures Strike is not broken. Bigfoot is quick on his feet for a big lad. Dev also has the picture they need on his smashed phone.
He also manages, enunciating ‘Mumsnet’ with difficulty because of his injuries, to give Strike a lead on where to track down a thirty-eight-year-old woman online. It proves a crucial link in the investigative chain that will uncover the secrets of the UHC.
Dev ends up at Chelsea Cloisters again later during the UHC investigation, this time while tailing ‘Toy Boy’. This time, he gets the photo which will mean Toy Boy has seen his last Rolex without getting injured in the process.
Strike is obviously coming to trust and respect Shah. When Strike starts getting applications from ex-Patterson’s operatives he asks Shah for his opinion, and when Dev writes ‘worked with him, he’s an arsehole’, across one CV, Strike immediately tears it up and drops it in the bin. He also asks Shah to go and collect Robin from Chapman Farm. As a result, it’s Shah who has to ring Strike with the dark news that she has not turned up, and the rock they’ve been using to exchange messages is gone.
Then as the investigation comes to a head, Strike sends Dev to Birmingham on a crucial, and not entirely legal mission…
