Synopses & Reviews
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Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
"Harveys detectives . . . are the real dealstrong men who are sensitive enough to empathize with other people. Even people who happen to be women . . . In Elder, he has given them a champion who really does feel their pain."The New York Times Book Review
Retired Detective Inspector Frank Elders solitary life is disturbed by a call from his ex-wife, telling him his seventeen-year-old daughter, Katherine, is running wild. Meanwhile, the takedown of a violent criminal goes badly, and Detective Sergeant Maddy Birchs uneasiness about it is compounded when she starts to believe she is being stalked. Maddy and Frank had a brief and clumsy encounter years before. In Ash & Bone their lives connect again when a second phone call persuades Elder out of retirement, only to find that a cold case has a devastating present-day impact.
"Distinguished by seriousness, sophistication and stylistic elegance."The Washington Post
"Harvey imbues [his characters] with such richly rendered emotion . . . that the whole genre seems brand new."Houston Chronicle
John Harvey is the author of ten Charlie Resnick novels. Flesh & Blood, the first novel featuring Frank Elder, won the Silver Dagger Award and the Barry Award. Harvey lives in Great Britain.
Review
"Surprises abound, and graceful writing keeps us smiling. Ash and Bone, like everything I've read of Harvey's, is distinguished by seriousness, sophistication and stylistic elegance." Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Book World
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"Perhaps no other crime writer combines unflinching realism with bedrock humanity as convincingly as Harvey." Booklist (Starred Review)
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"Like Ian Rankin, [Harvey] displays a compassionate view of ordinary people...while ensnaring the reader with tightly woven plots....[T]here is humor and sorrow, rarely simplicity. Highly recommended." Library Journal
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"Harvey writes better crime novels than anyone in the world." The Denver Post
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"While the male villains are no better than thugs, Harvey shows great compassion for the women they batter; in Elder, he has given them a champion who really does feel their pain." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
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"Harvey is such a good writer that his style carries even when the story falters...and his sense of detail is exquisite." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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"Ash and Bone tackles many issues...within an absorbing social narrative and several unrelated tangents which somehow are elegantly resolved in a surprising close. It is typical of the best of British crime novels in its lack of showiness, its gripping story, well-studied range of characters, and nary a plot hole to be found despite its many layers. It is wonderful to have Harvey back and writing again. He had been sorely missed." Georgie Lewis, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
In the depths of his Cornish hideaway, retired Detective Inspector Frank Elder's solitary life is disturbed by a call from his ex-wife, telling him his seventeen-year-old daughter, Katherine, is running wild, unbalanced by the abduction and rape he feels he should have prevented. Meanwhile, in the heart of London, the takedown of a violent criminal goes badly, and Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch is uneasy about the reasons why, an uneasiness that is compounded when she starts to believe she is being stalked.
Maddy and Frank had a brief and clumsy encounter years before. In Ash and Bone their lives connect again when a second phone call persuades Elder out of retirement, only to find that a cold case has a devastating present-day impact.
Synopsis
Retired Detective Inspector Frank Elder struggles with guilt when his teenage daughter deteriorates into reckless behavior following a rape that he could have prevented, while Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch becomes increasingly uneasy in her suspicions that she is being stalked. By the author of Lonely Hearts. Reprint.
Synopsis
Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch will never see thirty again. Nor forty. And, after a lifetime on the force, all she has to show for it are a couple of hundred pounds in the bank and a mortgaged flat.
In Cornwall, retired Detective Inspector Elder's solitary life is disturbed by a phone call from his estranged wife. Seventeen-year-old Katherine is running wild. Elder's fears for his daughter are underscored by remorse and guilt, for it was his involvement that led directly to the abduction and rape that has so unbalanced Katherine's life.
There's a connection between Maddy and Elder: a brief, clumsy encounter sixteen years earlier. Just a quick grope and a cuddle, leading to nothing, but leaving a trace of lingering regret.
When the takedown of a violent criminal goes badly wrong leaving both the target and a young constable dead, something doesn't feel right to Maddy. In Ash and Bone, the unsettled, unhappy Elder is once again persuaded out of retirement. A cold, cold case has a devastating present day impact with sinister implications for the crime squad itself. Elder's investigation takes place against the backdrop of his increasing concern for his daughter together with demons of his own he must battle before he can uncover the truth.
About the Author
John Harvey is the author of the richly praised series of ten Charlie Resnick novels, the first of which, Lonely Hearts, was named by the Times (London) as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century. Flesh and Blood, the first novel featuring Frank Elder, won the British Crime Writers' Association's Silver Dagger Award and the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel. Harvey lives in Great Britain.