Product Description

With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question short, mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself having in romantic desperation logged on to the Friends Reunited website searching for the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '86 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, while comprehensively failing to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again. In Past Mortem, Ben Elton - previous winner of The Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for Popcorn - delivers both a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23194 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 459 pages

Christina Hardyment, The Times
'Ben Miles's reading... is flawless'

The Sunday Times
a clever story idea, with an excellent performance by Miles

From the Publisher
The bestselling new novel from Ben Elton

Customer Reviews

A fast paced & light-hearted black comedy. Well worth a read!
"Past Mortem" is Ben Elton's ninth novel which was first published back in 2004. Described on the sleeve as a "heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance", having been written by the comedian Ben Elton, you were sure to have a fair amount of comedy within the book.

The novel reads like a black comedy version of a Shaun Hutson thriller novel, being very easy to read, delivering short fast paced chapters that end on miniature cliff hangers throughout the book. The novel follows the life of detective Edward Newson as he tries to capture a serial killer who is murdering bullies in inventive and disturbing ways. The storyline is somewhat similar to David Fincher's film Seven, yet at the same time so very far removed.

The likeable character of Newson, who was obviously based on Elton himself, keeps the novel alive with his comical view on the world, even in the face of such difficult circumstances. The running subplot of Newson's secret crush on one of his fellow colleagues and his resulting non-existent love life, makes the character so much more loveable.

The novel is slightly let down by the obvious and predictable outcome of who the killer is, which becomes apparent from quite early on. This obviously was not Elton's intention, which ruins the `twist-ending' as you will see it coming from a mile away. Still, the book is a thoroughly enjoyable read due to the well written nature of the book, and for a bit of light hearted reading, you can't go wrong with it.

A truly enjoyable read.
A superb read, I could not put the book down, reading right through the night. I have tried to analyse why and how Ben Elton’s style of writing is so captivating, but I can’t tell you. By half way through the book, I had a good idea who the villain was, but there was always an element of doubt, which kept me burning the midnight oil.
There is a great interweaving of different story lines, the crimes with gruesome details, a love story, interesting characters and the sex. The sex – my father used to say
“You youngsters think you invented sex”
I’m now at the same age my fathers was when he made these remarks, and it’s true, youth must have invented sex, there are things in this book I had never dreamt of; but then again, I have lead a very sheltered life.
A truly enjoyable read.

Great thriller, but don't expect much comedy
As a murder mystery this book is very good - easily ranking up there with most of the consumer crime novels on the shelves today. No, it isn't a comedy, but I don't think that Elton was trying to write one this time. But it is a great analysis of the long and short term effects of bullying, and it did raise a chuckle from me on occasion. This isn't a book for the faint of heart. Most of the murder scenes are described in very graphic detail but you'll realise as the story develops that this is necessary, as it is the methods of killing that becomes the focus of the plot. Yes, I did guess who the killer was about two thirds of the way through, but this is not so important because I was interested in how the book's hero, the "short-arsed ginger minger", Detective Inspector Ed Newson, would figure it out and catch the bad guy. I can highly recommend this book, but don't expect a laugh-a-minute whodunnit like Dead Famous. This is more along the lines of the social commentary of High Society and Elton demonstrates an increasingly mature style.