Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6944 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
A phone call intrudes on retired Detective Inspective Frank Elder's solitary life in Cornwall. It's his estranged wife and she needs a favour. A friend's sister, Claire Meecham, an unassuming widow in her fifties, has gone missing. Elder agrees to return to Nottingham to try and track her down. Then, Claire is found, dead. The killer has arranged her body meticulously, almost lovingly, forcing Elder to remember another dead woman, arranged in an almost identical way. It was his first case with the Serious Crimes Unit. His first case and never solved. It's clear to Elder that this is the work of the same unbalanced individual and, to find the killer, Elder must shine a light into the darkest recesses of human behaviour, the dark and twisted recesses of a disturbed human mind...

From the Publisher
'John Harvey is one of my favourite authors. Whenever he has a new book out it goes straight to the top of my reading list.' - Peter Robinson

From the Inside Flap
She wore a gold dress, short-sleeved, its skirt full-length and slightly flared. He could see the faint indentation on her left hand, a pale circle of skin giving away the fact that, until recently, a wedding ring had been there. She looked peaceful, lying there on the bed, her arms resting easily together, the left hand on the right, a slender silver cross and chain encircling her neck, and not a wrinkle, not a fold of her dress out of place. And, perhaps, she truly was at peace. For she was dead.

This was the sight that greeted Detective Inspector Frank Elder on his first case with the Serious Crimes Unit. His first case and never solved; no one was ever charged; the murderer never found. At liberty to walk the streets, and to kill again.

Eight years later, Elder’s estranged wife contacts him in his Cornish hideaway. Her friend’s sister Claire - a quiet and withdrawn widow in her fifties - has mysteriously disappeared. Elder, reluctantly, agrees to dig around and see what he can find. Then Claire is found, dead, arranged with meticulous detail on her bed, and it doesn’t take long for Elder to make the connection. It's obviously the work of the same unbalanced individual and, to find the killer, Elder must shine a light into the darkest recesses of human behaviour, the dark and twisted recesses of a disturbed human mind...

£12.99

Customer Reviews

A sinister tale of sexual frustration and murder
I have to say that I wasn't sure about this book when I read the first few pages. It made me wonder if perhaps it might be riding a little close to the bone to be comfortable reading.

It follows an ex copper's return to crime solving. He is a man who obviously has some issues in his past relating to his daughter and her kidnapping a few years before the story is set. After an initial investigation into a womans' disappearance on behalf of his estranged wife, the missing woman is found dead and he is then lead into an full blown police investigation as a consultant that takes him into a seedy world of internet dating, stalking & oedipus syndrome.

I will say that the kidnapping of his daughter was only briefly touched on and could have been part of the story that was developed a bit more but it didn't detract from the overall strength of writing style and character development.

Well worth reading.

Fairly Good Detective Novel
Frank Elder is a retired Detective Inspector, living in Cornwall. When, his estranged wife calls him from Nottingham, and asks him to help to find her friend's sister, Claire, who seems to have disappeared, he reluctantly agrees.

When Claire's body is found, Elder, notices that the manner in which the dead body was laid out, has striking similiarities, to the first case that he worked on years before, in which, no one was ever charged.

Overall, this book is fairly well paced. We get a good insight into Elder's strained family life, which is quite prominent in the book. The characters he meets in the course of his investigations are quite believeable, too, and you are left guessing up until quite close to the end, as to who the murderer is.

This is for the screen
All reviewers have liked this book so I wont go on about it. I have only just discovered John Harvey. With so much rubbish on TV this gem of a book should be adapted for the screen. The novel was gripping and the story believable. This is a must read.