Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Page Updated: 22/06/00

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Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - Page 1

Blood Sinister

Real Life

Shallow Grave

Killing Time

Blood Lines

Non-Crime Bibliography

Critics' Comments

About the Author (Photo by James Walker)

Bibliography

First British Edition Little,Brown (1999)

Blood Sinister
Award-winning ex-Guardian hack Phoebe Agnew had a name for championing the underdog - and for attacking the police in print. When her trussed and strangled body is found in her chaotic flat, Detective Inspector Slider must demonstrate the impartiality of the law and find her killer.
On the day of her death the horribly undomesticated Agnew cooked an elaborate meal for someone. Was it her old friend (and reputed lover) Josh Prentiss? But Prentiss, a Government advisor, has powerful friends in the Home Office, and the pressure is on Slider to look elsewhere.
There are plenty of anomalies to chase: unidentified fingerprints, a missing ligature, alibis offered where none are required, the downstairs tenant lying about his movements, papers missing from Agnew's file. Slider struggles to untangle the web of lies and hidden relationships, his task made harder by the strange behaviour of his friend and colleague Atherton, who seems to be on the verge of a breakdown.
And time is running out. Phoebe Agnew was concealing a secret, which someone is willing to kill - and kill again - to protect. Slider must find the key to Agnew's chillingly lonely life before the next victim falls.
Praise for Bill Slider and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
‘Assured and elegant’ Sunday Telegraph
‘An excellent, solidly professional police story: well-written, with well-drawn characters, and a neat dovetailed plot’ Evening Standard
A class act. The style is fast, funny and furious, the plotting crisply devious, and the dénouement perversely wayward. Lovely stuff’ Irish Times
‘It’s criminal how good Harrod-Eagles is when she puts old Bill to work’ Manchester Evening Post

First British Edition Severn House (1999)

Real Life
Sometimes there is nothing more surprising than life itself
Commuting, house-hunting, in-law trouble, decorating the bathroom: it is the ordinary things that occupy most of us, most of the time. But in these deceptively gentle tales, real life is not always what it seems.
A meek middle-aged woman exacts an appalling revenge during afternoon tea.
A commuter dies of rage during rush-hour - and finds that's not the end of the story.
Two very strange old ladies draw a young boy into their unending rivalry.
With her unique blend of warmth and humour, best-selling author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles looks askance at everyday life, in a collection of wry stories that can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary ... and back again.
'Realistic characters, dry wit and surprising plot twists' Library Journal
'Beautifully realised… believable' Publishers Weekly

Paperback - Warner (1999)

First British Edition Little,Brown (1998)

Shallow Grave
Detective Inspector Bill Slider has always been keen on architecture - what Atherton calls his edifice complex - and the Old Rectory is the kind of house he would give anything to own. But the dead body of Jennifer Andrews, found in a hole on the terrace, rather spoils the view. It looks a straightforward case: Jennifer was a congenital flirt, and the hole was dug by her builder husband Eddie, who was violent and jealous. But questions remain unanswered. Why was Jennifer's body so unmarked? How did she reach her shallow grave unnoticed? And why would anyone want to be an estate agent?
As the investigation proceeds, it seems there is something rotten at the heart of the community surrounding the lovely old house. New suspects and motives keep crawling out of the woodwork, and when Slider finally gets a confession, it's from a wholly incredible source. To compound his troubles, he has a linguicidal new boss, more bills than a flock of pelicans, and a future ex-wife becoming less ex by the minute. In detection and in life, it seems, there is always more going on than meets the eye ...
The Slider mysteries have been hailed as the best contemporary London police series - The Bill meets Inspector Morse
'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail

First British Edition Little,Brown (1996)

Killing Time
Detective Inspector Bill Slider is back at work, plus a thumping headache - thoughtfully donated by the last villain he encountered - and minus Atherton, his friend and colleague, still in hospital with a knife wound where no gourmet should have one.
Slider was hoping for a quiet week. But erotic dancer Jay Paloma is murdered, only hours after complaining about poison pen letters, and Slider plunges into the seedy world of entertainment to question table-dancers, prostitutes, pimps, and cabinet ministers. Did Jay's murderer also whack popular "community cop" PC Cosgrave? What was Cosgrave's connection with prostitute Maroon Brown? Who exactly was blackmailing whom? And why on earth would an animal rights group storm a tacky Shepherd's Bush night club?
With doubts over Atherton's recovery, his estranged wife seeking reconciliation, and Atherton's nubile replacement anxious to show him her testimonials, Slider has enough to prime his headache for the foreseeable future. But the old grey matter won't be denied: doggedly, and with a whimper, Slider starts to unravel the truth...
"Slider and his creator are real discoveries for detection fans demanding quality and heart as well as ingenious plots." Daily Mail
"Though Detective Inspector Bill Slider has hardly recovered from the injury sustained in his last case, he's back at work, trying to find out who has beaten Jay Paloma to death. Paloma shared a flat with Busty Parnell, an ex-prostitute, now a barmaid, and performed as a transvestite dancer at the Pomona Club. The investigation naturally takes Slider into a world of sleaze, populated by table-dancers, amateur and professional prostitutes, pimps, bouncers and drug dealers. And, as if this weren't enough, his ex-wife is having second thoughts about their separation, he's having problems with his girlfriend, his sergeant's in hospital with a knife-wound in the stomach and is talking about giving up the force. This is an excellent, solidly professional police story: well-written, with well-drawn characters and a neatly dovetailed plot." T.J. BINYON Evening Standard
"Delightful characters, interesting dialogue and, even more unusual, an off-the-wall plot that holds the reader." San Francisco Examiner
"Establishes Bill Slider as one of the best of contemporary British police detectives." Booklist
"Funny and poignant." Omnibus
"A nice touch of wit and romance." Belles Lettres

First British Edition Little,Brown (1995)

Blood Lines
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
With his violinist lady-love busy entertaining at Gleynbourne, Detective Inspector Bill Slider almost welcomes a call out to BBC TV Centre where a celebrated music critic appears to have topped himself - only minutes before due to appear live on a question show.
But there are signs that the body has been interfered with, and Slider suspects murder. One fellow panellist is known to have quarrelled violently with Greatrex just before his death, but won't say what about. Trouble is, two members of the production team also have motives for the murder; and nobody in the building has a proper alibi. Then a surprise new witness turns up to add to the confusion, by casting suspicion on one of Slider's own, a personal friend to boot.
Slider is under pressure to make an arrest, and all his instincts are at odds with the evidence. But a dangerous killer is on the loose, and could kill again...
"It's murder at the BBC, literally, when someone cuts the throat of a guest celebrity on Questions Of Our Time. There are plenty of suspects for Old Bill Slider and his team, and a whole fishmonger's full of red herrings. The author's usual comic touch is very much underplayed here, and the book is not as funny as her earlier works but Harrod-Eagles is a wonderfully assured, compelling plotter, and her hero is as appealing as ever." Yorkshire Post

About The Author
In Her Own Words…
I'm a real Londoner, born and brought up in Shepherd's Bush, the area I write about in the Bill Slider mysteries. When I was a child it was a very grimy working-class place, but now I'm amused to discover it has become quite fashionable and smart. It was always a good place to live, with a strong sense of community, so when I wrote my first detective novel it seemed natural to set it there.
One of my childhood memories is of the furore caused by the Christie murders. Christie lived - and killed - about half a mile from my home and just round the corner from my auntie's house, so, in the way of children, I felt somehow personally connected to the case. The shock of the whole business, and later Ludovic Kennedy's 1961 book, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, about the miscarriage of justice it uncovered, were what first aroused my interest in the field of crime detection.
But though ORCHESTRATED DEATH was my first mystery, it wasn't my first book. I wrote stories from a very early age, finished my first novel when I was ten, and finally got into print in 1972 with THE WAITING GAME, which won the Young Writer's Award. After that I wrote in my spare time while continuing to hold down a variety of jobs; it was not until 1979 that I was able to become a full-time writer, when I was offered the contract for the DYNASTY SERIES, a family saga spanning British history from the Middle Ages onward. Dynasty now runs to 22 volumes.
Bill Slider made his first appearance in 1991, and there are now seven titles in the series, with the eighth currently on the stocks. He has made friends all over the world, especially in America, and is presently being translated into a variety of languages. The series is also available on unabridged audio cassette from Soundings - perfect for long car journeys or marathon ironing sessions.
This year, 1999, I celebrate the publication of my 50th book, REAL LIFE, a collection of rather bizarre short stories.

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

Blood Sinister (Little,Brown, 1999) (Bill Slider)

Real Life Short Stories (Severn House, 1999)

The Bill Slider Omnibus (Warner, 1998) first 3 Slider titles (Bill Slider)

Shallow Grave (Little,Brown, 1998) Warner Pbk Dec 99 (Bill Slider)

Killing Time (Little,Brown, 1996) Warner Pbk 1997 (Bill Slider)

Blood Lines (Little,Brown, 1995) (Bill Slider)

Dead End (Little,Brown, 1994) (GRAVE MUSIC in the USA) (Bill Slider)

Necrochip (Little,Brown, 1993) (DEATH TO GO in the USA) (Bill Slider)

Death Watch (Little,Brown, 1992) (Bill Slider)

Orchestrated Death (Little,Brown, 1991) (Bill Slider)

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