Now's the Time by
John Harvey
hbk out September 99
Published by Slow Dancer Press
at £16.99
This is a collection of eleven short stories featuring John Harvey's
acclaimed Nottingham policeman Charlie Resnick. Many of the entries will
already be familiar to Harvey fans, but the novella 'Slow Burn' has not
previously appeared in print - it is based upon a script for Radio 4
- while 'Work' was written for an anthology of erotic crime fiction which
has so far failed to appear. An appealing feature is a characteristically
lucid and enjoyable introduction from the author. He explains how he
embarked on writing about Resnick, first at novel length and then in the
short form. All the stories here are 'named after a Charlie Parker
composition, some light enough for the wind to blow through them, some
carrying, in a concentrated fashion, the same burden as the novels.' Rather
oddly, in a coda to the book, Harvey tells us again about the Parker link
in the titles. Harvey's favourites include Dusty Springfield and it is a
pity that Dusty doesn't rate a mention in the 'partial soundtrack' for
Resnick which closes the book, while the equally admirable Dionne Warwick
is surely miscast as the vocalist of choice for the luckless Terry in
'Work.'
Music aside, Harvey's strengths are his command of characterisation, mood
and atmosphere, rather than plotting. His qualities are well to the fore in
the short stories, which are conceived in part as footnotes to the novels,
'testing ground on which to walk characters who might graduate into the
bigger leagues'. Harvey points out that if four of the stories are read in
order, they become a novel in their own right. This is one reason why this
publication (very attractively produced under Harvey's own Slow Dancer
imprint) is so welcome: taken together, and viewed in the context of the
excellent Resnick series as a whole, the stories make more impact than was
often the case with their original appearances in one-off anthologies. They
provide a valuable supplement to the major work of a thoughtful and skilled
crime writer.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
Now's the Time by
John Harvey