Darkness and Light by
John Harvey
pbk out April 06
(Heinemann)
at £10.99
This is the third Frank Elder novel from John Harvey, and the series looks set fair
to emulate the success of Harvey's other illustrious detective Charlie Resnick. Both
characters have their base in a drab and everyday Nottingham, though Frank only moved
there eight years before retiring, and now lives in Cornwall. Resnick himself often has
cameo roles to play in the Frank Elder stories, and this is no different. Harvey himself
was born in London in 1938, but moved early on to Nottingham, studied at the university
and taught there in the 1980s. He supports Notts County – but then no one's perfect.
Frank Elder is still in retirement and living somewhere between Zennor and St
Ives on the north coast of West Cornwall. But the call of murder cases in Nottingham is
still strong. In this instance, it is merely a disappearance that drags him back. His ex-
wife calls him, asking him to help a friend – Jennie Preston – trace her missing sister,
Claire Meecham. Elder is enticed back by the thought he can at least get to know his
daughter Katherine, who had earlier been traumatised by being abducted by a killer her
father was chasing. Elder soon finds that Claire had a secret life led through e-mail
lonely-hearts contacts a secret kept from not only her sister, but her own son and
daughter too. Inevitably, Claire is found dead, neatly arranged on her own bed in a way
that is reminiscent of another murder carried out eight years before. It was the murder of
Irene Fowler, the first case that Elder took on when he joined Nottingham's Major
Crimes Unit, and still unsolved. DI Maureen Prior, one-time sergeant to Elder, wants
him to help her solve the cases.
The novel is written in that deceptively easy, and readable style familiar to John
Harvey fans. It's been said before (by Harvey himself indeed) that the tempo of his
books is reminiscent of the spartan and sometimes jagged piano style of the great
Thelonius Monk. It's true. Harvey is the past master of the throwaway line that
encapsulates a mood, the single sentence that gives us a view of a whole social
environment. He can define a character by a simple description of how she hunts for a
cigarette in her handbag. This story is no different, and is full to bursting point with real
characters. And as Harvey jumps backwards and forwards from the 1960s to the present
day, the trail of guilt is laid bare before us. Harvey's outwardly serene vision cuts deep
into the dark recesses of a disturbed mind.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
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Darkness and Light by
John Harvey
