A Darker Shade of Blue

by John Harvey

Overview

“A master of the craft. John Harvey is lights out one of the best."—Michael Connelly

John Harvey has been described as the master of British crime fiction: From the mean streets of London to the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho, this is a world of broken families, revenge killings, and prostitution; drugs, guns, and corruption; a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives; men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice; a world in which everything, even friendship, has a price.

Featuring characters like Frank Elder, who tried to turn his back on police work and failed; Jack Kiley, ex-cop and now a London-based PI; and the renowned jazz loving and much-loved Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick, John Harvey’s finely-crafted vignettes perfectly encapsulate life in the badlands of contemporary Britain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681770369
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	01/02/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	847,678
File size:	551 KB

About the Author

John Harvey has been writing crime fiction for more than forty years. The first novel of his twelve-part Charlie Resnick series, Lonely Hearts, was selected by The Times of London as one of the “100 Best Crime Novels of the Century.” His novels featuring Frank Elder include Flesh & Blood, which won the Silver Dagger Award and a Barry Award, and Ash & Bone, which was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. He was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in the crime genre in 2007. He lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

The 18 crime stories in this sterling collection show Harvey, winner of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for sustained excellence, at the top of his game. His best-known character, Nottingham Det. Insp. Charlie Resnick, appears in four selections, but the strongest are the seven featuring PI Jack Kiley, an ex-cop and ex-professional footballer. In “Truth,” an exemplar of the short story form, former police officer Dave Marshall, now working as a contractor, asks Kiley to intervene with his wife, who’s been posting signs around London accusing Marshall of abandoning his family and warning prospective clients to steer clear. While Kiley accepts the job, he carries it out in a way that’s consistent with his moral sense, though the ending makes clear that there are limits to his ability to set the world right. Readers will hope Harvey eventually features Kiley in a novel. Agent: David Forrer at Inkwell Management. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Starred review. [A Darker Shade of Blue]...will come as a particular treat for the author's many devoted fans...this collection of first-rate writing by a crime-fiction master in both long and short forms is treasure enough for anyone.

Booklist

Reveals modern England in all its most depressing messiness while engaging the reader with characters whose warmth and humanity give real pleasure.

Times Literary Supplement

Thrilling and atmospheric.

The Guardian

The architecture of Harvey’s storytelling begs to be admired, with its multiple narratives, shifting time lines, and elaborate plot details. Harvey’s touch is so subtle, his style so seductive.

Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review

Starred review. [A Darker Shade of Blue]...will come as a particular treat for the author's many devoted fans...this collection of first-rate writing by a crime-fiction master in both long and short forms is treasure enough for anyone.

Booklist

Multiple crime fiction award winner Harvey continues to poke away at the English body politic in this latest collection of stories previously published in various magazines and anthologies. The characters who inhabit these tales are briefly but indelibly captured by Harvey's eye for telling detail; they are apt to feel trapped and helpless, unable to leave but equally unwilling to stay. Charlie Resnick and Frank Elder, familiar from Harvey's earlier novels, do what they can, ably assisted here by Jack Kiley, sometime professional footballer and ex-policeman, now a struggling PI. Their cases cover a wide social range from an over-the-hill performer and those who toil in the manure fields of the tabloid press to newly arrived immigrants seeking the brass ring in London. VERDICT Anyone in search of explanations for recent English events, ranging from the phone-hacking scandal to the London riots, will find much to think about in these dark, masterly stories.—Bob Lunn, formerly with Kansas City P.L., MO

Library Journal

A collection of 18 previously published short stories—and, yes, Charlie Resnick fans, he turns up in five of them. In "Billie's Blues" and "The Sun, the Moon and the Stars," Charlie tries to help out Eileen, a stripper turned whore turned witness to murder, with dour results. "Home" finds him dealing with a teen's death and a brother's revenge. In "Well, You Needn't," Charlie's birthday begins with a break-in and ends with him and his cats listening to Thelonious Monk. Resnick makes a cameo appearance in "Trouble in Mind," which features Harvey's leading short-story protagonist, Jack Kiley, who, reading mystery writer K.C. Constantine, notes that Charlie looks like aging lawman Mario Balzic. Kiley, the former footballer and Met copper now eking out a living as a private eye, faces the usual Harvey suspects—druggies, delinquents and dames—with the gals usually in for a bad day. Frank Elder, who stars in three Harvey novels, loses his wife and begins his retirement in "Due North," while Tom Whitemore, a minor character in one of the Elder books, faces his own marriage troubles in "Sack O' Woe." But perhaps the story to savor most is "Snow, Snow, Snow," which marks the debut of Malkin, a hit man who metes out overdue justice. Is there a better short-story writer around than Harvey? Probably not. His introduction not only provides a fine overview of his work but may send readers in search of James Crumley's output.

Kirkus Reviews