In A True Light is set in London, New York and Northern Tuscany at the present time and in the late 1950s. A crime novel which centres around the character of Sloane, a painter-turned-forger who first appeared in Still Water, it is also a novel about painting and painters, about identity and belonging, and accepting responsibility for ourselves and others. Oh, and there’s some jazz thrown in.

“John Harvey writes the way we all wish we could write. Elegaic and eloquent, his stories filled with the blood of true character. In In a True Light he is at his very best. It’s a crime story, sure, but it’s also a larger story about redemption and consequences set to the beat of the human heart.”
Michael Connelly

Read Patrick Anderson’s review from The Washington Post here

audio: John Harvey reads Monk at the Five Spot from In A true Light

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Set in Cambridge and the surrounding Fens, as well as the more familiar landscape of Nottinghamshire, Gone to Ground features DI Will Grayson and DS Helen Walker, who first appeared in the short story, “Snow, Snow, Snow”. When their investigation into the murder of Stephen Bryan, a film historian and academic, falters, Bryan’s radio journalist sister takes it upon herself to uncover what really happened, and soon all three are caught up in a morass of corrupt business practices, family secrets and fifties film noir.

“John Harvey’s new novel is immaculately plotted, and constructed with care and skill.  … The range of characters and settings is large, and Harvey’s touch is sure. The female characters are especially good, from the victim’s touching mother to the trash actress great-niece of the film star. All the threads are held in perfect balance until the very end of the narrative …”
Heather O’Donoghue, Times Literary Supplement

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On his 16^th birthday, Nick Harman’s mother gives him a box of things left by his father, who committed suicide when Nick was just seven years old. This sets Nick off in search of the reasons for his father’s death, a search that takes place against a background of shifting allegiances, involving the gangs on the housing estate where he lives and his first serious involvement with a girl.

“A fine novel about growing up by one of the masters of British crime fiction.”
Le Monde

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Far Cry, William Heinemann, 2009

Ruth and Simon Pierce’s rare romantic break is shattered by devastating news: their daughter, Heather, on holiday in Cornwall with her best friend’s family, has disappeared. The loss is more than they, or their marriage, can bear and they separate. Ruth slowly builds a new life for herself, remarries, and has a second daughter, Beatrice – and then the unthinkable happens, Beatrice herself goes missing. While DI Will Grayson leads the search for Beatrice in the Cambridgeshire Fens, DS Helen Walker reexamines what happened to Heather years before.

“What price the rights of suspects when the safety of children is at stake? How much latitude should parents allow their offspring? And how does one survive the abduction and sexual abuse of a child? That Harvey can deal with such weighty issues responsibly within a page-turning crime entertainment is a measure of his mastery.”
Barry Forshaw, The Independent

Read Michael Carlson’s review here.

or …

here.

Read Marilyn Stasio's Review here

Read the review from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette here

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Minor Key, Five Leaves, 2009

A collection which includes five previously uncollected short stories, four of them featuring Charlie Resnick, six mostly jazz-related poems and an introduction, Resnick, Nottingham and All That Jazz.

Available only in a limited edition of 500 signed copies.

All author royalties from this book are being donated to The Place2Be, specifically for the work it is doing to help foster the emotional development of children in Nottingham Primary Schools.

www.theplace2be.org.uk

Darker Shade of Blue

A collection of eighteen stories featuring, amongst others, Charlie Resnick, Jack Kiley and the debuts of Frank Elder and Will Grayson & Helen Walker.

Read the Independent on Sunday review here

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As Editor

Blue Lightning, Slow Dancer, 1998

A diverse and unexpected collection of short stories which revolve around music in its many forms. Authors include Walter Mosley, Jeffery Deaver, Rosanne Cash, Ian Rankin, James Sallis,  Peter Robinson, Brian Thompson, Stella Duffy and Kirsty Gunn.

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Men from Boys, William Heinemann, 2003

Seventeen brilliant stories that set out to answer, in their various ways, what it is to be a father, to be a son, to be a man. Includes stories by Mark Billingham, Jeffery Deaver, Reginald Hill, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Peter Robinson and a novella by Andrew Coburn.

“Bonus points to Harvey as editor for taste, virtuosity and some weird kind of compatibility-spotting which detects kinship between the most dissimilar authors. An original, outstanding collection – readable and rewarding from start to finish. ” Philip Oakes, Literary Review

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