Robert Barnard creëerde meeslepende mysteries die de donkere stromingen van schijnbaar rustige omgevingen onderzoeken en complexe menselijke psychologieën onthullen. Zijn werk staat bekend om zijn scherpe humor, scherpe observatievermogen en een verfijnde benadering van de plot die de lezer aan het raden houdt. Barnard verkent vaak de ingewikkelde sociale dynamiek en verborgen geheimen binnen gemeenschappen, en biedt een genuanceerde en boeiende leeservaring. Zijn kenmerkende vertelstem en slimme wendingen verstevigen zijn reputatie als een belangrijke stem in misdaadfictie.
Caroline Fawley is living in the Yorkshire village of Alderley. Her wealthy boyfriend keeps her in the lap of luxury. Life couldn't get much better. Then her boyfriend Marius goes missing and later a body turns up and that idyllic life is completely shattered. Originally published: 2002.
After a twenty-year absence, Merlyn Cantelo returns to Leeds to attend his late aunt Clarissa's funeral. Far from being welcomed back into the fold of his large and quarrelsome family, he is viewed by many with suspicion and distrust ? especially since his timely reappearance has thwarted the prospect of a tidy inheritance. However, all is more complex than it seems. The teenage Merlyn only fled his home at the vehement insistence of his sometimes clairvoyant aunt, who foresaw for him a life blighted by violence and death. Moreover, the root of this danger supposedly lies somewhere within the family? Merlyn knows that if he is to discover whether his aunt's fears were justified, he must come to terms with his tragic past ? and delve into the murky history of the Cantelo family.
Inspector Perry Trethowan reads in the obituaries that his estranged father has died under peculiar circumstances: he was fooling around with a form of self-torture called strappado. At the request of his supervisor, Peter returns to his ancestral home to determine if any of his cousins or siblings might have helped the old man to his bizarre end.
Thoroughly updated to include writers such as Caryl Churchill, Brian Friel, Martin Amis and Graham Swift, this book remains the best overall survey of English literature available. Robert Barnard looks selectively at the most important writers within each period from the time of Chaucer, and focuses on one or two of their works in detail. He deals briefly with the earlier periods and more fully with the last two centuries, moving right to the present with a detailed coverage of the post-war novel and theatre. In the best sense eclectic, his book draws together history, criticism, established ideas and fresh views.
It was midday on December 21st in the city of Tromsø when the boy was last seen - a tall, blond boy swathed in anorak and scarf against the Arctic noon. After that he wasn't seen again, not until three months later, when Professor Mackenzie's dog started sniffing around in the snow and uncovered a human ear - attached to a naked corpse. Nobody knew who he was, or where he had come from. And after three months it was almost impossible to track down the identity of the corpse. But Inspector Fagermo refused to give up - and as he probed deeper into the Arctic city he began to discover a dangerous conspiracy of blackmail, espionage, and cold-blooded murder.
England's celebrated, multiple-award-winning master crime novelist returns with a witty and poignant chiller about the evil of gossip and the sin of indifference. Father Christopher Pardoe is a good priest who genuinely cares for his parishioners but is also burdened by human weaknesses. His frequent visits to a young single mother, Julie Norris, raise eyebrows, especially as her bedroom curtains remain closed during these visits. Rumors swirl when it appears Julie may be pregnant again, leading to Father Pardoe's suspension from St. Catherine's. Meanwhile, Cosmo Horrocks, a sensational journalist, seizes the opportunity to exploit the scandal, stirring up a narrative filled with sex and intrigue. As questions arise about Julie's past and her estrangement from her parents, the tension escalates. When murder strikes, Inspector Mike Oddie and Sergeant Charlie Peace uncover raw emotions—hate and fear—beneath the town's surface. The investigation reveals that while there may be one killer, many share in the town's guilt. Rich with eccentric characters, crisp dialogue, and perceptive insights into human nature, this story delves into the complexities of morality and the consequences of indifference.
Upstairs, in the room looking out to sea, the old man dictates wills, leaving things he no longer has to friends who are long dead. His children, who look after him, can cope with his senility, and thought there was nothing more to learn about his erratic life-style. When Roderick Cotterel hears from his illegitimate half-sister he is intrigued, even charmed: she is the daughter of his father, the distinguished novelist Benedict Cotterel, by the famous actress Myra Mason. She is writing a book about her mother, and is looking for material. The affair between the two had been a gutter press sensation back in the 'sixties, but the embers have long since cooled. However, when Cordelia and her boyfriend arrive and begin research for the book both Roderick and his wife begin to have doubts. And when their peaceful Sussex village is threatened by a visit from an almost suspiciously friendly Myra Mason, they realize they have got into something from which it would require superhuman delicacy and tact to extricate themselves. In the event somebody solves their problems in a way that is neither tactful nor delicate, though it certainly is final.
Assigned as British Princess Helena's personal bodyguard, Scotland Yard Detective Perry Trethowan struggles to defend his own virtue against the lascivious princess while tracking down the methodical killer who is murdering her numerous lovers.
Oliver Farleigh-Stubbs, slavný autor detektivek, je schopen urazit kde koho. Uprostřed rodiného večírku padá mrtev k zemi a pitva prokáže násilnou smrt. Je na detektivovi Meredithovi, aby dopadl vraha. A podezřelých je tak mnoho.
