Robert Barnard – författare

Thoroughly updated, this book remains the best overall survey of English literature available. Brings this successful book up to date with new material on, among others, Caryl Churchill, Brian Friel, Martin Amis and Graham Swift Very accessible

A BRONTË ENCYCLOPEDIA “This lively, absorbing, meticulously researched compendium is a rich resource both for the general reader and for the specialist Brontë scholar. It contains much to enlighten and surprise even those who think they know the Brontës well.”Heather Glen, University of Cambridge “Aficionados of all things Brontë must have this encyclopedia on their desks. Even those with just a passing interest in Brontë or literary research can become trapped in this book for hours. Looking up one entry leads to looking up another, and then another. This book has references to the important and the arcane and the obscure, references to places the Brontës visited, people they knew; in short, everything.”English Literature in Transition 1820–1920 A Brontë Encyclopedia is a complete guide to the life and work of the most notable literary family of the 19th century. Comprising approximately 2000 alphabetically arranged entries, this authoritative volume: Brings to light the significant people and places that influenced the Brontës’ livesDefines and describes the Brontës’ fictional characters and settingsIncorporates original literary judgments and analyses of characters and motivesIncludes coverage of Charlotte’s unfinished novels and her and Branwell’s juvenile writingsFeatures a full range of illustrationsA Brontë Encyclopedia is the most original and accessible work of its kind.

Superintendent Perry Trethowan was used to cases that involved people in high places, and in this one he finds himself at the top of the tree – among the British royals.A Princess, albeit only a minuscule royal offshoot, with a snug little apartment in Kensington Palace and a snug little sum on the Civil List, is threatened – but by whom, why, and exactly what is uncertain. Her circle consists mostly of boy-friends, and they are a motley lot, drawn from the worlds of politics, the stage, even the football field. But are they endangered too or are they part of the threat? The Princess (fresh as morning dew, and much more treacherous) trips gaily through the minefield, while around her men keep dying. But blood will out, especially blue blood, and by the time Perry Trethowan gets to the bottom of the case, a murderer has been brought to justice and not a few reputations tremble in the scales.Robert Barnard’s ability to create entertaining plots in the classic tradition was recognised through multiple nominations for Edgar Awards in the States, and he received the 2003 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for a lifetime of achievement.

Superintendent Perry Trethowan was enjoying a peaceful motoring holiday in North Yorkshire when he and his wife, Jan, had a strange encounter in a country pub. The seemingly unremarkable elderly spinster who introduced herself as Miss Edith Wing, a retired schoolmistress, proceeded to produce form her capacious blue handbag a yellowing manuscript – and claimed that it was part of an undiscovered novel by one of the Brontë sisters. Was it a clever forgery, or the literary sensation of the century?What started out as a harmless holiday diversion for the superintendent turned into a hunt for a vicious attacker as both Miss Wing and Perry himself found themselves in deadly danger.‘You can count on a Barnard mystery being witty, intelligent and a joy to read’ Publishers Weekly‘One of our most original and versatile bloodspillers’ Marcel Berlins, The Times‘Delicious . . . an appetising entertainment’ New York Times

Police superintendent Percy Trethowan found London’s Soho as colourful and full of life as every—except for the four corpses in a seedy photography studio. Shot doing a layout for Bodies, a soft-porn “health and fitness” magazine, the photographer, his assistant, and two models had left a camera loaded with film but no clues. Then one victim’s obsession with pumping iron sent Trethowan into the erotic world of body-building, where an out-of-shape policeman would learn that building biceps isbeautiful and the temptation to star in the buff in the bluest of movies could really be murder.

Norway in cherry blossom time seemed exactly the right place to hold a conference of the World Association of Romantic Novelists (WARN for short). Superintendent Perry Trethowan wondered at times how he had allowed his sister to ‘con’ him into accompanying her to the conference but he finally decided that his role was to be one of amused detachment and observation, most especially of the two Queens of the Conference – frothy, gushy, lethal Amanda Fairchild, the British challenger, and the vast, malevolent Lorelei Zuckerman from America.What Perry had not been prepared for was a body – one clothed in billowing pink, with a bough of cherry blossom carefully placed on the corpse. It was a most unusual murder, in a most unusual place.‘Mr Barnard disports himself with reliable zest, humour and cunning’ Sunday Times‘Immaculately plotted, written with a touch as light as thistledown, and infused with gentle malice, this is a delicious soufflé of a whodunnit and the secret, which is worth waiting for, is kept to the end. Brilliant, Mr Barnard’ Irish Times‘The sort of exhilarating and satisfactory performance readers have come to expect from the virtuoso barnard’ Financial Times

Opera singers are often described as being larger than life, and certainly this is true of Gaylene Ffrench. Her appetites—for men, for food, for attention—are gargantuan, and her ability to irritate is similarly outsized. So when someone electrocutes the bombastic Australian contralto, few tears are shed at the Northern Opera company (though it’s a pity her understudy’s so lousy).In fact, most of the company members are dancing a jig, and it falls on Superintendent Nichols to determine which of them might have helped Gaylene along to her just reward. The black tenor tired of being the butt of Gaylene’s bigotry? The soprano weary of jealous whispers in her ears? Gaylene’s many bedroom conquests, all anxious to avoid a repeat performance? With so many potential suspects, Nichols has his hands full, but Barnard and his readers have a deliciously malicious good time.‘The wryest wit and most scathing satire’ Chicago Sun-Times‘One of the deftest stylist in the field . . . goes about it with a quietly malicious sense of humor’ New York Times Book Review

Radio Broadwich decides to do a documentary on the small village of Twytching for international broadcast, and the townspeople divide between those who seek the patronage of Mrs. Deborah Withins, arbiter of taste and morals, and those determined to displace her in the cutthroat contest for media recognition.When a rash of poison-pen letters and a murder coincide, quiet inspector George Parrish begins to uncover secrets the leading citizens of Twytching had thought, and fervently hoped, were buried. A Little Local Murder skilfully demonstrates that no one is more cunning than Robert Barnard in preparing the reader for the totally unexpected. And the incisive character portrayals in this early gem impart a dimension rarely found in English detective fiction.‘Barnard’s sharp and funny style and cast of eccentric characters make a clever mystery of small-town backbiting’ Kirkus Reviews

A witty and poignant chiller about the evil of gossip and the sin of indifference.Father Christopher Pardoe is a good priest. He cares about his parishioners. He is also a human being—and is thus saddled with man’s inherent weaknesses. Is it a bit odd, then, how much time the good Father has been spending at the house of a certain young, single mother called Julie Norris? And why, during each of his visits, are Julie’s bedroom curtains always closed? Julie looks to be pregnant again. Just who could that father be?As nasty rumours begin to scorch the parish phone lines, Father Pardoe is suspended from St. Catherine’s, and Cosmo Horrocks, the West Yorkshire Chronicle’s shameless, muckraking journalist, exploits the story in a big way. Nothing goes over better than a juicy sex-and-the-church scandal, except, perhaps, murder.Do Father Pardoe and Julie protest too much? Why did Julie’s parents throw her out and disown her? Is she really as bad as they say? And what, exactly, does Cosmo Horrocks hear in that London-to-Leeds dining car that makes him tingle with excitement? A tale of chastity besmirched? This story could make his year. But will it lead to tragedy? And, if so, whose?When Inspector Mike Oddie and Sergeant Charlie Peace are called in to investigate a murder, they are saddened and surprised by the raw emotions—the hate, the fear—they find in the outwardly peaceful town of Shipley. There may be only one killer, but there are many others who must share the town’s guilt and, perhaps, one day start the process of healing.Rich with eccentric characters, crisp dialogue, stylish prose, and perceptive insights into human nature, Unholy Dying is vintage Barnard, acknowledged master of suspense.‘He plots a mystery as well as any writer alive’ Time

Those two days in May seem to be a highpoint in Colin Pinnock’s life: a stunning election victory, a new government, and junior office for himself. But among the many congratulations he receives is one hostile message, a grubby card asking, ‘Who do you think you are?’ Is this merely someone putting him back in his place, or do the words have a more profound meaning? And who, indeed, is he? Who were his real parents?As Colin investigates these questions he is led back in time to an old political scandal: a murder case which led to a politician’s downfall and disappearance. Events in the present, however, start tangling with those of the past, and he finds himself the object of a series of incidents that at first seem designed to bring down his career with ridicule, but later actually threaten his life.A beautifully written and intriguing mystery form one of our foremost crime writers.‘Robert Barnard has the habit of delighting his readers’ Sunday Times

In the late winter of 1979, Leeds housewife Ellen Heenan dies in childbirth – abandoning a guilt-stricken husband to insanity’s grasp and leaving four young children to find for themselves.Thirteen-year-old Matthew and Annie, age twelve, know what the authorities will do if the learn of Father’s debilitating madness. A close-knit family will be speedily unravelled, its threads scattered carelessly to the winds. So deception is the only recourse – a façade of normalcy that must be carefully constructed to fool prying neighbourhood eyes. And resourceful young Matthew and his sister have the situation well in hand – until a freshly slain corpse turns up beneath the kitchen window . . .‘Gripping and satisfying’ Chicago Tribune‘Subtle and surprising . . . Robert Barnard at his best’ San Diego Union-Tribune‘A sad, sweet horror of a story . . . the suspense is delicious.’ New York Times Book Review

The Ketterick Festival revolves around the Saracen’s Head, a Jacobean inn with its inn-yard and balconies miraculously preserved intact, due to the sloth of successive landlords. Here in festival time are performed the lesser-known masterpieces of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. This year it is The Chaste Apprentice of Bowe (a play of uncertain authorship, since no one owned up at the time). But the actors find that the Saracen’s Head has been transformed by its new landlord – an Australian know-all with an insatiable curiosity and an instinct for power. The loathsome Des’s activities bring him into conflict with actors, committee, even the performers of Adelaide di Birckenhead, the little-known Donizetti opera that is the other lynchpin of the Festival programme. So adept is Des at fomenting friction and ferreting in the undergrowth of private lives that it is not surprising that it all ends in biers.Barnard’s festive romp spares no one in the arts world, and even suggests a solution to a long-felt operatic want, showing once again why he has been called ‘a specialist in snide japery’ (Time Magazine), whose mysteries are ‘among the best’ (New York Times).

Rosemary Sheffield has a sort of "reverse epiphany" one day while walking in the park: she no longer believes in God. This sudden loss of faith is at first entirely liberating, but the situation gradually becomes more complicated. Rosemary is, after all, the beloved wife of the vicar at St. Saviour's parish.A storm of controversy erupts in her husband's church congregation, but Rosemary, with the words "I do not believe," leaves behind the scandal and gossip for a seaside sojourn in Scarborough. Here she meets Stanko, a Bosnian refugee who illegally entered the country. But what begins as a supportive friendship launches an ungodly chain of events—and Rosemary soon finds herself back at home caught up in a murder investigation."Barnard's trademark seamless plotting and riotous sense of humor stand out wonderfully in his latest whodunit." Booklist"His plots are downright Mozartian in their effortless complexity" New York Newsday

The disappearance from school of two apparently unconnected teenagers worries DC Charlie Peace, until he discovers that they are both working at a hostel for homeless street kids. Peace knows the life and crimes of the people these two are trying to help, and decides that, for the moment, they are safe.But will Peace have cause to regret his decision? After all, just who is the man running the hostel? And how nasty is the local opposition to the place likely to become? As the pair continue their good work, the situation at the hostel becomes even more fraught with the appearance of an Asian girl fleeing an arranged marriage. And it isn’t long before a murderous attack seems about to put an end to the whole project.‘Nicely drawn characters’ Irish Times‘Very appealing. . .sensitively written’ Evening Standard‘He plots a mystery as well as any writer alive’ Time Magazine

The body of a young man, almost naked, in the car park behind one of Haworth’s many eating establishments marks the beginning of the case, and it is his identity that is the first puzzle for DC Charlie Peace and his superior Detective Superintendent Oddie.But before long the puzzle that most concerns them is the nature of the close-knit artistic community where Declan O’Hearn had acted as odd-job boy. The little knot of people seem to be united less by their ability as painters than by a common worship of the distinguished artist Ranulph Byatt, who has not only brought them together, but seems to prefer the adulation of his inferiors to the judgement of his equals. Peace, searching for clues, soon starts to wonder if there isn’t a sinister reason for this. And as the search for the killer gathers pace, Peace and Oddie uncover a series of dark secrets on the harsh Haworth landscape.Atmospheric, witty and perceptive, The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori is vintage Robert Barnard.

Old church meets new with a vengeance when a monk is brutally murdered at St. Botolph’s.Murder wasn’t on the agenda for the symposium on the role of the Anglican Church today—until a brother is found dead in his cell. Suddenly the diverse guest list falls under suspicion. Could it be the bishop famous for his television appearances or his exotic counterpart from Africa; one of the three vicars who run the gamut from trendy to traditional; the nondenominational American with a passion for fundraising; or perhaps one of the two Norwegian lady divines? Or is it one of the brothers themselves, taking advantage of the camouflage provided by outside visitors? Surely the tensions between the cloistered clergy and their more worldly visitors can’t have led to such an unthinkable occurrence. But why is Father Anselm, the austere head of the Anglican Community, so reluctant to allow an investigation? Is he concerned simply about unfavourable publicity? Or is there a darker secret hidden behind the inscrutable walls of St. Botolph’s?‘Robert Barnard . . . writes with irony and wit and considerable skill and grace’ St Louis Post-Dispatch‘A first-rate suspense story . . . highly original and entertaining.’ Booklist‘Robert Barnard is the most reliable and versatile practitioner of English mystery-comedy on the present scene. A virtuoso . . .’ New York Times Book Review

Professor Belville-Smith had bored university audiences in England with the same lecture for fifty years. Now he was crossing the Australian continent, doing precisely the same. Never before had the reaction been so extreme, however, for shortly after an undistinguished appearance at Drummondale University, the doddering old professor is found brutally murdered.As Police Inspector Royle (who had never actually had to solve a crime before) probes the possible motives of the motley crew of academics who drink their was through the dreary days at Drummondale and as he investigates the bizarre behaviour of some worthy locals, a hilarious, highly satirical portrait of life down under emerges.‘The perfect gem, one you wouldn’t change a word of’ Los Angeles Times