John Harvey Books In Order

Publication Order of Charlie Resnick Books

Publication Order of Charlie Resnick Collections

Publication Order of DCI Karen Shields Books

Publication Order of Frank Elder Books

Publication Order of Scott Mitchell Books

Publication Order of The Tempest Twins Books

Publication Order of Will Grayson and Helen Walker Books

Publication Order of Apache Books

Publication Order of Caleb Thorn Books

Publication Order of Deathshop Books

Publication Order of Gringos Books

Publication Order of Hart: The Regulator Books

Publication Order of Hawk Books

Publication Order of Herne The Hunter Books

Publication Order of The Lawmen Books

Publication Order of Peacemaker Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Bibliomysteries Books

Chronological Order of Bibliomysteries Books

Publication Order of Mysterious Profiles Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Born in December 1938 in Tufnell Park (North London), the prolific British crime fiction writer John Harvey became famous for his jazz-influenced novels Charlie Resnick. He is the author of more than 100 books, which were published under different names, as well as poetry and scripts for TV and radio. During his childhood his father, who was working in the clerical section of Shell Mex, used to take him to a bookshop in Kentish Town, in order to buy copies of Biggles. When he was five years old, Charlie really liked reading Alison Uttley’s Rabbit books. He moved to the peaceful Nottingham town in the 60s. In 2009 he received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Nottingham. He was teaching English for more than 12 years, educated at Goldsmiths College, London, and taught literature, drama nad film in several colleges across the country before he decided to turn his writing career into full time. His move into writing came almost by accident, when a writer asked him to help him and he soon found himself producing westerns and more novels. In addition, throughout his famous career he wrote under his own name and with different pseudonyms various books for motorcycles, for juvenilles, He also began to write for television, adapting classic series, as well as some popular ones. Today he lives in London and he is also a big Notts County fan. He has been a professional writer for more than forty years and he continues writing.

Charlie Resnick Series

The main character of a series of 11 police procedural novels by John Harvey, based in the city of Nottingham, is Charlie Resnick, a detective inspector who was noted for his Polish descent and his love for both jazz musci and sandwiches. This first novel of the famous series books was published in 1989 and was named by ‘The Times’ magazine as one of the ‘100 Greatest Crime Novels of the Century’. Moreover, John Harvey established his main character (Charlie Resnick) of these crime series books as an ordinary police officer, who investigated everyday murders in the peaceful town of Nottingham. Moreover, there were also two movies for TV made about Resnick, which were actually based on ‘Lonely Hearts’ and ‘Rough Treatment’ books for the BBC in 1992 and 1993, starring Tom Wilkinson, an Academy Award nominee. Some of his great novels were also adapted for radio.

Lonely Hearts (published in 1989 by Arrow)

The first mystery book of Charlie Resnick Series focuses on a divorced Polish detective inspector, by the name Charlie Resnick, who is a middle aged, overweight and divorced man, who lives with his 4 cats and his wide collecios of jazz records. Charlie is big, bulky but he is a great investigator. Charlie with the rest of his crew investigate two unexpected and brutal murders of two local women, by the names Shirley Peters and Mary Sheppard (a divorced mother with two children), who were murdered in theirs homes. Shirley Peters loves red wine and lives a peaceful life, while Mary is trying to raise her kids. The one murder followed by another under similar circumstances. The first major criminal case for Charlie and his team concers a number of increasingly brutal attacks on women who have been using the column of a local newspaper under the title ‘Lonely Hearts’. After the link between the two murders is discovered, his team members have to trace and talk to as many of the respondents as they can find, in order to be able to start solving these brutal murders. Resnick is sure that both murders are the work of one sadistic killer and he is determined to find out the truth and solve the mystery before more murders take place in this town. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Rachel Chaplin, a social worker assigned to a family caught up in allegations of child abuse, with whom he has had a nice professional relationship and he wants to have a more personal relationship with her. But first he wants to find the killer as soon as possible.

Rough Treatment (published in 1990 by Owl Publishing Company)

The second book of these famous crime series is the story of two thieves, Grabianski and Grice, who meet up a few times a year, in order to conduct some burglaries in different cities every time, in order not to get caught. This time they decided to ‘hit’ in the Midlands of England. When they enter the house of TV director Harold Roy, in order to find money, they undexpectedly find his wife Maria. Grabianski and Maria fell in love from the first sight and things get more complicated. Among the valuables, the two thieves snatch a kilo of cocaine. Over some glasses of Scotch, she directs them to her jewelry, bonds, her wedding tape and she even unlocks for them her husband’s safe. When Grabianski opens it, he finds something he didn’t expect it; a kilo fo cocaine. So, he leaves the house of Maria with the drugs, the valuable jewelry and a piece of Maria’s heart. Maria falls for Grabianski, so she gives a false description of the criminals at the police officers, prompted by her interest in Jerzy, who returns, in order to begin an affair. At the same time he negotiates by selling back the cocaine he has in his hands. Maria wants to make a deal with him – for both her husband and the drugs. The two thieves, Ιnstead of disappearing after the murders, the two thieves decide to stay around the town, and Grabianski starts a love affair with Maria Roy. Later on the couple try to sell the cocaine back to the original owner. Resnick focuses on solving this murder case, which he also contends with other crimes that include a possible Chinese feud. Meanwhile, the inspector attempts to sell his house, because he has some unpleasant memories of a bad marriage. Maria is about to learn thatn not even love can keep crime from turning bloody.

John Harvey is a prolific writer of crime fiction and poetry, and has also been awarded the 2007 Diamond Dagger Award, awarded for sustained excellence in the field of crime writing. Previous winners include P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, John LeCarre, Colin Dexter and Ian Rankin.

A mystery novel will add up a lot of suspense to your life, and you will enjoy this journey right away. This literary gender has a lot of followers because they want to feel different things and escape the everyday life that they live. John Harvey is a British writer who seems to be taking the mystery gender to a whole new level. With his portraits of people with deep psychological problems, John Harvey seems to be a master in this endeavor. We are going to talk a little bit about John Harvey and his works here.

About John Harvey

John Harvey is a famous British writer of crime fiction, and he is also the writer of a series called Charlie Resnick. Mr. Harvey started out his writing career by writing Western novels with many co-authors such as Terry Harknett, Laurence James, and Angus Wells. He used to employ his collective pen names in these novels that he wrote with co-authors. The famous Crime Writers’ Association gave this author the famous Silver Dagger award for a novel called Flesh and Blood. The same association also gave Mr. Harvey the Diamond Dagger due to his lifetime achievements in the field of crime fiction.

A Sadistic Killer

Lonely Hearts is about a sadistic killer that is committing a lot of crimes in a city. The plot of this novel is very interesting as murders tend to be correlated in many ways. For instance, when Shirley Peters is found dead and her boyfriends have been put into custody, another woman has been throttled to death. However, Detective Inspector Resnick is sure that these deaths have some connection, so he is determined to find a solution as soon as possible. Anyway, Resnick needs to put this bastard in the place where he belongs so he can this situation straight right away.

This 368-page novel can take your breath away in no time. If you have been expecting to read a traditional crime novel, you are dead wrong, as Mr. Harvey is just a departure from this. The whole plot revolves around the city of Nottingham in England where a group of investigators meets from time to time to solve crimes of different types. Charlie Resnick is the central figure here. He is divorced, guardian of 4 cats, and overweight. Though he is not gifted with either outstanding deductive reasoning or brilliance, you will enjoy what he has to do and say.

In fact, the characters of this novel are very human, and they are depicted with all their flaws and virtues in a brilliant way. These situations are something that we see every day in our lives. For instance, love affairs come and go, and the same is true with friends. People die. You will see that some people are sympathetic, but if you see them closely you will realize that they are too frail in some aspects. Resnick is in the middle of a rather mediocre staff, which is full of people who don`t care about punishing crime or pursuing justice. They are doing their job and that`s all they care about.

Some of this novel`s characters are truly despicable. Some of them will be caught in the random events of life like any other human beings. The villains here are not psychopathic killers or even criminal masterminds. They are just lazy people or small-minded individuals. In fact, some of them are just plain screw-ups or looking for the big chance in one way or another. These people are lost in their path and caught in a crude circle of violence.

Psychological Diversity

Cutting Edge is a novel with full of character of outstanding psychological diversity. In fact, this moody revenge tragedy will keep you in suspense for a long time. You might even hear voices that are both husky with pain and abrasive. The plot of the novel is quite good too, as you will be following what Charlie Resnick has to do with some people who have been attacked at night by someone with a scalpel. So our hero is working hard to find any connection between the people who were attacked and the attacker.

The hospital where Charlie investigates is a large Midlands institution. Medical personnel has been truly attacked, and our reflective and tough protagonist is trying to solve the puzzle. The perpetrator of these crimes has an uncanny ability of not only mutilate victims but also traumatize them down the road. This will destroy their careers over time, which is a shame. A male nurse has been emasculated and a promising young surgeon is being assaulted receiving injuries in both hand and leg. Since the assailant understands a lot about anatomy and psychology, Mr. Resnick thinks that he or she belongs to the important medical community.

As our hero tries to resolve the puzzle, he finds out that the lives of these people were lacking self-worth as well as reality. And when he talks to their family and lovers, he realizes that this is the truth about them. The author will create here a sense of wonder about the characters of human beings that will add suspense to the whole plot. This outstanding novel will portray the lives of policewomen and they will have to face a lot of questions from our hero as well. The protagonist will work hard to find out where the culprit of three attacks is and he will do whatever it takes to get there.

As you can see, John Harvey knows how to write mystery novels that will keep people wanting more and more over time. Lonely Hearts is an awesome novel written by Mr. Harvey, where you will have to see what the protagonist can do. He will have to find what a serial killer has been doing by finding out more about two recent crimes. The plot of this novel is quite interesting and you will love it right away. In Cutting Edge, another novel of this author, you will find a lot of psychological diversity in no time. A lot of people have been traumatized by a crazy person, but our hero will work hard to find out a solution.