John Harvey: Darkness & Light (USA 2007)

From the Publisher:
Former cop Frank Elder is drawn out of retirement when his ex-wife asks him to look into the disappearance of her friend Jennie's sister Claire in Nottingham. Elder reluctantly returns to the city where his family disintegrated.

Elder uncovers sexual secrets of Claire's that take Jennie by surprise. But when Claire is found dead at home--unmarked and carefully dressed--it is Elder who is surprised by the similarities to an old case. To solve this riddle, Elder will have to repartner with Detective Inspector Maureen Prior and delve into several suspects' traumatic histories.

In a case in which neither memories, confessions, nor instincts can be trusted, Elder struggles with the weight of the past and Harvey delivers another psychologically trenchant page-turner.

John Harvey: Darkness & Light. A Frank Elder Mystery. Mariner Books, ISBN: 0156031418 (July, 2007), 352 p., $14.00.

John Harvey: Darkness & Light (UK 2007)

From the Publisher:
A phone call intrudes on retired Detective Inspective Frank Elder's solitary life in Cornwall. It's his estranged wife and she needs a favour. A friend's sister, Claire Meecham, an unassuming widow in her fifties, has gone missing.

Elder agrees to return to Nottingham to try and track her down. Then Claire is found, dead. The killer has arranged her body meticulously, almost lovingly, forcing Elder to remember another dead woman, arranged in an almost identical way. It was his first case with the Serious Crimes Unit. His first case and never solved.

It's clear to Elder that this is the work of the same unbalanced individual and, to find the killer, Elder must shine a light into the darkest recesses of human behaviour, the dark and twisted recesses of a disturbed human mind...

John Harvey: Darkness & Light. Arrow, ISBN: 0099489953 (February, 2007), 432 p., £6.99 (?).

John Harvey: Darkness & Light (USA 2006)

From the Publisher:
Former cop Frank Elder is once more drawn out of retirement by a phone call from his ex-wife, this time asking him to look into the disappearance of her friend Jennie's older, widowed sister Claire in Nottingham. Elder reluctantly agrees to return to the city where his family disintegrated.

Elder soon uncovers sexual secrets of Claire's that take Jennie by surprise. But when Claire is found dead at home-unmarked and carefully dressed-it is Elder who is surprised by the similarities to an old case. To solve this riddle, Elder will have to repartner with another person from his past, Detective Inspector Maureen Prior, and delve into several suspects' own traumatic histories.

In a case in which neither memories, confessions, nor instincts can be trusted, Elder struggles with the weight of the past and Harvey delivers another psychologically trenchant page-turner.

John Harvey: Darkness & Light. A Frank Elder Mystery. Harcourt, ISBN: 0151011338 (July, 2006), 350 p., $25.00.

John Harvey: Darkness and Light (UK 2006)

From the Publisher:
She wore a gold dress, short-sleeved, its skirt full-length and slightly flared. He could see the faint indentation on her left hand, a pale circle of skin giving away the fact that, until recently, a wedding ring had been there. She looked peaceful, lying there on the bed, her arms resting easily together, the left hand on the right, a slender silver cross and chain encircling her neck, and not a wrinkle, not a fold of her dress out of place. And, perhaps, she truly was at peace. For she was dead.

This was the sight that greeted Detective Inspector Frank Elder on his first case with the Serious Crimes Unit. His first case and never solved; no one was ever charged; the murderer never found. At liberty to walk the streets, and to kill again.

Eight years later, Elder’s estranged wife contacts him in his Cornish hideaway. Her friend’s sister Claire - a quiet and withdrawn widow in her fifties - has mysteriously disappeared. Elder, reluctantly, agrees to dig around and see what he can find. Then Claire is found, dead, arranged with meticulous detail on her bed, and it doesn’t take long for Elder to make the connection. It's obviously the work of the same unbalanced individual and, to find the killer, Elder must shine a light into the darkest recesses of human behaviour, the dark and twisted recesses of a disturbed human mind...

John Harvey: Darkness and Light. Heinemann, ISBN: 0434014451 (April, 2006), 357 p., £12.99.