John Harvey: Last Rites (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
"The great strength of the Resnick series has always been Harvey's grasp of the mess and muddle of human life and his ability to find poetry in the midst of that mess... The perfect end for a nearly perfect series." -- Booklist

Guns and drugs on the streets, armed police, gang warfare, and Michael Preston, sentenced to life for murder, is allowed out for his mother's funeral and goes on the run...

Diamond Dagger winner John Harvey will be the International Guest of Honor at Bouchercon in October. Harcourt will release the eleventh book in the Resnick series, in cloth, in February.

John Harvey: Last Rites. Bywater Books/Bloody Brits Press, ISBN: 1932859616 (October, 2008), 320 p., $14.95.

John Harvey: Last Rites (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
Lorraine Preston's brother, Michael, was sent down for life for the murder of their father - and now he's being allowed out for their mother's funeral. A hardened criminal, Michael Preston is the last person Resnick wants back on his patch, even is it's only for a matter of hours. Heartsore and world-weary, Resnick is struggling to contain an explosive situation on the streets, where the spread of guns has led to a frightening escalation in drug-related crime. The local force, meanwhile, is riven by internal rivalries and rumours of corruption. With his previously stable relationship with Hannah Campbell wavering, Resnick is forced back on his self-belief, his understanding of people. Why - himself included - they do the things they do.

John Harvey: Last Rites. A Resnick Novel. Arrow, ISBN: 0099421631 (October, 2002), 355 p., £5.99.

John Harvey: Last Rites (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
Lorraine Preston's brother, Michael, was sent down for life for the murder of their father - and now he's being allowed out for their mother's funeral. A hardened criminal, Michael Preston is the last person Resnick wants back on his patch, even is it's only for a matter of hours. Heartsore and world-weary, Resnick is struggling to contain an explosive situation on the streets, where the spread of guns has led to a frightening escalation in drug-related crime. The local force, meanwhile, is riven by internal rivalries and rumours of corruption. With his previously stable relationship with Hannah Campbell wavering, Resnick is forced back on his self-belief, his understanding of people. Why - himself included - they do the things they do.

John Harvey: Last Rites. The New Resnick Novel. Arrow, ISBN: 0749321423 (September, 1999), 356 p., £5.99.

John Harvey: Last Rites (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
The wildfire spread of guns and drugs; violent outbreaks of gang warfare; festering corruption in the police department: It sounds like America's inner cities, but it's Nottingham, England. And it has local law enforcement tied up in knots.

So when an incarcerated murderer, temporarily released on compassionate leave, turns up at his mother's funeral and just as suddenly disappears, the local cops don't have a lot of time to spare for a manhunt. They did that job ten years ago when they put the killer away for life. Let the prison authorities run him to ground now.

But things aren't quite that simple. They never are when it comes to crime - or to affairs of the heart. And very soon, Inspector Resnick is tracking a killer who just may be up to his old tricks and knee-deep in the local drug wars.

Last Rites is a gritty, violent tale about modern-day cops and killers, but at its beating heart, it is about love: obsessive, familial, perverted, tender. It is about what we do in the name of love - and what love does to us.

John Harvey: Last Rites. A Crime Novel. Henry Holt, ISBN: 0805041508 (May, 1999), 312 p., $25.00.

John Harvey: Last Rites (UK 1998)

From the Publisher:
It was twelve years since she'd seen him.
Twelve years is a long time to miss your brother. Lorraine Preston's brother, Michael, was sent down for life for the murder of their father - a seemingly inexplicable act of sudden violence and now he's being allowed out for their mother's funeral. A hardened criminal, embittered by twelve years of prison, Michael Preston is the last person Resnick wants back on his patch, even if it's only for a matter of hours.

Heartsore and world weary, Resnick is struggling to contain an explosive situation on the streets, where the spread of guns has led to a frightening escalation in drug-related crime. The local force, meanwhile, is riven by internal rivalries and rumours of corruption. Resnick's previously stable relationship with Hannah Campbell is wavering and he is drawn towards his colleague, Lynn Kellogg, in her own time of need.

In a novel of shifting surfaces and repressed desires, little or nothing is as it seems. As the story drives towards its climax, Resnick is forced back on his self-belief, his understanding of people. Why - himself included - they do the things they do.

John Harvey: Last Rites. The New Resnick Novel. Heinemann, ISBN: 043400328X (September, 1998), 280 p., £16.99.