John Harvey (author)

John Harvey (born 21 December 1938 in London) is a British author of crime fiction most famous for his series of jazz-influenced Charlie Resnick novels, based in the City of Nottingham.

Writing career

Harvey has published over 100 books under various names, and has worked on scripts for TV and radio. He started writing in the 1970s when he produced a variety of pulp fiction including westerns.[1] He also ran Slow Dancer Press from 1977 to 1999 publishing poetry. His own poetry has been published in a number of chapbooks and two collections, "Ghosts of a Chance" and "Bluer Than This", published by Smith/Doorstop. In 2014 Smith/Doorstop published a New & Selected Poems, "Out of Silence".

The first Resnick novel, Lonely Hearts, was published in 1989, and was named by The Times as one of the 100 Greatest Crime Novels of the Century. Harvey brought the series to an end in 2014 with Darkness, Darkness", which he dramatised for the stage and which was produced at Nottingham Playhouse in 2014. Resnick has also made peripheral appearances in Harvey's new Frank Elder series.

The new protagonist Elder is a retired detective who now lives, as Harvey briefly did, in Cornwall. The first novel in this series, Flesh and Blood, won Harvey the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger in 2004, an accolade many crime fiction critics thought long overdue. In 2007 he was awarded the Diamond Dagger for a Lifetime's Contribution to the genre.

Harvey moved to Nottingham in the 60s ignored to teach English & Drama at Heanor Aldercar Secondary School in South East Derbyshire. Towards the end of the 60s, he left Nottingham to teach first in Andover, Hampshire and then in Stevenage, Herts, returning to the city to study for an MA in the Department of American Studies at the University of Nottingham. .[2] On 14 July 2009 he received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Nottingham in recognition of his literary eminence and his associations with both the University and Nottingham (particularly in the Charlie Resnick novels).

He is Notts County F.C. fan and honorary member of its supporters club. Since 2016 he has been President of Bromley House Library He now lives in London.[2]

Bibliography

Standalone novels

Charlie Resnick series

  1. Lonely Hearts (1989)[2]
  2. Rough Treatment
  3. Cutting Edge
  4. Off Minor
  5. Wasted Years
  6. Cold Light
  7. Living Proof
  8. Easy Meat
  9. Still Water
  10. Last Rites
  11. Trouble in Mind (novella also featuring Jack Kiley) (2007)
  12. Cold in Hand]] (2008)
  13. Darkness Darkness

Frank Elder trilogy

  1. Flesh and Blood (2004)
  2. Ash and Bone (2005)
  3. Darkness and Light (2006)

Awards and accolades

1992 - New York Festivals, Bronze medal, Screenplay for Best TV Drama Series: "Resnick: Lonely Hearts"

1999 - Sony Radio Drama Silver Award for adaptation of Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair"

2007 - Prix du Polar Europeen : "Ash & Bone" 2009 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters : University of Nottingham 2013 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters : University of Hertfordshire 2014 - CWA Short Story Dagger : "Fedora"

References

  1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/dec/29/featuresreviews.guardianreview9
  2. 1 2 3 "Author John Harvey interview: Resnick's last case". 17 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Shortlist for Theakston’s Crime Novel of the year Award 2009". digyorkshire.com. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-06-17.


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