Last Rites: The 10th Charles Resnick Mystery (a Charles Resnick Mystery)

The great strength of the Resnick series has always been Harveys 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 mothers 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. Amazon.com Review "Back outside, walking away from the hospital toward Old Lenton, Resnick's step was springier, lighter. He couldn't remember the last time he'd struck a blow outside of self-defense; couldn't recall when he'd last used force of any kind. And although he knew that later his conscience would be giving him gyp, right now he felt one hundred percent better." That, of course, is Nottingham's own Charlie Resnick, a smart British policeman of Polish origins who would rather eat a sausage sandwich or listen to a Duke Ellington record than threaten a criminal. But threaten a drug dealer is exactly what he has just done; times are changing, and this will be Charlie's final case. John Harvey says he's ending his distinguished series because he no longer lives in Nottingham. Resnick's last stand involves a prisoner named Michael Preston, who was incarcerated for murdering his father, but absconds while he's out on compassionate leave. He vanishes into the streets of Nottingham and begins to torment his family. Meanwhile, rival drug gangs are shedding blood on Resnick's turf, and a corrupt copper is at large in the department. This is typical John Harvey fare: Charlie's sporadic affair with social worker Hannah is more off than on; dozens of greasy sandwiches are consumed; Charlie's many cats nap while Art Tatum and Thelonius Monk play quietly in the background. It's a fine, rich atmosphere, now so familiar that it's hard to say good-bye. Although there have been stronger, more spectacular entries in the Resnick series, Last Rites has enough of the familiar ingredients and the gritty street poetry to make a satisfying finale. --Dick Adler From Publishers Weekly Harvey's series about Charlie Resnick, the jazz-loving, melancholy cop in provincial Nottingham, England, has long been one of the finest police procedural series around (Rough Treatment, Cold Light, Easy Meat, others). "Has been," because with this exceptionally good entry, poet Harvey says he is leaving Nottingham and Resnick behind. At least he has quit on a high note. A building turf war between drug lords, and an escape by a prisoner who had murdered his own father, are at the heart of the new yarn, skillfully interwoven in a way that only Harvey at his best can contrive. Michael Preston had gone willingly to jail for his father's murder, and when he escapes on an escorted visit to his mother's funeral, his sister Lorraine, always close to him, is fiercely divided. Only she has a sense of what may have driven himAbut now he is hopelessly lost to a criminal life, and Lorraine has her own husband and children to care for. Harvey's feel for the fearful compulsions of love is as unerring as his ear for the hard-bitten Midlanders whose lives are Resnick's beat. A decent, thoughtful man in a tough job, whose tender instincts are constantly at war with his duty, Resnick is a splendidly conceived character who will be much missed. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Enter Series Index : 10 of 12 Calc Series Group : Charlie Resnick Mystery All Identifiers : amazon:1932859616, google:cSB-MgAACAAJ, isbn:9781932859614 Test Search : Last Rites / John Harvey Test Compare Series to Entered: eq Formats : EPUB ES Cover Quality : ICBF Quick Search : John Harvey Charlie Resnick Mystery ABook : E_Only Has Cover : Yes Test Text Series Index: 10 Single Author : John Harvey Raw Title : Last Rites Compare Author : eq Sorted Author by LN, FN: Harvey, John EBook : Have ES Group : Serified_E Title Length : 10 Title Parm A : Last Rites Calc ESI Combined : 10 of 190 Record ID : 2332 Enter New Series (Calced): Serified_E.Charlie Resnick Mystery.Cmd.10 of 12..ICBF ES Name : Charlie Resnick Mystery Uncomma Author : John Harvey Number of Words in Auth: 2 ES Genre : Cmd Calc New Series : Charlie Resnick Mystery.... Calc ESI Part 3 : 12 Calc ESI Part 2 : of Calc ESI Part 1 : 10 Num of Aut : 1 "Guns and drugs on the streets, armed police and gang warfare. Into the midst of this lethal mix comes Michael Preston. Sentenced to life for the murder of his father, he is allowed out of prison--and back onto Resnick's patch--for his mother's funeral. Preston takes his chance and runs. Heartsore and weary, and with the force he commands riven by petty rivalries and rumors of corruption, Resnick struggles to keep the lid on an increasingly volatile city and return a vicious murderer to justice before he can kill again."--Page 4 of cover