Charlie Resnick: A Mysterious Profile

John Harvey

may 2022 · Open Road Media

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The bestselling author shares how he developed his celebrated sleuth, a Nottingham detective akin to Jim Rockford but dressed like Columbo.

In 1989, Lonely Hearts, a police procedural by John Harvey, introduced Det. Insp. Charlie Resnick to the world. The book was followed by a series and went on to be named one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Last Century by the Times. But how did the sandwich-loving policeman and jazz aficionado come to be?

In this quick read, acclaimed author John Harvey details how he first became a crime novelist and how his work in the heyday of 1970s British publishing would lay the groundwork for Resnick’s character. He breaks down almost every aspect of Charlie, from his name and ancestry to his personality and style. He even discusses the depiction of Nottingham as Charlie’s home and the home of the successful series in the many years to come.

Praise for the Charlie Resnick Mysteries

“[A] rich tapestry that lifts the police procedural into the realm of the mainstream novel.” —Sue Grafton, New York Times–bestselling author of the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series

“Harvey reminds me of Graham Greene, a stylist who tells you everything you need to know while keeping the prose clean and simple. It’s a very realistic style that draws you into the story without the writer getting in the way.” —Elmore Leonard, New York Times–bestselling author of Get Shorty and Rum Punch

“Like Thelonious Monk and other jazz greats who make the mood music in his books, John Harvey likes to play with form. In Wasted Years . . . [Harvey] switches time frames like song keys to tell a story about the cold hopes and lost chances that breed crime in the red-brick provinces.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Harvey’s police procedurals are in a class by themselves—near Dickensian in their portrayal of human frailty, cinematic in their quick changes of scene and character, totally convincing in their plotting and motivation.” —Kirkus Reviews

Acerca del autor

John Harvey (b. 1938) is an incredibly prolific British mystery writer. The author of more than one hundred books, as well as poetry and scripts for television and radio, Harvey did not begin writing professionally until 1975. Until then, he was a teacher, educated at Goldsmiths College, London, who taught literature, drama, and film at colleges across England. After cutting his teeth on paperback fiction, Harvey debuted his most famous character, Charlie Resnick, in 1989’s Lonely Hearts, which the English Times called one of the finest crime novels of the century.

A police inspector noted for his love of both sandwiches and jazz, Resnick has starred in eleven novels and one volume of short stories. The BBC has adapted two of the Resnick novels, Lonely Hearts and Rough Treatment (1990), for television movies. Both starred Academy Award–nominated actor Tom Wilkinson and had screenplays written by Harvey. Besides writing fiction, Harvey spent over twenty years as the head of Slow Dancer Press. He continues to live and write in London.