Book Blurb:
From the master of British Crime Writing comes Frank Elder’s last case.
‘This is wonderfully atmospheric crime writing – a tribute to Harvey’s exceptional talent’ Daily Mail
‘The heavy manacles around the girl’s wrists, perhaps not surprisingly, looked very much like the ones that had been found on the studio floor. For a moment, she had a vision of the chain to which they were attached being swung through the air, taking on force and speed before striking home.Then swung again.’
When his estranged daughter Katherine appears on his doorstep, ex-Detective Frank Elder knows that something is wrong.
Katherine has long been troubled, and Elder has always felt powerless to help her.
But now Katherine has begun to self-destruct.
The breakdown of her affair with a controversial artist has sent her into a tailspin which culminates in murder.
And as Elder struggles to protect his daughter and prove her innocence, the terrors of the past threaten them both once more …
Body & Soul was published on the 19th April 2018 in ebook and hardback. You can buy a copy of both here.
My Review:
John Harvey is an author I have heard a lot about but never had the chance to read. So I was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for his latest book, Body & Soul the last book in the Elder series.
Elder was my favourite character in this book. His love for his daughter was touching to read about and I really felt for him when Kate rebuffed his attempts to rebuild their troubled relationship. The amount he is willing mount to do to stand up for and protect his daughter is very poignant and really brought a tear to my eye. I didn’t initially like Kate. I thought she was unnecessarily prickly and rude to her dad when he was obviously trying. However as the story goes on and I discovered more about her and her back story I did begin to feel a lot of sympathy towards her.
The art storyline was very intriguing and added an interesting element to the story. I’d never really considered what nude modelling entails and the impact the finished result could have on the model. This did have me feeling very frustrated towards Anthony in this regard for not realising, or maybe not caring what impact his art could have on others, particularly one he was meant to care about.
This was a bit of a slow burner for me as I thought it took a little while to get going. The author takes time to set the scene and to let the reader know and understand the characters more. I was a little confused at times whether the action being described was in the present or the past which meant that sometimes I had to flick back and start the chapter again. I think this was just my problem though as I haven’t read any other reviews saying this.
Body and Soul is the final book in the Elder series but it is the first one I have read. While the book would work fine as a stand alone I think it would be beneficial to read the rest of the series first as I feel you would understand the plot a lot more.
Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours and William Heinemann for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
About The Author:
John Harvey was born in London, where he now lives, while considering Nottingham his spiritual home. Initially a teacher of English & Drama, he has been a full-time writer for more than forty years. The first of his 12 volume Charlie Resnick series, Lonely Hearts was selected by The Times as one of the ‘100 Best Crime Novels of the Century’ and the first Frank Elder novel, Flesh and Blood, won the CWA Silver Dagger in 2004. He was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in the crime genre in 2007, and his story, ‘Fedora’ won the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2014.
In addition to writing fiction, he has written and published poetry, running Slow Dancer Press for over twenty years; his Out of Silence: New & Selected Poems was published in 2014. He has adapted the work of Arnold Bennett, A. S. Byatt, Graham Greene and others for radio and television, and in 2017, his dramatisation of the final Resnick novel, Darkness, was produced at Nottingham Playhouse. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Hertfordshire and Nottingham.
Follow @John_BHarvey @WHeinemann
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Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks so much Jo x
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