Flesh & Blood: A Frank Elder Mystery (Paperback)

by John Harvey (Author)
Key Phrases: John Harvey, Shane Donald, Susan Blacklock (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR FLESH & BLOOD

"A superb mystery--excruciatingly suspenseful, rich in character and all too real in its depiction of the horrific possibilities lurking in the margins of the mundane."--The Washington Post Book World

"Flesh and Blood is one more vindication for those of us who have long known we've been riding with a master of the craft. John Harvey is lights out one of the best."--Michael Connelly

Product Description

Retirement has not come easy for Detective Inspector Frank Elder. He's fled to a solitary existence on the Cornish coast, but he can't escape the past. Susan Blacklock would be thirty now. But fourteen years ago she disappeared, and the case has gone unsolved. Not that Elder hadn't had his suspects. And now, with one of them out on parole, Elder is compelled to return to the seaside scene of the crime. Shortly thereafter, pretty Emma Harrison goes missing.

Just as Elder's knowledge becomes crucial to the official investigation of this disquieting case, he unwittingly becomes vital to its perpetration. For with cryptic messages on seaside postcards and a few purposefully planted clues, the killer is drawing Elder inexorably into the very heart of the criminal matter. Elder's teenage daughter is already there.

In the first in the Frank Elder series, before Ash & Bone and Darkness & Light, John Harvey sets in motion the events from which Elder's family will never recover.

See all Editorial Reviews

---

Product Details Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Harvest Books (July 3, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0156031817 ISBN-13: 978-0156031813 Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #372,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Harvey, Shane Donald, Susan Blacklock, Emma Harrison, Willie Bell, Maddy Birch, Lucy Padmore, Frank Elder, Paul Latham, Adam Keach, Helen Blacklock, Martyn Miles, Gerry Clarke, Maureen Prior, Rob Shriver, Trevor Blacklock, David Copperfield, Eddie Cochran, Colin Sherbourne, Stephen Bryan, Major Crime Unit, Scene of Crime, Royal Jeavons, Rufford Park, Saltwick Nab

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	67% buy the item featured on this page: Flesh & Blood: A Frank Elder Mystery 3.2 out of 5 stars (4) $11.20
	9% buy Lonely Hearts: The 1st Charles Resnick Mystery (A Charles Resnick Mystery) 4.0 out of 5 stars (6) $11.16
	9% buy Darkness & Light: A Frank Elder Mystery (Frank Elder Mysteries) 4.5 out of 5 stars (6) $11.90
	7% buy Cold in Hand 4.3 out of 5 stars (6) $18.98

Explore similar items

---

Tags Customers Associate with This Product  (What's this?) Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people. Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below. john harvey(5) british mysteries(3) Your tags: Add your first tag

Search Products Tagged with   See most popular tags

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

---

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

---

 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews 5 star:    (0) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Try at Creating a Second Great Character, March 22, 2007 By  Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews    John Harvey has been known and complemented for his "Resnick" series for many years. Now he has created a new detective, Frank Elder, who has retired from the Service after many years. He left his wife and job and moved to the Land's End area of Cornwall. Elder helped put away two men who had tortured, raped and murderer teenage girls. But he is still haunted by the disappearance of Susan Blalock whose body was never found. Now the younger of the two murderers (the willing accomplis) is being paroled after fifteen years in jail. Elder's wife (they never divorced) has been living with her lover/business partner with his sixteen year old daughter. She's the same age as the girls who were taken. Just a few days after his parole, he takes off; the same day a fifteen year old girl goes missing. Her body is recovered, badly tortured, raped and murdered. A huge manhunt ensues. But then Elder realizes that something isn't right about the murder. Before he can get a handle on it, his own daughter goes missing. This is not an unusual tactic, it's been used by Ian Rankin and others at times. Rankin had a 'crazy' chase down his daughter and hit her with a car to get back at him. So it's not the most original of stories but it is well written and the dialogue is especially well done. It will be interesting to see how Harvey continues to grow this character. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars "It's mum. You should have loved her more.", July 5, 2006 By  Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       The other frank Elder novels refer to a seminal event in Elder's family that haunts them all profoundly; Flesh & Blood puts that question to rest. The course of events that forever traumatizes sixteen-year-old Katherine Elder is begun simply enough, one more case that Elder can't resist when his expertise is solicited. When his marriage to Joanna fell apart and her infidelity came to light, Frank moved as far away from his memories as possible, to the remote and wild Cornwall coast. Now he lives a spartan existence, solitary and healing, the emotional wreckage of a failed marriage gradually losing its power. Always a detective at heart, although loathe to leave his new home, Frank cannot resist the siren call of one more request, this time related to one missing girl and another brutally tortured and slain. Acting on the request of another detective, Maureen Prior, Elder returns to Nottinghamshire. It seems that one of the perpetrators of a kidnap-murder has been released on parole and Prior thinks Shane Donald may lead them to the missing girl who has never been found. Although Shane hasn't admitted knowledge of the disappearance of Susan Blacklock, he may know something that will enable them to renew their investigation. But when Donald, whose former crime was heinous, is threatened, he disappears from the assigned group home into the countryside. The police are diligently searching for Donald when another young woman is abducted, violated and murdered; the quest grows more frantic, everyone working against time. Between visits with his daughter and interviews with Susan Blacklock's friends and family, Elder participates in solving the latest crime. Meanwhile Harvey sweetens the plot with more than one resolution, another set of remorseless criminals, Frank's horrific dreams, too much publicity and Elder's daughter, Katherine, caught up in a nightmare beyond imagining. Harvey's dour protagonist is a driven man, no doubt, but one with a compassionate heart and a realistic take on the checks and balances of the world. Katherine's desperate situation draws Elder into the crux of his moral dilemma, his role as a father, an ex-husband and a man. Psychologically shredded by his own failings and inability to save his daughter from the underbelly of the criminal element he knows so well, Frank Elder faces the most important test of his life. pp Luan Gaines/ 2006. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars 'Gritty' is more than gore in this series, March 2, 2008 By  A. Anderson "Book Person" (Chico, Califiornia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)       Between other reviews and the editorial reviews, you have an idea of what this book --and the series-- is about. Frank Elder is a middle aged retired cop who is drawn back to work searching for murderers--and murderers of the more chilling and mentally disturbed kind. In Flesh and Blood, his family is drawn into the story through his 16-year old daughter. His daughter, his ex-wife and her lover and an extraordinarily self contained female co-worker are continuing characters. In Flesh and Blood, he solves two mysteries combining police procedural with psychological twists. Harvey continues the traumas suffered by all through the two following books, Ash & Bone and Darkness & Light. This is not a series for those who dislike detailed gore, but there is more here than mayhem. Elder is emotionally sensitive but unable to express himself making relationships more fragile. His wife has made bad decisions she seems unable to undo. His daughter's trauma in Flesh & Blood starts the sequence of events in Ash & Bone. John Harvey moves back and forth between the violence of Elder's job and the mysteries of his relationships, and not always with success. Each of the characters is a mystery to themselves and they act in much the same way in each book, with little growth. The daughter is the least well drawn, predictably making bad choices, and female characters generally are more image than substance. It is hard to determine if Harvey wants to write a series developing characters or he is using characters with (so far) unrealized potential to tell his crime stories. Nonetheless, he is too skilled a writer to write a unsatisfying book. The plots unfold nicely and keep you reading, the mad motives behind the murders well handled even if they don't break new ground. Elder is sympathetic, though an ordinary man, unable to translate his feelings to words or firm action. They are a satisfying read for the unfolding plot, and interesting murderers, but the tone is unrelievedly gray and dour, without a touch of humor and only the barest touch of hope. Harvey builds the world effectively and convincingly. The series is a police procedural more than mystery, or is a psychological novel of the gritty kind or both. If you like Ian Rankin or Denise Mina or those perennially unhappy Scottish detectives, you will enjoy this. If you are a Deborah Crombie fan, this is not so much your cup of tea.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars Too gritty for some tastes I am surprised this novel won several awards with apparently no indication (or warning) of the explicit descriptions of violence and sexuality that will bother some readers no... Read more Published on February 8, 2007 by Hank Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

---

Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)   Discussion Replies Latest Post   No discussions yet Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight Start a new discussion Topic: First post: Receive e-mail when new posts are made Prompts for sign-in   [Cancel] Guidelines Active discussions in related forums   Discussion Replies Latest Post thriller Shamelss self-promotion by author (2) 9502 9 minutes ago thriller thriller/mystery w/ some romance 15 13 hours ago thriller Thriller w/ romance element - NOT a romantic thriller! 40 15 hours ago thriller Looking For a GREAT Thriller 33 15 hours ago thriller Can you recommend a great thriller? 26 15 hours ago british mysteries Help - looking for title or author 3 1 day ago british mysteries Less well known British mystery authors 86 1 day ago

The British Mysteries community Latest activity 47 seconds ago 4,387 customers have contributed 6,613 products, 34 discussions and more... › Explore the community The Thriller community Latest activity 28 minutes ago 13,470 customers have contributed 10,864 products, 324 discussions and more... › Explore the community The Police Procedural community Latest activity 35 minutes ago 1,291 customers have contributed 1,613 products, 45 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community Related forums british... (34 discussions) john harvey police and... (2 discussions) police... (1 discussion) thriller (324 discussions) Explore more › See all Customer Communities › Your communities

---

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.

› See featured Amapedia.com articles

---

Listmania!

PZB's December '06 Reads: A list by Poppy Z. Brite   Some Exquisite & Glorious Thrillers: A list by Andrea Glander   Some amazing mysteries which I read during 2007.: A list by Katharina Mayne Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

---

So You'd Like to...

Smoke Out a Nail-Biting Thriller: A guide by Vesta Irene   Catch onto a Breathtaking Thriller: A guide by Vesta Irene Create a guide

Search Guides

---

Look for Similar Items by Category

• Books > Literature & Fiction
• Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals
• Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

---

Shop Tool Storage in Home Improvement Check out the huge selection of tool storage and organization products offered by Amazon.com. ›See more in the Power & Hand Tools Store

Big Savings in Books Find great titles at fantastic prices in our Bargain Books Store.

Keep Your Tools Close at Hand Explore a variety of heavy-duty nylon, suede, and leather tool and nail pouches in the Home Improvement Store. ›Shop for tool and nail pouches

Best Books See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.

Ad feedback

 

Feedback If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? Is there any other feedback you would like to provide? Your comments can help make our site better for everyone. Please note that we are unable to respond directly to all feedback submitted via this form, but we'll ask you to sign in so we can contact you if needed.

Where's My Stuff? Track your recent orders. View or change your orders in Your Account. Shipping & Returns See our shipping rates & policies. See FREE shipping information. Return an item (here's our Returns Policy). Need Help? Forgot your password? Buy gift cards. Visit our Help department.

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)

You have no recently viewed items or searches. After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.	Continue shopping: Top Sellers Free by Chris Anderson $0.00 Paranoia by Joseph Finder $0.00 Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck $6.59 Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck 3.8 out of 5 stars (345)$6.59

Amazon.com Home  |   Directory of All Stores

International Sites:  Canada  |  United Kingdom  |  Germany  |  Japan  |  France  |  China

Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Build an eCommerce Site  |  Advertise With Us  |  Developer Services  |  Self-Publish with Us

Help  |  View Cart  |  Your Account  |  1-Click Settings  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage

Careers at Amazon  |  Investor Relations  |  Press Releases  |  Corporate Responsibility

Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (July 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156031817
• ISBN-13: 978-0156031813
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #372,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Try at Creating a Second Great Character, March 22, 2007

By	Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

John Harvey has been known and complemented for his "Resnick" series for many years. Now he has created a new detective, Frank Elder, who has retired from the Service after many years. He left his wife and job and moved to the Land's End area of Cornwall. Elder helped put away two men who had tortured, raped and murderer teenage girls. But he is still haunted by the disappearance of Susan Blalock whose body was never found. Now the younger of the two murderers (the willing accomplis) is being paroled after fifteen years in jail.

Elder's wife (they never divorced) has been living with her lover/business partner with his sixteen year old daughter. She's the same age as the girls who were taken. Just a few days after his parole, he takes off; the same day a fifteen year old girl goes missing. Her body is recovered, badly tortured, raped and murdered. A huge manhunt ensues. But then Elder realizes that something isn't right about the murder. Before he can get a handle on it, his own daughter goes missing.

This is not an unusual tactic, it's been used by Ian Rankin and others at times. Rankin had a 'crazy' chase down his daughter and hit her with a car to get back at him. So it's not the most original of stories but it is well written and the dialogue is especially well done. It will be interesting to see how Harvey continues to grow this character.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "It's mum. You should have loved her more.", July 5, 2006

By	Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The other frank Elder novels refer to a seminal event in Elder's family that haunts them all profoundly; Flesh & Blood puts that question to rest. The course of events that forever traumatizes sixteen-year-old Katherine Elder is begun simply enough, one more case that Elder can't resist when his expertise is solicited. When his marriage to Joanna fell apart and her infidelity came to light, Frank moved as far away from his memories as possible, to the remote and wild Cornwall coast. Now he lives a spartan existence, solitary and healing, the emotional wreckage of a failed marriage gradually losing its power. Always a detective at heart, although loathe to leave his new home, Frank cannot resist the siren call of one more request, this time related to one missing girl and another brutally tortured and slain.

Acting on the request of another detective, Maureen Prior, Elder returns to Nottinghamshire. It seems that one of the perpetrators of a kidnap-murder has been released on parole and Prior thinks Shane Donald may lead them to the missing girl who has never been found. Although Shane hasn't admitted knowledge of the disappearance of Susan Blacklock, he may know something that will enable them to renew their investigation. But when Donald, whose former crime was heinous, is threatened, he disappears from the assigned group home into the countryside. The police are diligently searching for Donald when another young woman is abducted, violated and murdered; the quest grows more frantic, everyone working against time.

Between visits with his daughter and interviews with Susan Blacklock's friends and family, Elder participates in solving the latest crime. Meanwhile Harvey sweetens the plot with more than one resolution, another set of remorseless criminals, Frank's horrific dreams, too much publicity and Elder's daughter, Katherine, caught up in a nightmare beyond imagining. Harvey's dour protagonist is a driven man, no doubt, but one with a compassionate heart and a realistic take on the checks and balances of the world. Katherine's desperate situation draws Elder into the crux of his moral dilemma, his role as a father, an ex-husband and a man. Psychologically shredded by his own failings and inability to save his daughter from the underbelly of the criminal element he knows so well, Frank Elder faces the most important test of his life. pp Luan Gaines/ 2006.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 'Gritty' is more than gore in this series, March 2, 2008

By	A. Anderson "Book Person" (Chico, Califiornia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Between other reviews and the editorial reviews, you have an idea of what this book --and the series-- is about. Frank Elder is a middle aged retired cop who is drawn back to work searching for murderers--and murderers of the more chilling and mentally disturbed kind. In Flesh and Blood, his family is drawn into the story through his 16-year old daughter. His daughter, his ex-wife and her lover and an extraordinarily self contained female co-worker are continuing characters.

In Flesh and Blood, he solves two mysteries combining police procedural with psychological twists. Harvey continues the traumas suffered by all through the two following books, Ash & Bone and Darkness & Light. This is not a series for those who dislike detailed gore, but there is more here than mayhem. Elder is emotionally sensitive but unable to express himself making relationships more fragile. His wife has made bad decisions she seems unable to undo. His daughter's trauma in Flesh & Blood starts the sequence of events in Ash & Bone. John Harvey moves back and forth between the violence of Elder's job and the mysteries of his relationships, and not always with success. Each of the characters is a mystery to themselves and they act in much the same way in each book, with little growth. The daughter is the least well drawn, predictably making bad choices, and female characters generally are more image than substance.

It is hard to determine if Harvey wants to write a series developing characters or he is using characters with (so far) unrealized potential to tell his crime stories. Nonetheless, he is too skilled a writer to write a unsatisfying book. The plots unfold nicely and keep you reading, the mad motives behind the murders well handled even if they don't break new ground. Elder is sympathetic, though an ordinary man, unable to translate his feelings to words or firm action. They are a satisfying read for the unfolding plot, and interesting murderers, but the tone is unrelievedly gray and dour, without a touch of humor and only the barest touch of hope. Harvey builds the world effectively and convincingly. The series is a police procedural more than mystery, or is a psychological novel of the gritty kind or both. If you like Ian Rankin or Denise Mina or those perennially unhappy Scottish detectives, you will enjoy this. If you are a Deborah Crombie fan, this is not so much your cup of tea.