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H.R.F. Keating

This page lists novels, short story collections, and non-fiction by H.R.F. Keating using his own name and the pen name Evelyn Hervey.

Cover images are when possible of the first UK edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.



This page is divided into six sections.

By H.R.F. Keating:
- novels, story collections
- Evelyn Hervey novels
- non-fiction

Edited by H.R.F. Keating:
- anthologies

By others:
- biographical / critical
- in honour of H.R.F. Keating

 

H.R.F. Keating: Novels and story collections

Death and the Visiting Firemen

H.R.F. Keating

Gollancz

1959

"A delegation of visiting firemen arrives at Southampton, greeted by a stagecoach which carries a reception committee in early 19th century costume. This Old English greeting has been arranged between their president, Foster P. Schelemberger, and George Hamyadis, the flamboyant travel agent who is handling all the details of their visit to Britain. During an overnight stop in Winchester, Hamyadis reveals his plan for a little surprise to entertain the delegates during the journey to London the next day. But the surprise, when it comes, turns out to be a very grim one indeed - especially for Hamyadis."
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Zen There Was Murder

H.R.F. Keating

Gollancz

1960

"In a country mansion converted to adult educational courses, Mr Utamaro is lecturing on Zen Buddhism to a small and not entirely appreciative audience. But Zen questions and their seemingly quirkish answers predominate, until they are superseded by two of greater urgency: 'Who stole the wakizashi?' and 'Who killed Flaveen Mills?' H. R. F. Keating provides the solution in the same brilliantly humorous vein which won him so many admirers with his first novel, Death and the Visiting Firemen."
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A Rush On the Ultimate

H.R.F. Keating

Gollancz

1961

"To all appearances, Humphrey Boddershaw, the amiable headmaster of Ambrose House Preparatory School for Boys is a man with hardly a care - or an enemy - in the world. How deceptive appearances prove to be when a house party assembles at Ambrose House early in September for a week of croquet matches. One of the guests, Cicely Ravell, makes no secret of the fact that she finds her host to be a violent and wicked man. The local police superintendent reports there is a convict on the loose who has an old score to settle with Humphrey. Then, one night at dinner, Humphrey's own niece threatens to kill him. Still, it gives everyone something of a start when Humphrey Boddershaw is found murdered. And something of a jolt as they begin to realize that someone staying at Ambrose House is quite probably a murderer."
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The Dog It Was That Died

H.R.F. Keating

Gollancz

1962

"Who wanted him? What for? Why was Roger Farrar (if that was his name) on the run in Dublin? Was he a traitor and deserted? The innocent target of a kidnap plot? Or a lonely persecuted paranoiac? A thriller edged with doubt and menace."
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Death of a Fat God

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1963

"By the time you’ve finished this book you’ll have got to know as exotic a collection of characters as ever trod an opera stage, gave forth with an aria, or trampled hard on each other’s egos. And you’ll have had the opportunity of matching your wits against those of Superintendent Pryde, C.I.D., as he struggles to solve a murder that almost any of the cast might have committed."
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The Perfect Murder

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1964

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"One crime that couldn't have happened, one that probably hasn't. Nothing's ever easy for Inspector Ghote. In the house of Lala Varde, a vast man of even vaster influence, an attack has taken place. Varde's secretary, Mr Perfect, has been struck on his invaluable business head. And try as Inspector Ghote might to remain conscientious and methodical, his investigation is beset on all sides by cunning, disdain and corruption. And then there's another urgent case to be dealt with: the impossible theft of a single rupee."
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Is Skin-Deep, Is Fatal

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1965

"In the rough, tough world where predatory young beauty queens compete fiercely for money, a murder is committed. Police Constable Peter Lassington is soon enmeshed in a complicated mystery - a mystery made more than usually exotic by the acreage of young feminine flesh that is continuously on show at the Star Bowl ballroom, rehearsing for the contest at which the St. Valentine prizes will be awarded. Lassington's superior, the officer in charge of the case, is Superintendent Ironside. Ironside - polite, sophisticated, devious - is somewhat sceptical about the charms of the young ladies: his thoughts roam forward to his imminent retirement."
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Inspector Ghote’s Good Crusade

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1966

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"This was no ordinary Bombay murder, for the arsenic victim was Frank Masters, American millionaire and philanthropist. The case was bound to attract much public attention. But, hounded by his superiors, Inspector Ghote finds that his demands for evidence and facts are met with nothing but confusing lies and bewildering evasions."
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Inspector Ghote Caught in Meshes

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1967

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"An American visitor to India is killed on the road from Bombay to Poona. Called in to investigate the murder, Inspector Ghote soon makes the acquaintance of the victim's brother, Professor Gregory Strongbow. But the professor is both stubborn and evasive, refusing to tell Ghote what he knows about the events leading up to Hector's death. Soon Ghote finds his own life in danger, as he is faced with a conspiracy that reaches to the very highest levels of Indian politics."
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The Inspector Ghote Mysteries: an Omnibus

H.R.F. Keating

Pan

1996

An Inspector Ghote omnibus.

An omnibus that collects together the first three Inspector Ghote novels: The Perfect Murder; Inspector Ghote's Good Crusade; and Inspector Ghote Caught in Meshes

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Inspector Ghote Hunts the Peacock

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1968

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"The Indian police inspector is sent to attend an international conference on drug smuggling; and in cold, drizzling London he is faced with his first case outside India. It is a very odd case. The girl, Ranee, niece of relatives of Ghote who live in London, has vanished--seduced, kidnapped, murdered, so her relatives allege, by the notorious pop singer Johnny Bull. Ghote is hounded by the relatives into spending his few leisure hours from the conference in trying to find Ranee - known for her brilliance as The Peacock."
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Inspector Ghote Plays a Joker

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1969

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote embarks on one of his strangest cases when he is ordered to prevent a murder - the killing of a precious flamingo in the Bombay zoo. And then there is the racehorse fancied to win the local Derby, which gets replaced by a donkey... Ghote finds things going disastrously as bit by bit he unearths the traces of a monstrous practical joker. But then the fun stops - and Inspector Ghote has a more serious murder on his hands."
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Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1970

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"In a small, provincial town in the heart of India, a politician's wife died under suspicious circumstances. That the corpse and the trail have been cold for fifteen years hasn't saved Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID from being sent to investigate. But what chance does he have when his chief suspect is so powerful, when the whole district is against him, and when a holy man is fasting to the death to protest his prying? But still the good inspector dutifully goes, carrying just the honour of his police force and a box of double-sized eggs."
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Inspector Ghote Goes By Train

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1971

An Inspector Ghote novel.

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The Strong Man

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1971

"An independent island state in the North Atlantic has fallen under the sway of Rolph Mylchraine, a landowner who has gained ascendancy by stage-managing witchcraft orgies and purveying cheap liquor. Opposing him is Keig, a peasant of extraordinary physical strength who gradually emerges leader on the grand scale. Through their developing struggle, which becomes a guerrilla war in the classic mould, echoes the sombre theme of the fatal tendency of power to corrupt."
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Inspector Ghote Trusts the Heart

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1972

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Some crooks have tried to snatch the plump son of a business tycoon, and have accidentally made off with his playmate instead. But they're not changing their plan: a payment is to be delivered to them or a small corpse is to be delivered to Inspector Ghote. But what kind of ransom can a mere tailor's boy demand? And, as something more unpleasant than just a ransom note arrives from the kidnappers, are the police helping keep the boy in one piece?"
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Bats Fly Up for Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1974

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is in trouble, worse trouble than ever before. When this adventure begins, he has already been relegated to the anti-pickpocket patrol, where he promptly gets himself into a fearful fix. Before long comes a topsy-turvy transfer to the Bats, as the specially selected officers of the Black-money and Allied Transactions Squad proudly call themselves. There Ghote is in worse straits, under compulsion to suspect every move and every word of his new super-efficient colleagues; he is also plagued by black thoughts about his loved ones at home."
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The Underside

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1974

"This novel, set in Victorian London in its heyday, presents a picture, both horrific and authentic, of the 'underside' of life in the first city of the world. It tells of Godfrey Mann, a young painter, who has access to the golden world of privilege and yet is possessed by a compelling sexual drive towards the hidden squalor and darkness below, a nostalgie de la boue that wars tumultuously both with his ideals as an artist and his love for the lion-couraged social reformer, Elizabeth. It is between Godfrey's reckless urges and Elizabeth's purity that truth must ultimately lie. And in working out this conflict of opposites, the story, though placed in an age whose fixed moral structure contrasts so forcibly with our permissiveness, has a meaning for today."
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A Remarkable Case of Burglary

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1975

"A Remarkable Case of Burglary tells of Val Leary, who is handsome, charming and broke. On the morning of April Fools' Day 1871, while walking through one of London's wealthiest districts, he notices a young maidservant scrubbing the steps of 53 Northbourne Park Villas. In that instant he conceives the idea for a remarkable case of burglary. The set-up seems perfect, but chance intervenes in a succession of coincidences that place the jewels further and further beyond the reach of Val and his cronies - until..."
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Murder by Death

H.R.F. Keating

Warner Books

1976

A novelisation of the Neil Simon movie Murder By Death.

"Various 'famous sleuths' (or their somewhat thinly disguised copies) are invited by a mysterious millionaire to stay at his house and solve a who-dun-it, with the winner getting millions."
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Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

Collins

1976

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A grisly murder has plunged Bollywood, the film capital of India, into chaos. Ghote gets so caught up with giving an Academy Award-winning performance as a sleuth that the curtain almost comes down on his own life."
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A Long Walk to Wimbledon

H.R.F. Keating

Mammillan

1978

"To Mark, comparatively safe up in less troubled Highgate, there comes a message that his estranged wife is dying over in Wimbledon, right across on the far side of the dangerous bowl of the devastated city. Reluctant almost to sticking-point, he sets out to go to her. His journey is a story of adventure through the ruins. His immediate business is the simple one of pressing on through all the debris, always driven because he knows that Jasmine will die soon. He may never get there: he may be killed by idiotic accident, torn to pieces by the packs of wild dogs, trapped in one of the communes that within their stockades have established their own ruthlessly puritanical disciplines. But the difficulties and the dangers teach him lessons as he struggles onwards. He learns from the past. If it was drink, drugs and the dolce vita that had done for his wife, had not something similar destroyed the city too? He learns about the present amid its hazards. And he learns, as he comes at last to the bleak end of his Iong walk, lessons for a just possible future."
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Inspector Ghote Draws a Line

H.R.F. Keating

Collins

1979

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Sent to a remote part of India to find out who could benefit from Judge Asif's death, Ghote can get no cooperation from the judge until it becomes evident that the anonymous threats are coming from someone in the judge's household."
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The Murder of the Maharajah

H.R.F. Keating

Collins

1980

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A princely state in India, 1930, under the British Raj. To Bhopore and its opulent Summer Palace comes a handful of Western visitors to meet the outrageous Maharajah and his entourage. There they met the Maharajah's heir, the sensual Porgy, and his English chorus-girl mistress. They meet the enigmatic chief minister--and the aloof British Resident, with his dignified little nine-year-old son. And before long they also meet sudden death....Various people in the Palace become suspects, and an imperturbable District Superintendent of Police is called in. But who will he find guilty of the murder of the Maharajah?"
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Go West Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

Collins Crime Club

1981

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote meets California. Ghote has been sent across the world by a Sindhi businessman to remove his daughter from a Californian ashram retreat. This classical ‘locked-room mystery’ provokes teasing question after teasing question about two very different societies and two seemingly opposed attitudes to life. And he has to deal with an American Private Eye of appalling brashness as well as a swami who is part miracle-worker, part charlatan."
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The Lucky Alphonse

H.R.F. Keating

Enigma

1982

A collection of three linked novellas.

"Whether in India, Africa or Ireland, the characters in this book find themselves at the mercy of opposed forces: a wife and a mistress, the left and right of politics, villains and the police. In each case, though, 'Alphonse' (in whatever guise) is mostly a victim of his own nature."
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The Sheriff of Bombay

H.R.F. Keating

Collins

1984

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"When Inspector Ghote is asked to escort an ageing British film hero round Bombay's notorious red-light district, at first he is just embarrassed. But then he is confronted with a tricky problem - murder. And the suspect is none other than the highly respectable Sheriff of Bombay, ex-Rajah and former captain of the Indian cricket team. How can a mere policeman cope with all that?"
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Mrs. Craggs: Crimes Cleaned Up

H.R.F. Keating

Buchan & Enright

1985

"Mrs. Craggs, a charlady who combines sleuthing and cleaning chores, is accompanied by her Watson, the wilting, genteel Mrs. Milhorne, as she tackles crimes ranging from misappropriation to murder."
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Under a Monsoon Cloud

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson & Co

1986

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"What had until recently been a police sergeant is now lying at Ghote's feet bleeding his last. An accident it may have been, but Ghote saw exactly what happened, and it's his duty to arrest the killer. Isn't it? Or can the inspector better serve his beloved police force by disposing of the body, by concealing a crime? And if he does, will he manage to keep his terrible secret? As an Inquiry begins beneath the first torrents of monsoon rain - will he even want to?"
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The Body in the Billiard Room

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson

1987

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Summoned from Bombay to the tiny hill station of Ootacamund, home of the exclusive Ooty Club, Inspector Ghote must determine who murdered a club servant on the very billiard table where snooker was invented."
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Dead On Time

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson

1988

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Ramrao Pendke, heir to a massive country fortune, is in Bombay recovering from a kidney transplant operation. Out taking exercise, Pendke visits the Ticktock watchworks and is bludgeoned to death. The head of the Bombay police backs the prompt arrest made by a pet officer of his, Assistant Inspector Lobo, who has forced a confession out of Rustom Fardoomji, owner of the watch store. Ghote has doubts about the confession. He also agrees with the relatives of the accused: Fardoomji would have no reason to do away with a wealthy customer. In order to placate these influential relatives, Ghote is sent to the dead man's home village - a slow-paced backwater the inspector finds maddening. In the course of his energetically pursued investigation he interviews an astrologer, the village barber, a boy Brahmin, and the dead man's grieving grandfather. In the face of a 24 hour ultimatum, Ghote at last finds the essential clue that solves the most difficult case of his career."
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Inspector Ghote His Life and Crimes

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson

1989

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"This is a collection of the best of Ghote's shorter adventures, brought together for the first time in book form. There is an introduction by the author explaining how and why Ghote came to life."
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The Iciest Sin

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson

1990

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Treachery is in the Bombay air as Inspector Ghote tries to put a blackmailer away and instead ends up witnessing a shattering crime that leaves him town between his duties as a lawman and his own set of values."
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Cheating Death

H.R.F. Keating

Hutchinson

1992

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A top secret exam paper has been stolen and distributed around a college of Bombay University and the culprit, now lying in a coma, seems to have attempted suicide in a fit of shame and guilt. However, all is not what it seems as Inspector Ghote soon finds himself embroiled in a corrupt world."
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Doing Wrong

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1993

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is sent from Bombay to Banares to investigate the peculiar circumstances surrounding Mrs. Shoba Popatkar's murder - a beloved national figure, known throughout the sub-continent for her lifelong commitment to virtuous causes. He feels only too keenly the official pressure to come up with a simple solution. Can he manage to satisfy both his superiors and his own need to discover the whole truth? Certainly, there are frustrating obstacles blocking his path as he doggedly makes his way through the throngs of the city's narrow lanes seeking the killer, not the least of which are the uncooperative local police officials."
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The Rich Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1993

"After returning from a holiday in Spain, Detective Inspector Bill Sylvester is assigned a case that no one else wants. An elderly woman has died in a retirement home and an anonymous tipster has cried foul play. But with no evidence, no suspects, and no real motive for murder, the case seems over before it's begun. Sylvester’s superiors demand he drop the case, but he can’t seem to let it go. When he receives a call saying he’s won the lottery in Spain, Bill is uneasy about his new funds and the life he should be leading; but it also allows him to quit the force – and investigate on his own. How far will Sylvester go to solve the case… and just how much is he willing to sacrifice for justice?"
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The Good Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1995

"While Chief Constable Ned French tries to prevent a gang of thugs from disrupting the Queen's visit, a shady dealing from his own past threatens his reputation."
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The Bad Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1996

"Detective Sergeant Jack Stallworthy has been accepting backhanders for most of his career. And why not? He's spent thirty years putting villains behind bars, surely he's entitled to a little nest-egg? Lily, the pretty wife he dearly loves, dreams of retirement on the tropical island Ko Samui, but Jack will happily settle for a bungalow in Devon. Until, that is, influential businessman Emslie Warnaby offers him paradise on a plate. All he has to do is steal one slim file from the Fraud Investigation office at police HQ. But soon Jack Stallworthy is dangerously out of his depth."
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Asking Questions

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1996

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"At the Mira Behn Institute for Medical Research someone is smuggling out a dangerous drug, made from the venom of poisonous snakes. Inspector Ghote's suspect is the snake-handler Chandra Chagoo, but Chagoo's now lying dead on the floor of the Reptile Room, a viper slithering across his back."
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The Soft Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1997

"DCI Phil Benholme has the reputation for being a little soft because he tries to see both sides of every story. And if he hadn't on this occasion, the murder of Professor Unwala - Nobel Prize winner of 1945 - would have been recorded as a tragic accident. Was the elderly man a victim of a violent burglary? Or of a racist assault by Britforce troopers? Or did he know something about the collection of Celtic coins thought to be buried nearby? Clearly Inspector Benholme has a number of leads to follow up. Unfortunately they all point to one person - Conor Benholme. What does a 'soft cop' do when his teenage son is also his prime suspect?"
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In Kensington Gardens Once...

H.R.F. Keating

Flambard Press

1997

"Harry Keating first got to know Kensington Gardens in 1956 when he moved to London to work as a journalist on the Daily Telegraph. In Kensington Gardens Once contains twelve stories featuring different aspects of the Gardens."
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Bribery, Corruption Also

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1999

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is not a happy man. His wife has just inherited a big house in Calcutta and she is determined that they both move from his beloved Bombay to live a life of luxurious retirement in Calcutta. But when the couple arrive to view the property they find it in a state of terrible disrepair. Their lawyer advises them to sell it immediately - but Ghote detects a whiff of corruption and is determined to get to the bottom of it. The couple dig their heels in and refuse to sell - but the corruption extends way up the political ladder. And soon they are putting themselves in very great danger."
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Jack the Lady Killer

H.R.F. Keating

Flambard Press

1999

A detective novel in verse.

"Jack Steele is a new recruit to the Indian Imperial Police and soon begins to acquire the attitudes of old India hands towards the people under their rule. Only a few months into his posting, Jack has to conduct a murder investigation when one of the British community at his Station, the sexually rapacious widow Milly Marchbanks, is found strangled. To Jack's consternation, the only clue implicates a member of the Briton's Club. But which one? While Jack goes round and round in circles, his self-effacing Indian sergeant, Bulaki Ram, discreetly nudges him along the way he needs to go."
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Breaking and Entering

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2000

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"All Bombay is buzzing with news of the murder of Anil Ajmani. It is certainly a baffling case, for the millionaire was found stabbed to death in his tightly secure mansion. Every inspector in the Crime Branch hopes to nail the killer. Including Inspector Ghote. Unfortunately, he is the only officer not assigned to the case. Instead he has been given the less glorious task of tracking down a cat burglar. Aided - or perhaps hampered - by his old friend Axel Svensson, Ghote races to uncover Yeshwant's true identity. And in doing so unexpectedly finds that he may be the one to solve the murder of Anil Ajmani after all."
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The Hard Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2000

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Detective Chief Inspector Harriet Martens has earned the nickname the Hard Detective - but she’s had to be unyielding to make it in a man’s world. It was, after all, this toughness that inspired her successful Stop the Rot campaign, which has so provoked local criminals. But now two of her officers have died within hours of each other. Harriet comes to believe both have been murdered — and a disturbing idea follows. For the circumstances of each death echo words from the Book of Exodus: A Life for a Life, an Eye for an Eye …. Has a killer chosen this gruesome ritual to tell Harriet she has been pushing too hard? And if so, can she prevent the six deaths that will surely complete the quotation? Beginning with a tooth for tooth… Harriet Martens may find that she is not the Hard Detective for much longer."
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A Detective in Love

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2001

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Britain’s number one tennis star, the beautiful Bubbles Xingara, has been murdered in the grounds of her luxurious house. Harriet is now in charge of a case that will have the world’s media - already massing for the start of Wimbledon - out in force. But it is not the investigation that is about to explode Harriet’s life. Nor the string of murder suspects. For it seems that the happily married Hard Detective has fallen passionately in love with a fellow officer. As her obsession with Anselm Brent – her junior officer – develops, can she keep her eye on this high-profile case while navigating the chopping waters of a new, and secret, liaison? What further challenges are facing this troubled ‘Detective in Love’? And can she still catch her prey?"
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A Detective Under Fire

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2002

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Harriet Martens, named ‘the Hard Detective’ by the media because of her unrelenting opposition to every sort of wrong-doing, has been secretly summoned to London to investigate corruption in the country’s most prestigious crime-fighting team, the élite Maximum Crimes Squad. Not only is she opposed at every turn by the head of the Squad, but she is menaced by mysterious figures from its current target, the worldwide Colombian network. Then, as she begins to get nearer to the truth, she comes under attack from the press… The Inspector of Constabulary who has brought Harriet to London believes that she is enough of an élite figure herself to withstand all the fire. But is she? Can Harriet survive the onslaught as a Detective Under Fire?"
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The Dreaming Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2003

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Harriet Martens is startled. This is her first face-to-face meeting with the new, fanatically determined, Chief Constable of the Greater Birchester Police, and he greets her with the question immediately. Why is he setting out to antagonize her? He is talking about the famous Boy Preacher, the charismatic youth who was strangled in the empty ballroom of the city’s Imperial Hotel in 1969. And he is giving Harriet the mystery to solve because he wants her out. The case has been unsolvable for over 30 years and now she is tasked with making use of the latest DNA techniques to narrow down the list of suspects; Harriet's inevitable failure to solve it now will take care of her… But Harriet has more than earned her title of The Hard Detective. She is determined to turn the tables on the chief, so determined that the case takes over her dreams."
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A Detective at Death’s Door

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

2004

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Whilst relaxing with her husband at the Majestic pool one hot August Bank Holiday, Harriet does not expect the refreshing glass of Campari soda at her side to conceal a deadly drug. And when she awakes from a doze she is no longer by the water, but in a hospital bed recovering from a near-fatal dose of aconitine. She is at Death’s Door. As Harriet makes her slow recovery, she tries to come to term with the terrible fact that someone wanted to kill her, and she is determined to find out who. But no sooner has she mustered enough energy to begin making tentative enquiries, than the poisoner strikes again. And this time he is successful… As the poisoner continues to kill again and again, Harriet must work against the clock, and against her slow recovery, to decode the puzzle of who is committing these shocking crimes."
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One Man and His Bomb

H.R.F. Keating

Alison & Busby

2006

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Malcolm and Graham, Harriet and John’s twin sons, had both been posted at Notting Hill PS. Eager to follow in their mother’s footsteps, both boys had worked hard to achieve the posting. But the call rocks their idyllic existence … both Malcolm and Graham have been the victims of a booby trap placed in Ladbroke Walk, near where they work. Graham is mortally wounded, and Malcolm is fighting for his life. Terrorism is suspected. Harriet and John have to stay strong and focused. They still have one son who needs them … for as long as he is around! As Harriet watches and waits for her son to be kept alive by the medical staff, she decides to return to work … she needs to keep her mind off her son’s death. The moments of darkness that descend when she’s not working are unbearable. With Malcolm’s life still under threat, it’s the only think she could do to keep herself sane. When the Assistant Chief Constable talks her into doing a press conference live on Birchester Television, she complies. She understands the need to support the police in fighting back against terrorism … what they call the “War on Terror”. With the force under immense pressure, Andrew Brown tasks her with a highly confidential line of enquiry. The danger is much closer to home this time … at Heronsgate House. Working on her own, Harriet steps up to the task."
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Rules, Regs and Rotten Eggs

H.R.F. Keating

Alison & Busby

2007

A Harriet Martens novel.

"Still reeling from her son’s death following a terrorist attack and with a new ACC, one who is doing everything to make her life difficult, Harriet decides to take charge. It’s time to go. But when she spies Robert Roughouse, a politician who feels he has the right to speak out about hunting, getting into deep water during a rally address in a mining town, the situation is taken out of her hands. … Within moments, rotten eggs are flying, but one egg has a very special purpose, and with Harriet watching, Roughouse falls unconscious to the ground in the midst of the rally. So much for resigning! Harriet is at the scene within moments, taking over as Senior Investigating Officer, and soon concludes the attack was attempted murder. But matters take on a more sinister turn: Roughouse has been transferred to another clinic, despite there being a police officer on duty to protect him in hospital, and Harriet is sent into a spin."
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Inspector Ghote’s First Case

H.R.F. Keating

Alison & Busby

2008

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Newly-promoted Inspector Ghote is thrilled to be granted casual leave until he takes up his post, as it allows him to spend time with his heavily pregnant wife, who is desperate to watch a showing of "Hamlet" at the cinema. Their plans are ruined, however, since Sir Rustom Engineer requires Ghote to investigate the suicide of his friend's wife. Worried about his wife's imminent delivery, Ghote nevertheless travels to the home of Mr. Dawkins, where he is unconvinced by the story of Iris Dawkins' death. Especially when he recognises the officer in charge, Darrani, well-known for his close-mindedness. Ghote is determined to investigate further, with a Hamlet-esque awareness of how deceiving appearances can really be."
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A Small Case for Inspector Ghote?

H.R.F. Keating

Alison & Busby

2009

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"In his newest case Inspector Ghote finds himself working outside of the police force, as he becomes involved in tracking the brutal killer of a lowly peon, one of the underclass in Bombay society. Because of his low status, Bikram's death would be ignored but as his severed head landed on Ghote's desk, he feels it's up to him to find out what happened."
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A Kind of Light

H.R.F. Keating

Endeavour

2017

"Written in 1987 and recently discovered by his widow, H.R.F. Keating's A Kind of Light is an homage to Joseph Conrad, a writer he greatly admired. It is from that author's Heart of Darkness that the title is taken. Conrad's African jungle is the setting, and it has two interwoven stories. The first concerns a young Victorian gentlewoman who sets out into the heart of the Dark Continent, accompanied only by native bearers, in search of a plant which she has been told is the cure for the ravaging disease typhoid. She keeps diaries, six of which resurface a century later. Excerpts of these, together with a firsthand narration of her physically hazardous and mentally disturbing journey, give us a glimpse of Africa 100 years ago. Alongside this, but set in present-day 1987, when Keating wrote the book, a young couple, having learnt of the existence of the diaries and the possibility that a further six were written and were preserved in Africa, determine to make a documentary film following in her footsteps, and they, too, set off into the unknown, hoping to discover the remaining notebooks. Keating, as usual, manages to underscore these gripping narratives with provocative philosophical arguments on such topics as savagery versus civilisation, innocence versus corruption and atheism versus divinity as well as exploring the moral dilemmas facing the young in the mid-1980s."
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H.R.F. Keating writing as Evelyn Hervey: Novels

The Governess

Evelyn Hervey

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

1983

A Miss Unwin novel.

"When Harriet Unwin takes the position of governess in the well-to-do Thackerton household, it would seem that fortune has smiled on her at last. That is until William Thackerton is found stabbed, and Harriet accused of murder."
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The Man of Gold

Evelyn Hervey

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

1985

A Miss Unwin novel.

"For a respectable governess like Harriet Unwin, her first few weeks in the shabby, inhospitable home of the Partingtons were as unhappy as any she could remember. The bone-chilling cold, the grim sparseness of the meals, the embittered meanness of old Mr Partington: but for the kindness shown by his son, her spirit must surely have been crushed. But worse was to come for Harriet. Her chance discovery of the old man's cherished secret was, she felt sure, the cause of the attack that finally stilled his heart. The doctor, however, thought otherwise. It was neither illness nor old age that killed poor Mr Partington. It was poison."
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Into the Valley of Death

Evelyn Hervey

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

1986

A Miss Unwin novel.

"On Friday next, pub owner Jack Steadman would hang for the murder of Alfie Goode, drunkard and ne'er-do-well. The case was open-and-shut to everyone but Miss Harriet Unwin, who had less than a week to prove that Jack, a Crimean war hero, was innocent. Her snooping soon took her to the ballroom of a retired general's stately manor. But there, between the quadrilles and waltzes, Miss Unwin had to step most carefully, for a killer could make her next partner. . . death!"
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H.R.F. Keating: Non-fiction

Murder Must Appetize

H.R.F. Keating

Lemon Tree Press

1975

Also published by The Mysterious Press in 1981.

"H.R.F. Keating, doyen of modern detective writers, has little doubt that there's nothing like a corpse in a vicarage or country house conservatory to soothe away the tensions of modern living. In Murder Must Appetize the creator of Inspector Ghote makes an affectionate return journey to the halcyon days of the detective story when Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey were young and a touch of arsenic was still the ultimate deterrent. Apart from old friends like Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, we meet the less well remembered pioneers of detective fiction, including E.C.R. Lorac (alias for Edith Caroline Rivett) and her bookworm hero Inspector Macdonald; E.R. Punshon and his water swilling Chief Constable: not to mention Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, Gladys Mitchell's 'cacklingly reptilian psychiatric adviser to the Home Office' and many others. H.R.F. Keating's unashamed nostalgia is blended with the critical eye of a master of the detective fiction craft. In fact, Mr. Keating is uniquely equipped to act as guide and philosopher on this enthralling tour of Britain's rich heritage of fictional murder."
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Sherlock Holmes, the Man and His World

H.R.F. Keating

Thames & Hudson / Scribners

1979

"H. R. F. Keating has taken a new approach. In writing this life of Holmes he has confined himself to the authenticated facts that Dr. Watson alone was in a position to give the world, but to them he has added the facts of the historical and cultural events of Holmes's day. Mr. Keating's method reveals, first, some aspects of the great detective's career that have escaped hitherto even the most minute exegesis. (What, for instance, was the significance of the idle visit to the Bond Street art galleries in the heat of the affair of the Hound of the Baskervilles?) It also presents Holmes as very much a man of his times - a true creation of late Victorian and Edwardian England."
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Great Crimes

H.R.F. Keating

Artus Publishing / Harmony

1982

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Writing Crime Fiction

H.R.F. Keating

A & C Black

1986

Second edition published in 1994.

"This guide to writing crime fiction is based on the author's analysis of the craft from the classic detective story of the 1920s and 30s up to the female private eye novels of the 1990s. It features tips on fictional structure, the plot and its characters, and on submitting a script to publishers."
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Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books

H.R.F. Keating

Foreword: Patricia Highsmith

Xanadu / Carroll & Graf

1987

"H.R.F Keating, author of The Perfect Murder and mystery reviewer for teh Times of London, offers a concise commentary on the finest mystery books ever written. From Poe's tales of mystery and imagination to P.D. James's A Taste for Death, Keating delivers a highly-readable evaluation of the 100 authors and their masterpieces. This collection is a must for all devoted mystery readers."
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The Bedside Companion to Crime

H.R.F. Keating

Michael O'Mara Books / Mysterious Press

1989

"Keating succeeds in entertaining mystery buffs by gathering hundreds of facts and foibles from the world of crime writing. He features 20 great crooks, providing a run-down of great crimes in boarding schools, a catalogue of parodies and pastiches, a look at murders on trains, and a compendium of embarrassing mistakes."
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Fiction and non-fiction edited by H.R.F. Keating

Blood On My Mind

Editor: H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan

1972

A collection of new pieces by members of the Crime Writers Association about real crimes - some notable and some obscure.

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Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime

Editor: H.R.F. Keating

Weidenfeld and Nicolson / Holt, Rinehart and Winston

1977

"Agatha Christie was not only the biggest selling writer of detective stories the world has ever known and a creator of mysteries that have delightedly baffled millions, undisputedly the 'First Lady of Crime', but she was mystery herself. A mystery in that she eschewed personal publicity for most of her long life. The crime novelist Keating has assembled a dozen distinguished writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on this mystery and the approaches are various - penetrating, affectionate, enthusiastic, analytical, funny even critical. Numerous illustrations highlight many fascinating aspects of Agatha Christie's career."
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Crime Writers: Reflections On Crime Writing

Editor: H.R.F. Keating

BBC

1978

Includes chapters by Reginald Hill, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Troy Kennedy Martin, Maurice Richardson, Julian Symons, and Colin Watson.

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Whodunit? A Guide to Crime, Suspense & Spy Fiction

Editor: H.R.F. Keating

Van Nostrand Reinhold / Windward

1982

"Surveys the history of the different types of fiction concerning crime, offers advice on how to write mysteries, and rates the various crime writers and their novels."
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Crime Waves 1

Editor: H.R.F. Keating

Gollancz

1991

"The Crime Writers' Association's 1991 short-story collection of macabre, funny, bloodcurdling, tongue-in-cheek, historical and clever tales."
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The Man Who …

Editor: H.R.F. Keating for the Detection Club

Macmillan

1992

Published in honour of Julian Symonds' Eightieth Birthday.

  • The Man Who Rowed for the Shore (Catherine Aird)
  • The One Who Did for Blagden Cole (Eric Ambler)
  • The Man Who Got the Dirt (Simon Brett)
  • The Man Who Was a Coyote (Len Deighton)
  • The Man Who Wiped The Smile Off His Face (Antonia Fraser)
  • The Man Who Was Reconstituted (Michael Gilbert)
  • The Man Who Defenestrated His Sister (Reginald Hill)
  • The Man Who Was Eighty (P.D. James)
  • The Man Who Killed For Pleasure (H.R.F. Keating)
  • The Man Who Ate People (Peter Lovesey)
  • The Man Who Was the God of Love (Ruth Rendell)
  • The Man Whose Holiday was a Fiasco (George Sims)
  • The Man Who Scattered Crumbs (Michael Underwood)
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Books about H.R.F. Keating: Biographical / Critcal

H.R.F. Keating, Post-Colonial Detection: A Critical Study

Meera Tamaya

University of Wisconsin Press

1993

"In Keating's novels, set in India, the bumbling, but always human, Inspector Ghote manages to solve crimes with a post-colonial mix of inherited Scotland Yard/Holmesian deductive methods and his understanding of his native country's culture. This book is based on the premise that successful sleuths have much in common with cultural anthropologists indeed the latter have often been termed detectives of cultures. Keating's Ghote novels are in the tradition of Tony Hillerman's Navajo Indian mysteries, and James McClure's South African novels, which serve up the human, experiential aspects of the cultural and ethnic conflicts that newspapers miss."
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Mystery Voices: Interviews with British Crime Writers

Dale Salwak

Wildside Press / Borgo Press

2006? (1991?)

Comprises interviews with Catherine Aird, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Ruth Rendell, and Julian Symons

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Books published in tribute to H.R.F. Keating

The Verdict Of Us All: Stories By The Detection Club For H.R.F. Keating

Editor: Peter Lovesey

Allison and Busby / Crippen & Landru

2006

"Members of London's famed Detection Club have joined together to honor one of their own - H.R.F. Keating, historian of the genre, winner of the Gold Dagger (for best novel) and the Diamond Dagger (for Lifetime Achievement), and creator of one of the greatest fictional sleuths, Inspector Ganesh Ghote."
The stories are:
  • Tuesday's Child (Lionel Davidson)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Swindle (Len Deighton)
  • Uncle Harry (Reginald Hill)
  • The Case of the Curious Quorum (Colin Dexter)
  • Hearing Ghote (P.D. James)
  • Kali in Kensington Gardens (Liza Cody)
  • Perfidious Albion (Catherine Aird)
  • Popping Round to the Post (Peter Lovesey)
  • Mayhem at Mudchester (James Melville)
  • Keeping My Head (Andrew Taylor)
  • Bearded Wonders (Tim Heald)
  • Sisters Under the Skin (Robert Barnard)
  • Initial Impact (Simon Brett)
  • A Case for Inspector Ghote (June Thomson)
  • Friends of the Garrick (Michael Z. Lewin)
  • Bundobast on Voyage (Jonathan Gash)
  • Different Time, Different Place (Michael Hartland)
  • Arkady Nikolaivich (H.R.F. Keating)
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Last updated March 2018