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This page lists novels, short story collections and non-fiction by Robert Barnard. Novels published using the pen name Bernard Bastable are also included.

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

By Robert Barnard:
- novels, story collections
- Bernard Bastable novels
- non-fiction

Death of an Old Goat

Robert Barnard

1974

"Professor Belville-Smith had bored university audiences in England with the same lecture for fifty years. Now he was crossing the Australian continent, doing precisely the same. Never before had the reaction been so extreme, however, for shortly after an undistinguished appearance at Drummondale University, the doddering old professor is found brutally murdered. As Police Inspector Royle (who had never actually had to solve a crime before) probes the possible motives of the motley crew of academics who drink their was through the dreary days at Drummondale and as he investigates the bizarre behaviour of some worthy locals, a hilarious, highly satirical portrait of life down under emerges."

A Little Local Murder

Robert Barnard

1976

"The news that Radio Broadwich is to make a documentary on Twytching for broadcast in America spreads through the small village like wildfire. Mrs Deborah Withens, Twytching's resident doyenne and arbiter of good taste, takes it upon herself to control the presentation of her 'county town' and assumes responsibility for picking those that will take part, provoking fierce rivalry amongst the villagers. One resident who is reticent to participate in the fuss is Inspector George Parrish . . . until the murder of the first villager chosen, and a rash of poison pen letters uncovering secrets Twytching's leading citizens had fervently hoped were buried, force him to get involved."

Death on the High Cs

Robert Barnard

1977

"Opera singers are often described as being larger than life, and certainly this is true of Gaylene Ffrench. Her appetites-for men, for food, for attention-are gargantuan, and her ability to irritate is similarly outsized. So when someone electrocutes the bombastic Australian contralto, few tears are shed at the Northern Opera company (though it's a pity her understudy's so lousy). In fact, most of the company members are dancing a jig, and it falls on Superintendent Nichols to determine which of them might have helped Gaylene along to her just reward. The black tenor tired of being the butt of Gaylene's bigotry? The soprano weary of jealous whispers in her ears? Gaylene's many bedroom conquests, all anxious to avoid a repeat performance? With so many potential suspects, Nichols has his hands full, but Barnard and his readers have a deliciously malicious good time."

Blood Brotherhood

Robert Barnard

1977

"Murder wasn't on the agenda for the symposium on the role of the Anglican Church today-until a brother is found dead in his cell. Suddenly the diverse guest list falls under suspicion. Could it be the bishop famous for his television appearances or his exotic counterpart from Africa; one of the three vicars who run the gamut from trendy to traditional; the nondenominational American with a passion for fundraising; or perhaps one of the two Norwegian lady divines? Or is it one of the brothers themselves, taking advantage of the camouflage provided by outside visitors? Surely the tensions between the cloistered clergy and their more worldly visitors can't have led to such an unthinkable occurrence. But why is Father Anselm, the austere head of the Anglican Community, so reluctant to allow an investigation? Is he concerned simply about unfavourable publicity? Or is there a darker secret hidden behind the inscrutable walls of St. Botolph's?"

Unruly Son

Robert Barnard

1978

"Sir Oliver Fairleigh-Stubbs, overweight and overbearing, collapses and dies at his birthday party while indulging his taste for rare liquors. …. He leaves a family relieved to be rid of him, and he also leaves a fortune, earned as a bestselling mystery author..... But the manuscript of the unpublished volume left to Sir Oliver's wife - a posthumous 'last case' that might be worth millions - has disappeared. And Sir Oliver's death is beginning to look less than natural. Into this bitter household comes Inspector Meredith, a spirited Welshman who in some ways resembles Sir Oliver's fictional hero. In Robert Barnard's skilful hands, Inspector Meredith's investigation becomes not only a classic example of detection but an elegant and humorous slice of crime."

Posthumous Papers

Robert Barnard

1979

"There were two Mrs Machins, relicts of the talented working-class writer Walter Machin, who was just about to be immortalised by the literary establishment. Viola was large, overbearing and, even in her seventies, still voluptuous. Hilda, the first (and divorced) Mrs Machin, was perky, sharp and the guardian of the deceased Walter's literary papers. For ten years the two 'widows' had lived together in the same house, not speaking to each other, but jealously guarding his memory and literary reputation. But before the Machin legend could really take off, there was a fire - and a murder. One of the Mrs Machins was silenced for good, and slowly, from the past, emerged a fascinating and intriguing assortment of characters. Somewhere, in their memories of Walter Machin, lay the catastrophic secret that had led to murder."

Death in a Cold Climate

Robert Barnard

1980

"It was midday on December 21st in the city of Tromsø when the boy was last seen - a tall, blond boy swathed in anorak and scarf against the Arctic noon. After that he wasn't seen again, not until three months later, when Professor Mackenzie's dog started sniffing around in the snow and uncovered a human ear - attached to a naked corpse. Nobody knew who he was, or where he had come from. And after three months it was almost impossible to track down the identity of the corpse. But Inspector Fagermo refused to give up - and as he probed deeper into the Arctic city he began to discover a dangerous conspiracy of blackmail, espionage, and cold-blooded murder."

Mother's Boys

Robert Barnard

1981

"Lill Hodsden was a monster. She rode roughshod over her daughter, wiped her feet on her husband, blackmailed her lovers and smothered her sons with a mother love that left them screaming out for freedom. Lill set the hackles rising all over Todmarsh, the little South Coast town she queened it over. She was just asking to be done in. And her sons were very ready to oblige. In fact, they had it all worked out, for Saturday night. But when Lill was found garrotted on Thursday, on the way home from one of her boy-friends', the case was wide open, and half Todmarsh would have regarded the murderer as a civic benefactor. Inspector McHale, on his first murder case, is a man who values intelligence, particularly his own. He is convinced he is going to discover the killer. But is he going to discover the right one?"

Sheer Torture

Robert Barnard

1981

Also published as Death By Sheer Torture.

A Perry Trethowan novel.

" It can be a bit of an embarrassment when your old man is done in. Particularly, when you are a rising inspector with CID, and hated his guts. Particularly, when your old man was at the time subjecting himself to a do-it-yourself version of a Spanish Inquisition torture. And wearing spangled tights. What it meant was that Perry Trethowan had to go back to the home of his ancestors and do a bit of semi-official sleuthing. Like the Sitwells and the Mitfords, the Trethowans proved that Birth and Artistic Talent could go together. The Trethowans, though, made one hope it didn't happen too often. Perry's father had been a dilettante composer so minor that he stopped composing long before he started decomposing. His Uncle Lawrence, head of the family, was a poet of sorts, one of his aunts a stage designer, another an overgrown schoolgirl who had never grown out of her Thirties crush on Adolf Hitler. And that's only the older generation. Perry goes with fear and trembling back into the lions' den, and finds that his worst forebodings are mere shadows of the grisly reality."

Death and the Princess

Robert Barnard

1982

A Perry Trethowan novel.

"A Princess, albeit only a minuscule royal offshoot, with a snug little apartment in Kensington Palace and a snug little sum on the Civil List, is threatened – but by whom, why, and exactly what is uncertain. Her circle consists mostly of boy-friends, and they are a motley lot, drawn from the worlds of politics, the stage, even the football field. But are they endangered too or are they part of the threat? The Princess (fresh as morning dew, and much more treacherous) trips gaily through the minefield, while around her men keep dying. But blood will out, especially blue blood, and by the time Perry Trethowan gets to the bottom of the case, a murderer has been brought to justice and not a few reputations tremble in the scales."

Little Victims

Robert Barnard

1983

"The Burleigh school was dying. It would be called a mercy killing were it not for the little band of inept, eccentric, or otherwise unemployable teachers who depended on this absolutely awful English boys' academy for their meagre livelihoods. A lack of funds, facilities, and foresight had brought Burleigh to the very edge of extinction. Now someone planned to give it one final, deadly push. Malice was afoot behind the ivied walls, trailing hard on the heels of Hilary Frome, Headmaster Crumwallis's unfortunate choice for the next headboy. For when something sinister popped up in the punch on Parents' Evening, when nasty pranks became no joke, the next event at bloody Burleigh was bound to be . . . simply murder."

The Missing Bronte

Robert Barnard

1983

A Perry Trethowan novel.

"Superintendent Perry Trethowan was enjoying a peaceful motoring holiday in North Yorkshire when he and his wife, Jan, had a strange encounter in a country pub. The seemingly unremarkable elderly spinster who introduced herself as Miss Edith Wing, a retired schoolmistress, proceeded to produce form her capacious blue handbag a yellowing manuscript - and claimed that it was part of an undiscovered novel by one of the Brontë sisters. Was it a clever forgery, or the literary sensation of the century? What started out as a harmless holiday diversion for the superintendent turned into a hunt for a vicious attacker as both Miss Wing and Perry himself found themselves in deadly danger."

Out of the Blackout

Robert Barnard

1984

"With the Nazis bombing London on a nightly basis, many working-class families sent their children to the comparative safety of the countryside. When the Blitz ended, the families came for their kids . . . but no one ever came for Simon Thorn. His name appears on no list of the evacuated children. And none of his meagre belongings offer any clues to his origins. Now an adult, newly moved to London, Simon is puzzled by an odd sense of familiarity when he walks down certain streets. He remembers his years of terrible nightmares-nightmares that would cause him to wake up screaming, terrifying his bewildered foster parents. And he resolves, once and for all, to find out where he originally came from . . . even as everything he uncovers suggests that, really, he doesn't want to know."

A Corpse in a Gilded Cage

Robert Barnard

1984

"Chetton Hall was one of the glories of Jacobean domestic architecture, and the Spenders had lived in Chetton ever since their founder had peculated the money to build it while he was the King's Secretary of Monopolies. Over the years they had accumulated accrustations of dignity, to say nothing of wealth. Which made it doubly shocking when the Earldom descended to Percy Spender, who was 'not quite', not to mention his family, who were not at all. When the family descends on Chetton for his sixtieth birthday, accompanied by various hangers-on, their main obsession is to discover his intentions for the future of the place. Hardly less interested is his man of business, and his neighbours, who feel sadly the diminished glory of the house. The Spenders, in fact, have always felt like birds in a guilded cage at Chetton. Before the celebrations are over, one of the birds is a very dead duck indeed."

Disposal of the Living

Robert Barnard

1985

"Hexton-upon-Weir was ruled by its women: they set the tone, they made the decisions, they called the tune. When they decided to band together to block the appointment of a new vicar who was not only unacceptably High Church but - of all ugly things - celibate to boot, they managed to create merry hell. As the town was riven by faction and counter-faction, Helen Kitterage tried to remain aloof, but before long she was drawn into the maelstrom, as, during the down's fête, ill-will and conspiracy degenerated into murder. Helen was convinced that somewhere among the secrets of this murderous Cranford there must be found some key shame that someone had thought it worth killing to keep unknown."

Political Suicide

Robert Barnard

1986

"The MP for Bootham East was something of a fish out of water - a Tory with a conscience. When he was actually fished out of water, the Thames to be precise, it looked like a clear case of suicide or accident. But as Superintendent Sutcliffe's investigations got under way, and as the by-election campaign to elect his successor hotted up, some very murky political waters were dredged and made to reveal their secrets. The local Labour Party had been hijacked by the extreme left, the Tory Party had had an unattractive young man with dubious City connections foisted on it, and the Alliance candidate had something nasty in his past he would prefer to forget. In fact, by the time of the declaration poll, all the parties wished the by-election had never had to happen, and that the dirt had remained brushed away under the carpet."

Bodies

Robert Barnard

1986

A Perry Trethowan novel.

"Police superintendent Percy Trethowan found London's Soho as colourful and full of life as ever - except for the four corpses in a seedy photography studio. Shot doing a layout for Bodies, a soft-porn "health and fitness" magazine, the photographer, his assistant, and two models had left a camera loaded with film but no clues. Then one victim's obsession with pumping iron sent Trethowan into the erotic world of body-building, where an out-of-shape policeman would learn that building biceps is beautiful and the temptation to star in the buff in the bluest of movies could really be murder."

The Skeleton in the Grass

Robert Barnard

1987

"It's not that the Hallam family ignores the world outside its gracious doors. On the contrary, Helen and Dennis Hallam care passionately about peace and principle, and Dennis dramatically conveys these views to the nation in his controversial weekly review column. Avowed pacifists, Helen and Dennis represent a political stance that the villagers mistrust and fear. That fear and suspicion turn to nasty pranks when a sinister Fascist major gains control over some of the local youths. Helen and Dennis, and their sons Oliver and Will, become the victims of cruel taunts and the kind of teasing that leads to terror. As the Hallams and villagers grow more hostile, we see the story through the eyes of Sarah Causeley, and idealistic young woman who has recently come to be nursery governess at Hallam. To Sarah, the Hallams represent beauty, brilliance, and style-an idyllic life in the midst of chaos. But as she watches, the Hallams' world begins to disintegrate, and a tense and unexpected encounter leads to a shocking murder."

Death in Purple Prose

Robert Barnard

1987

A Perry Trethowan novel.

"Norway in cherry blossom time seemed exactly the right place to hold a conference of the World Association of Romantic Novelists (WARN for short). Superintendent Perry Trethowan wondered at times how he had allowed his sister to 'con' him into accompanying her to the conference but he finally decided that his role was to be one of amused detachment and observation, most especially of the two Queens of the Conference - frothy, gushy, lethal Amanda Fairchild, the British challenger, and the vast, malevolent Lorelei Zuckerman from America. What Perry had not been prepared for was a body - one clothed in billowing pink, with a bough of cherry blossom carefully placed on the corpse. It was a most unusual murder, in a most unusual place."

At Death's Door

Robert Barnard

1988

"When Roderick Cotterel hears from his illegitimate half-sister he is intrigued, even charmed: she is the daughter of his father, the distinguished novelist Benedict Cotterel, by the famous actress Myra Mason. She is writing a book about her mother, and is looking for material. The affair between the two had been a gutter press sensation back in the 'sixties, but the embers have long since cooled. However, when Cordelia and her boyfriend arrive and begin research for the book both Roderick and his wife begin to have doubts. And when their peaceful Sussex village is threatened by a visit from an almost suspiciously friendly Myra Mason, they realize they have got into something from which it would require superhuman delicacy and tact to extricate themselves. In the event somebody solves their problems in a way that is neither tactful nor delicate, though it certainly is final."

Death and the Chaste Apprentice

Robert Barnard

1989

A Charlie Peace novel.

"The Ketterick Festival revolves around the Saracen's Head, a Jacobean inn with its inn-yard and balconies miraculously preserved intact, due to the sloth of successive landlords. Here in festival time are performed the lesser-known masterpieces of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. This year it is The Chaste Apprentice of Bowe (a play of uncertain authorship, since no one owned up at the time). But the actors find that the Saracen's Head has been transformed by its new landlord - an Australian know-all with an insatiable curiosity and an instinct for power. The loathsome Des's activities bring him into conflict with actors, committee, even the performers of Adelaide di Birckenhead, the little-known Donizetti opera that is the other lynchpin of the Festival programme. So adept is Des at fomenting friction and ferreting in the undergrowth of private lives that it is not surprising that it all ends in biers."

Death of a Salesperson and Other Untimely Exits

Robert Barnard

1989

Short story collection.

"16 tantalizing stories show ingenious killers at work in cozy English villages, sophisticated London neighborhoods, and the darkly paneled walls of academe."

• The Woman In The Wardrobe
• A Business Partnership
• Little Terror
• Breakfast Television
• What's In A Name?
• Sister
• The Injured Party
• Just Another Kidnap
• Blown Up
• A Process Of Rehabilitation
• Holy Living And Holy Dying
• The Oxford Way Of Death
• Daylight Robbery
• Happy Release
• Death Of A Salesperson
• My Last Girlfriend

A City of Strangers

Robert Barnard

1990

"For years the infamous Phelans have lived in slovenly squalor in their council house in the run-down Belfield Grove Estate. The Phelans' infamy has even penetrated the middle-class bastion of respectability, Wynton Lane, where six imposing Victorian stone houses stand in fearful isolation next to Belfield Grove. Wynton Lane and Belfield Grove have only their unfortunate proximity in common until the fateful day when the Phelans come to call. It seems that Jack has won big on the pools, and he's thinking of buying one of the six houses. The Wynton Lane residents call an urgent meeting to map an emergency strategy. What can they do to stop Jack Phelan? What indeed? The Wynton Lane people have always thought of themselves as law-abiding, but they soon discover that malice can take on a momentum of its own, a momentum that can even lead to murder."

A Scandal in Belgravia

Robert Barnard

1991

"The personal, deeply moving story of two men, Peter Proctor, recently retired as a senior British cabinet minister, and Timothy Wycliffe, a young aristocrat who was bludgeoned to death more than thirty years ago. The two had met in the early 1950s as fledgling diplomats in the Foreign Office. Wycliffe, the grandson of a marquess, had little in common with Proctor, the self-made man on his way up. But the elegant, joyful, intensely alive Wycliffe relished all kinds of people, including his very naïve and earnest middle-class colleague. The friendship was close for a while, gradually becoming more occasional. Even Wycliffe's murder, shocking as it was, caused relatively little impact on his friends and the national press, who were distracted that week by more momentous events in the news. Only now, over three decades later, does Wycliffe's brutal death become Proctor's obsession. It is only in probing the past, in tracking down the people who knew Wycliffe, in discovering the shocking truth of his murder, that Peter Proctor will find peace."

A Fatal Attachment

Robert Barnard

1992

A Charlie Peace novel.

"Lydia Perceval was - apparently - a charming and gifted woman. As a successful biographer, she led a privileged and comfortable life in her well-ordered, luxurious country-cottage. She felt terribly sorry for her sister, married to an unemployed drunk, mother of two sons, both of whom had loved their adorable Aunt Lydia much more than their parents. Lydia had a way with young people, particularly boys. She knew how to bring out the best in them. As it happened, her sister's two boys had proved something of a disappointment …. And then she met the Bellingham boys. It was like a reply of the past, two bright young boys, one dark, one fair, just waiting for Lydia to take over their lives. But before she could do so, Lydia was strangled. The motives were subtle, obscure. And there were very few clues. But as Superintendent Mike Oddie started his investigations, he began to suspect that quite a few people hadn't liked the charming Lydia Perceval at all."

A Hovering of Vultures

Robert Barnard

1993

A Charlie Peace novel.

"Many years ago, Yorkshire writer Joshua Sneddon killed his more successful sister with an ax, then shot himself in the head. Now a yahoo entrepreneur has taken a sudden interest in the obscure literary Sneddons, and Detective Constable Charlie Peace wonders why."

Masters of the House

Robert Barnard

1994

"In the late winter of 1979, Leeds housewife Ellen Heenan dies in childbirth - abandoning a guilt-stricken husband to insanity's grasp and leaving four young children to find for themselves. Thirteen-year-old Matthew and Annie, age twelve, know what the authorities will do if the learn of Father's debilitating madness. A close-knit family will be speedily unravelled, its threads scattered carelessly to the winds. So deception is the only recourse - a façade of normalcy that must be carefully constructed to fool prying neighbourhood eyes. And resourceful young Matthew and his sister have the situation well in hand - until a freshly slain corpse turns up beneath the kitchen window."

The Bad Samaritan

Robert Barnard

1995

A Charlie Peace novel.

"Rosemary Sheffield has a sort of "reverse epiphany" one day while walking in the park: she no longer believes in God. This sudden loss of faith is at first entirely liberating, but the situation gradually becomes more complicated. Rosemary is, after all, the beloved wife of the vicar at St. Saviour's parish. A storm of controversy erupts in her husband's church congregation, but Rosemary, with the words "I do not believe," leaves behind the scandal and gossip for a seaside sojourn in Scarborough. Here she meets Stanko, a Bosnian refugee who illegally entered the country. But what begins as a supportive friendship launches an ungodly chain of events-and Rosemary soon finds herself back at home caught up in a murder investigation."

The Habit of Widowhood

Robert Barnard

1996

A short story collection.

"Ranging from the hilarious to the heart-stopping, concerning characters who slide unwittingly into murder as well as those for whom it is second nature, Barnard's stories are widely admired and this new collection is sure to be hotly anticipated. This work contains 17 mystery stories."

• Cupid's dart
• The Habit Of Widowhood
• Post Mortem
• Soldier, From The Wars Returning
• My Son, My Son
• The Stuff Of Nightmares
• Balmorality
• Living With Jimmy
• If Looks Could Kill
• Happy Christmas
• Reader, I Strangled Him
• The Gentleman In The Lake
• Dog Television
• The Women At The Funeral
• Perfect Honeymoon
• Called To Judgment
• More Final Than Divorce

No Place of Safety

Robert Barnard

1997

A Charlie Peace novel.

"The disappearance from school of two apparently unconnected teenagers worries DC Charlie Peace, until he discovers that they are both working at a hostel for homeless street kids. Peace knows the life and crimes of the people these two are trying to help, and decides that, for the moment, they are safe. But will Peace have cause to regret his decision? After all, just who is the man running the hostel? And how nasty is the local opposition to the place likely to become? As the pair continue their good work, the situation at the hostel becomes even more fraught with the appearance of an Asian girl fleeing an arranged marriage. And it isn't long before a murderous attack seems about to put an end to the whole project."

The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori

Robert Barnard

1998

A Charlie Peace novel.

"The body of a young man, almost naked, in the car park behind one of Haworth’s many eating establishments marks the beginning of the case, and it is his identity that is the first puzzle for DC Charlie Peace and his superior Detective Superintendent Oddie. But before long the puzzle that most concerns them is the nature of the close-knit artistic community where Declan O’Hearn had acted as odd-job boy. The little knot of people seem to be united less by their ability as painters than by a common worship of the distinguished artist Ranulph Byatt, who has not only brought them together, but seems to prefer the adulation of his inferiors to the judgement of his equals. Peace, searching for clues, soon starts to wonder if there isn’t a sinister reason for this. And as the search for the killer gathers pace, Peace and Oddie uncover a series of dark secrets on the harsh Haworth landscape."

Touched by the Dead

Robert Barnard

1999

"Those two days in May seem to be a highpoint in Colin Pinnock's life: a stunning election victory, a new government, and junior office for himself. But among the many congratulations he receives is one hostile message, a grubby card asking, 'Who do you think you are?' Is this merely someone putting him back in his place, or do the words have a more profound meaning? And who, indeed, is he? Who were his real parents? As Colin investigates these questions he is led back in time to an old political scandal: a murder case which led to a politician's downfall and disappearance. Events in the present, however, start tangling with those of the past, and he finds himself the object of a series of incidents that at first seem designed to bring down his career with ridicule, but later actually threaten his life."

Unholy Dying

Robert Barnard

2000

A Charlie Peace and Mike Oddie novel.

"Do Father Pardoe and Julie protest too much? Why did Julie's parents throw her out and disown her? Is she really as bad as they say? And what, exactly, does Cosmo Horrocks hear in that London-to-Leeds dining car that makes him tingle with excitement? A tale of chastity besmirched? This story could make his year. But will it lead to tragedy? And, if so, whose? When Inspector Mike Oddie and Sergeant Charlie Peace are called in to investigate a murder, they are saddened and surprised by the raw emotions-the hate, the fear-they find in the outwardly peaceful town of Shipley. There may be only one killer, but there are many others who must share the town's guilt and, perhaps, one day start the process of healing. Rich with eccentric characters, crisp dialogue, stylish prose, and perceptive insights into human nature, Unholy Dying is vintage Barnard, acknowledged master of suspense."

The Bones in the Attic

Robert Barnard

2001

A Charlie Peace novel.

"Moving into an upmarket new home in Leeds, rising radio star Matt Harper is shocked to find the skeleton of a small child in the attic. His grisly discovery takes him back to the summer of 1969, when he lived with his aunt only a few streets away, reawakening dim, disquieting memories from his childhood. While Detective Charlie Peace heads up the nominal police investigation into the bones, Matt revisits the past in an attempt to solve the mystery himself. Tracking down the other members of a gang of local children he'd once belonged to, he gradually unearths a shared secret that has laid buried ever since. Were the bones in the attic the result of a tragic accident, or has time concealed a more sinister truth?"

The Mistress of Alderley

Robert Barnard

2002

"Actress Caroline Fawley is enjoying life in her new role as 'the mistress of Alderley'. Her TV work made her popular and wealthy and she laps up the attention she receives from her new neighbours in the Yorkshire village, Marsham. And the romantic weekend visits from her lover, supermarket owner Marius Fleetwood, provide the locals with something to gossip about. But Caroline's idyllic life is shattered when a young man looking remarkably like Marius unexpectedly turns up on her doorstep. Within a few weeks Marius has gone missing and it isn't much longer before a body turns up."

A Cry From The Dark

Robert Barnard

2003

"Bettina Whitelaw is a grand dame of the English literary scene. Approaching eighty, with a beautiful flat in Holland Park and a comfortable income, her life is not dissimilar to that of her wealthy, elegant neighbours. But her background most certainly is. Brought up in Bundaroo, a small town in the Australian outback, Bettina's childhood was dominated by the relentlessly blazing sun, the long daily walk to school, and by the simmering animosities of smalltown life. Aged sixteen, Bettina managed to escape to begin her literary career in Europe. But now, more than sixty years later, her past is coming back to haunt her. As she embarks upon the painful process of writing her memoirs, images from her childhood begin to re-surface. And when her former housekeeper is the victim of a violent attack, Bettina begins to realise that she herself is in serious danger, a danger that has its roots in a small, dusty outback town."

The Graveyard Position

Robert Barnard

2004

"After a twenty-year absence, Merlyn Cantelo returns to Leeds to attend his late aunt Clarissa's funeral. Far from being welcomed back into the fold of his large and quarrelsome family, he is viewed by many with suspicion and distrust especially since his timely reappearance has thwarted the prospect of a tidy inheritance. However, all is more complex than it seems. The teenage Merlyn only fled his home at the vehement insistence of his sometimes clairvoyant aunt, who foresaw for him a life blighted by violence and death. Moreover, the root of this danger supposedly lies somewhere within the family. Merlyn knows that if he is to discover whether his aunt's fears were justified, he must come to terms with his tragic past and delve into the murky history of the Cantelo family."

Dying Flames

Robert Barnard

2005

"Graham Broadbent, a successful novelist, enjoys a quiet life of writing and occasionally meeting up with old friends. On the evening of one such occasion, a rather intriguing surprise arrives at his door in the form of Christabel, a pretty blonde nineteen-year-old. 'Hello Dad' are her first words as he opens the door to her. To his knowledge, Graham has no children and he is certain that he can't be this girl's father. There is every reason why he should do nothing about this strange intrusion into his life and just send the girl away. And yet all sorts of irrational urges make him act against his own common sense: he simply can't stop himself getting involved. As he becomes ever more embroiled in Christa's life, Graham is forced to take a trip down memory lane. And when the girl's mother is found strangled, Graham knows he must look into the dying flames of the past to find her killer."

A Fall from Grace

Robert Barnard

2006

A Charlie Peace novel.

"DC Charlie Peace wants to begin a new life with his family in the tranquil village of Slepton Edge. His new life, however, will test his professional integrity, for when a mysterious death disturbs the village calm, the network of neighbourhood gossip emerges as both his greatest ally and crucial obstacle to solving the case."

Last Post

Robert Barnard

2008

"After her mother dies, Eve finds a letter with the potential to unravel everything she thought she knew about her. Eve's search for the writer leads her from the streets of Glasgow to the shores of Australia, and she learns that disturbing long-hidden secrets can have deadly consequences."

The Killings on Jubilee Terrace

Robert Barnard

2009

A Charlie Peace novel.

"Meet the cast of Jubilee Terrace, one of the most popular soap operas on British television. When one of the cast members dies suddenly of a heart attack, those in the production team are quick to make the most of the opportunity, making plans to bring in an old character for a major plotline. But when a suspicious letter emerges raising questions about the supposed 'natural death' and an arson attack kills two more of the cast, it would appear something more sinister is afoot. The script-writers are clearly not the only ones capable of killing off characters."

Stranger in the Family

Robert Barnard

2010

"At the age of three, Kit Philipson was abducted whilst on holiday with his family in Italy. He grew up adored by his adopted parents but as his mother lay dying she told him her terrible secret and gave him the name and address of his real mother. Isla Novello is thrilled to have her long lost son back but not all of the family are happy to welcome Kit back into the fold. They're all concerned about their inheritance now their brother is back on the scene. And why are they all so reluctant for him to investigate his disappearance all those years ago? Kit is determined to find out the truth about his abduction and the murky motives that lay behind it. His search for the truth will see him questioning the morality of all those near and dear to him and take him on an epic journey across Europe and back in time to the horrors of Nazi Germany."

Rogue's Gallery

Robert Barnard

2011

A short story collection.

"This collection of Robert Barnard's short stories takes you on a trail of murder, mystery and intrigue with some of his finest and darkest literary creations."

• The New Slavery
• Sins of Scarlet
• Rogue's Gallery
• Family Values
• Mother Dear
• The Fall of the House of Oldenborg
• Where Mongrels Fear to Tread
• The Path to the Shroud
• Lovely Requiem, Mr. Mozart
• Incompatibles
• Time For a Change
• A Slow Way to Di
• Last Day of the Hols
• A Political Necessity

A Charitable Body

Robert Barnard

2012

A Charlie Peace novel.

"When his wife, Felicity, is named a trustee of one of England's distinguished estates, Yorkshire cop Charlie Peace discovers an ugly family rivalry linked to the estate and the discovery of a body in a nearby lake."

To Die Like a Gentleman

Bernard Bastable

1993

"It is 1842 when Miss Frances Weyland arrives at Elmstead Court to take up her position as Governess to the Hudson children. The impression she gains of the family is a pleasant one, but appearances can be deceptive and soon deep-seated rivalries and bitter tensions begin to surface."

Dead, Mr. Mozart

Bernard Bastable

1995

"Mozart visited England as a child, but this story suggests that instead of returning to Austria and an early death, he stayed. It is 1820 and Mozart finds himself insulted by the king, used by his mistress, and involved in both the disposal of a body and initiating enquiries to find the murderer."

Mansion and its Murder

Bernard Bastable

1998

"Sarah Jane Fearing, the sole offspring of a father who desperately wants a male heir, has grown up in the imposing rural mansion of one of England's most influential banking families. At the centre of Sarah's world stands her charming, generous uncle Frank, the only relative who seems to have escaped the straitjacket of ponderous respectability that so effectively stifles the Fearing family. Frank's rebellions afford Sarah delight and hope, until his extravagant lifestyle leads him deeper into debt and manoeuvres him into a disastrous marriage. Frank's wedding to a coldly ambitious woman produces the family's longed-for male scion, but the parents fall to quarrels, and then to murder. And Sarah is drawn inexorably into a morass that threatens the survival of the entire family. From the Belle Epoque at the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, A Mansion and its Murder holds its secrets to its last suspenseful moment."

Too Many Notes, Mr. Mozart

Bernard Bastable

1998

"A charming and whimsical alternative history in the form of a murder mystery. Germany 1830: Mozart is honored when he is asked to give piano lessons to the young Princess Victoria. He is less certain of his good fortune, however, when the princess makes a most unusual demand of him. And things go from bad to dangerous when she becomes Heir Apparent to the throne."

Imagery and Theme in the Novels of Dickens

Robert Barnard

1974

Originally published as a thesis in Bergen in 1971.

"Imagery and Theme in the Novels of Dickens is a study of nine Dickens novels which charts Dickens’ growing awareness and artistry in his use of image, and the increasingly important place it has in the overall structure of the novels."

A Talent To Deceive: An Appreciation Of Agatha Christie

Robert Barnard

1979

Revised edition published by Mysterious Press in 1987 and Fontana in 1990.

"An examination of the books of Agatha Christie. The author analyzes her strategems of deception and her ability to divert the reader's attention from the matter of real importance and subjects the incomparable Hercule Poirot and the shrewd Miss Jane Marple to his critical scrutiny."

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A Short History of English Literature

Robert Barnard

1984

Second revised edition published by Wiley-Blackwell in 1994.

"This book remains the best overall survey of English literature for students beginning a university course. Robert Barnard looks selectively at the most important writers within each period from the time of Chaucer, and focuses on one or two of their works in detail. He deals briefly with the earlier periods and more fully with the last two centuries, moving right to the present with a detailed coverage of the post-war novel and theatre. In the best sense eclectic, his book draws together history, criticism, established ideas and fresh views."

Emily Brontë

Robert Barnard

Oxford University Press

2000

"Largely self-educated, Emily Bronte (1818-1848) was her father's favorite daughter and spent most of her life at the rectory in Haworth, on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. She lead a protected, uneventful existence, with almost no social contacts. Robert Barnard examines her insulated childhood, peculiarities, social boorishness, and aversion to relationships. He includes excerpts of Emily's lyrical poems of her twenties which presage the raw intensity ofWuthering Heights. Many aspects of her only novel are shaped by her own experiences, and the author traces the real-life counterparts of characters, landscape, and buildings."

A Brontë Encyclopedia

Robert Barnard / Louise Barnard

2007

"A Brontë Encyclopedia is an A– Z encyclopedia of the most notable literary family of the 19th century highlighting original literary insights and the significant people and places that influenced the Brontës lives."