Gone to Ground - John Harvey

PLOT SUMMARY: A professor by the name of Stephen Bryan is found gruesomely murdered in his bathroom. Detective Inspector Will Grayson and his colleague Helen Walker set about investigating the case, and evidence seems to point to his death being the result of a sexual encounter with another man leading to a fight. However, as Stephen's sister Lesley, returned from New Zealand, also starts to delve, it starts to seem possible that the murder might instead be connected to a biography Stephen was writing on the life of the deceased actress and screen legend Stella Leonard, best known for her film 'Shattered Glass'. Corruption and power, and a businessman named ...  Read the complete review

This is the first John Harvey book I've picked up, and I note from his website that he is in the process of writing another in this series, featuring Will Grayson and Helen Walker of Cambridgeshire CID. The synopsis: When a gay academic is found brutally beaten to death, suspicion immediately falls on his ex-lover, who may or may have assaulted him in the past. However, the waters are muddied by a book that the dead man may have been working on, about a fifties actress, star of Shattered Glass, and great-aunt to Natalie Prince, who is re-making the film with the financial support of her father, local entrepreneur Howard Prince. When Grayson ...  Read the complete review

When Stephen Bryan, an academic, is found brutally beaten to death in his own home, it is initially supposed that the murderer was his former lover, Mark, furious at having been dumped. However, Will Grayson and Helen Walker, the detectives assigned to the case, soon begin to look elsewhere - could a casual sexual encounter have lead to more than Stephen bargained for? Or could his death be linked to research he was doing for a book on a fifties film star, Stella Leonard? Certainly Stella's family were threatening Stephen with court action if he went ahead. Stephen's journalist sister, Lesley, decides to follow up the Stella Leonard connection, to frightening ...  Read the complete review