Wasted Years: A Charlie Resnick Mystery

Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick is an introspective man, and in this entry in the series he is retrospective as well, being drawn back to events that transpired variously in 1969, 1981, 1992 [at which point he had been a `career copper' for twenty years]--back to the years when he first met his wife when they were both in their mid-twenties, to the time six years later when she asked him for a divorce; from robberies that happened in the past to a string of brutal robberies happening in the present; to crimes whose perpetrators are once again at large and a matter of his concern.. As the book opens four robberies have taken place, the amount of violence escalating with each. Charlie Resnick is a wonderful protagonist--A man who loves jazz [references to Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington and the like abound], he owns four cats named Dizzy, Miles, Bud and Pepper [how could you not love it?], and the title of the book is itself taken from the lyrics of a jazz tune that haunts him. He has not yet gotten over the breakup of his marriage. He speaks of replacing some furniture with other second-hand pieces, "something older, broken in, the shape of other lives already impressed into the upholstery." The book is at its heart a police procedural, but also a character study of Charlie and those who work with him, now and in the past, and whose paths cross his. This is the fifth Inspector Resnick novel, and Bloody Brits is owed a debt of gratitude by those outside of the UK who have loved his novels but been unable without difficulty to find them - they have or are about to publish the sixth through ninth in the series. [The newest, and the first one in ten years, has recently been published as well.] And a wonderful thing that truly is. The book is highly recommended.

This book is so much better written than 99% of the genre that it seems a pity to criticize it. However... there is a problem. The author uses characters' consumer choices as little labels. One person eats a Linda McCartney meal, another listens to Lionel Ritchie. You can't help but feel that he is laughing at them. Not so Resnick who has impeccable taste. Near the end a bad character hops into bed with a Jeffrey Archer novel. It is then you realize that he is damned.

The fifth and strongest entry in Harvey's Charlie Resnick series is less sensational on the procedural side than previous outings, focusing on two separate sets of armed robberies. One set does a good job of portraying a bullying wayward youth and his aimless follower, while the other very high-end, hitting banks and armored cars, and is rooted in Resnick's past. Harvey effectively cuts back and forth between the present and 1981 in order to show the past events and characters. As usual, the private lives of the police squad is further developed.