JOHN HARVEY – Darkness & Light. Harcourt, hardcover, July 2006; trade paperback: Harvest, July 2007. UK editions: William Heinemann, hc, 2006; Arrow, ppbk, 2007.

    — Gone to Ground. Harcourt, hardcover, February 2008; trade paperback: Mariner Books, October 2008. UK editions: William Heinemann, hc, 2007; Arrow, ppbk, 2008.

   I was a long-time fan of John Harvey’s Charlie Resnick series and had high hopes when he began a new series featuring retired detective Frank Elder.

   In the third in the series, Elders is asked by his ex-wife to look into the disappearance of a friend’s older sister. The inquiry eventually links up with a cold case that brings in D.I. Maureen Prior for an investigation that takes some surprising turns.

   This was a pleasurable, if evanescent read, with much of the detail disappearing as soon as I’d put down the book.

   I then read Gone To Ground, a stand-alone novel, with the investigation conducted by detective Will Grayson and his partner, Helen Walker.

   This should have been a natural for me since the case involves an academic who’s writing a book on “the mysterious life and death of fifties movie star Stella Leonard.”

   However, this went down easily and, like Darkness & Light, all too forgettably. Evanescent reads I can do without. Can this be my farewell to John Harvey’s work?