Wed 13 Mar 2013
PETER N. WALKER – Missing from Home. Robert Hale, UK, hardcover, 1977.
You’d have to live in the UK to have heard of Peter N. Walker, I suspect, even though he’s written tons of books (figuratively) under not only his own name, but that of Andrew Arncliffe, Christopher Coram, Tom Ferris and Nicholas Rhea too.
He’s probably best known under the latter byline for his rather cozy “Constable†series, which was also the basis for a TV series called Heartbeat, which may be well known in England, but is far from that over here. (An understatement, I suspect.)
Missing from Home, written under his own name, is a straightforward and standalone crime novel, but in his own words, Walker says this about one of the series characters whose adventures he also related:
If there is a detective of record in Missing from Home, it is a lowly (and very new to the job) Police Constable named Keith Bowman, in an even lowlier police outpost in a small village called Brocklesford. It is only Bowman who takes seriously the case of a missing woman, a wife and mother of two small children, a woman who simply would not take off on her own without warning.
And once it turns out that the woman was kidnapped by an escaped prisoner with a grudge against the system that sent him there, it is also Bowman, in spite of all of the high ranking superiors who by then are on the job, who comes up with the location where the woman is being held prisoner.
A straightforward crime novel, as I said up above, but down to earth and direct storytelling, and smooth sailing all the way. No depth, one would have to admit, but smooth.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Always great to read a review here about a book by a writer I am not likely to read … so I don’t have to read said writer. Saves me lots of time.
March 13th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
What’s wrong with HIM, Randy ?
The Doc
By the by : habemus papam !
March 13th, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Heartbeat was indeed a success – one of the most successful and long-running British TV drama series of the last 20 years. Peter Walker is a former police officer and his experience informs his books. Those I’ve read are very entertaining.
March 13th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
#2. Doc.
I assume Randy is referring, albeit obliquely, to the old saying, “Too many books, too many authors, so little time.”
For some authors, reading reviews of their books are all they’re going to get from me too, whether I like it or not.
— Steve
March 13th, 2013 at 7:33 pm
#3. Martin. I’ve looked a little more into the availability of the series on DVD. Eighteen seasons have been released in the UK, the complete run; six in Finland; and eight in Australia.
I’ve found no hint that there will be a US release anytime soon, but I could be wrong about that. Lots of British shows have popped up here recently, some rather unexpectedly.
Here’s an online description of the series:
“Heartbeat’s setting, some of the early storylines, and many of the characters, were taken from the Constable novels by Nicholas Rhea. The stories feature an English policeman in a rural village in North Yorkshire during the 1960’s, although cast changes and story developments have resulted in group of village characters sharing the attention with the local village bobby. The Heartbeat title refers to an English bobby ‘on the beat’, the medical stories that are woven into each episode, and the way each programme puts a finger on the pulse of the rural community of Aidensfield.”
http://www.nicholasrhea.co.uk/heartbeat/index.html
Follow the link for lots and lots of additional information about the series.
March 14th, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Nothing really jumps out at me about this book that says “Read me! Read me!” I’ve got lots of other books to read, no need to look for more.
March 17th, 2013 at 7:38 am
I wouldn’t say you have to “live in the UK to have heard of this author” because I don’t and I’ve certainly heard of him, even read some of his books, the early “Constable” books as mentioned. Some of them were published in the U.S. I used to pick up his books (published by Robert Hale, as I recall) for resale when we were traveling around Britain.