I liked this one better than the first Frank Elder book. There was less about his daughter this time which I found to be a bit of a distraction/digresson in the first one rather than an interesting aspect of Elder's life. The theme here is similar, a mid 50's detective retired to distant Cornwall who gets asked to help out with a current investigation that hasn't been solved by the police. Enjoyed the plot and characters, good pace, really nothing to fault it except the bits about his daughter again. Don't see how that adds anything to the plot or to our ability to like the character of Elder. Will definitely read the third one in this series. Haven't read any of his longer, earlier series featuring the detective Charlie Resnick but he is a good writer so I will definitely try a few of them too. ( )

Typical John Harvey...........................solid characters, tight prose, interesting storyline. Ash & Bone is perhaps a little fanciful in both the range of its plot and Elder's dalliance with Karen, but hey, this is fiction. Perhaps this made it a 3.5 rather than the usual 4 for Harvey for me. ( )

This book does everything that one could wish for a good crime novel to do.

The story is a tangled web of cases, some directly being reviewed by ex-DI Frank Elder, and others butting in to his investigation.
I particularly like the way in which Harvey introduces his other famous detective, Charlie Resnick, in a cameo role. This gives an indescribable breath of reality to both men.

The story paces along at a fair lick, and Harvey knows just the right amount of his detective's private life to introduce. A crime story poet: not a word wasted. ( )

This is the second in Harvey's Frank Elder series, and as good as the best of his Resnick books. Frank Elder is an ex-detective, who took early retirement and reluctantly returns to the force as a consultant. A multi-threaded crime story, with police corruption, a murdered policewoman, and a personal family drama, three themes that weave in and out of each other and sometimes seem to be connected, sometimes not.

I think John Harvey produces the most rounded characters in British crime fiction, and his settings are entirely believable, even when his plots turn out cliched. ( )

Another Frank Elder story, brought back from retirement once again, this time on a barely cold case in London, whilst trying to sort out his daughter's messed up life in Nottingham. Interestingly, whilst in Nottingham Elder crosses paths with another well-known John Harvey character, Resnick, from a different set of novels!

Well-written, authentic sounding police approach behind the scenes of major crime investigations, including corruption. ( )