Still Water by John Harvey
A body found floating in the canal starts an investigation into sexual violence
For Charlie Resnick, the night they found the body in the water was the night that Milt Jackson came to town. Resnick is a jazz fiend and considers Jackson, a contemporary of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, one of the all-time greats. He has just sat down for the concert when the call comes in about the body. Gravely disappointed, the police inspector tears across town to run the crime scene. He finds the body of a young woman who shows signs of blunt force trauma and a recently terminated pregnancy. Attempts to identify the girl, and to link her to three other bodies recently found in canals, are futile. The case goes nowhere, but Resnick always remembers the night he missed Milt Jackson.
When another woman disappears, Resnick reopens the case, and finds that few places hold darker secrets than the black waters of the Nottingham canals.
“[Still Water] explores sexual violence and its devastating consequences. But Harvey presents more than a crime novel, weaving ideas as well as crimes and domestic details into a tapestry of intrigue and moral quandary. Still Water goes beyond crime fiction to provide a deeper perspective on the complexities of lust and love.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s an ugly crime that’s soon connected to Charlie in an unexpectedly personal fashion. So we get Charlie troubled. We also get Charlie in love and not finding it easy. But as always, we get Charlie stalwart and discovering ways to cope.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
“If John Harvey’s novels were songs, Charlie Parker would play them.” —The New York Times Book Review
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