Mystery Writer Robert Goddard
British Author of Harry Barnett Series is Master of Suspense
British Mystery author Robert Goddard's thrillers keep readers enthralled. His suspenses have been compared to Daphne Du Maurier, John Le Carre, and Barbara Vine.
Robert Goddard
British mystery writer Robert Goddard is a master of the tale with the twist at the end. His spellbinding novels create a grand picture, a big canvas, many times sweeping several generations. The stories often begin with a missing person. In Borrowed Time, a chance encounter with a lovely and mysterious woman on an isolated footpath outside a small village draws the hero into a web of intrigue when the stranger he just met ends up murdered. His novels contain numerous plot twists and turns. Just when the reader thinks they have it all figured out, new suspects and possibilities develop.
Personal Life
Goddard was born November 13, 1954, in Hampshire, England. He attended Cambridge University. He worked as a journalist and educational administrator before taking up writing full-time. He and his wife now reside in Truro, Cornwall.
Goddard’s Works
Many of Goddard's books have a historical connection. Often, the novels contain two different time frames and sets of characters. A haunting tale from the past is many times intricately woven into a story in the present. The hero or heroine often uncovers some secret conspiracy by means of diaries, journals or other historical documents. In Hand in Glove, the murder of elderly writer Beatrix Abberley sets off an investigation by her niece, Charlotte Ladram. She uncover a chain of events that go back to secrets kept by Beatrix's brother and famous poet Tristam Abberley during the Spanish Civil War.
Many of Goddard’s works explore the noble values of integrity, honor and self-sacrifice. Often, the rather flawed hero must make a life-altering decision. In Debt of Dishonor, architect Geoffrey Staddon is called upon to rescue a lovely Brazilian woman he abandoned and betrayed years ago. When his ex-lover Consuela Caswell is accused of murder, he must jeoopardize his own marriage and future to make amends for a wrong he committed in the past.
In the novel In Pale Batallions, the author delivers a book that is an incredible unfolding of events. When Leonora Galloway begins to recount to her daughter the story of an unsolved murder and her father's desertion from the army during World War I, a touching story of love and self-sacrifice is revealed, one that must forever remain a secret.
The Harry Barnett Series
This series centers around flawed but likeable Harry Barnett. He’s a bit overweight, chronically out of work, and he drinks too much. Still, the ladies seem to find him irresistible.
In Into the Blue, Harry Barnett waits at the foot of an an isolated trail on the island of Rhodes for the young woman he has gone hiking with to return. When time passes and she does not return to the car, he reports her missing, only to find himself the main suspect in her disappearance. He then follows a trail of deception and intrigue back to England, where he uncovers a conspiracy that ties in to his own past. In Out of the Sun, Harry discovers a son he didn't know he had. However, the son is in a diabetic coma, one that may be a result of foul play. In Never go Back, Harry joins a reunion of RAF servicemen at an old castle, only to find the members of the reunion are being murdered one by one. He and con-man friend Barry Chipchase become the prime suspects.
Complete list of Works:
- Name to a Face (2007)
- Never go Back (2006)
- Sight Unseen (2005)
- Play to the End (2004)
- Days without Number (2003)
- Dying to Tell (2001)
- Sea Change (2000)
- Set in Stone (1999)
- Caught in the Light (1998)
- Beyond Recall (1997)
- Out of the Sun (1996)
- Borrowed time (1995)
- Closed Circle (1993)
- Hand in Glove (1992)
- Take no Farewell (1991)
- Into the Blue (1990)
- Painting the Darkness (1989)
- In Pale Battalions (1988)
- Past Caring (1986)
Readers of Robart Goddard's mysteries might also enjoy books by British author Ruth Rendell. Under the pseudonym Barabara Vine, she writes a similar novel with a wide cast of characters, a mystery or secret that may span generations, and a twist at the end.
Click this link for a review of Britsh Mystery Author Ruth Rendell
