On Harrow Hill

by John Verdon

Overview

When an old colleague comes to him for help solving the mysterious death of his town's most prominent resident, retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney must use all of his analytical skills to hunt a murderer who just might be killing from beyond the grave

The idyllic community of Larchfield is rocked to its core when Angus Russell, its wealthiest and most powerful citizen, is found dead in his mansion on Harrow Hill. A preliminary analysis of DNA gathered at the crime scene points to the guilt of local bad boy Billy Tate, whose hatred for the victim was well known. Except that Tate fell from the roof of a local church and was declared dead by the medical examiner the day before Russell was killed. When police rush to the mortuary, they discover Tate's coffin has been broken open from the inside, and the body is gone.

A series of murders soon follows as Larchfield loses its collective mind. Gun sales explode. Conspiracy theories and religious fundamentalism spread. The once-peaceful town becomes a magnet for sensation seekers, self-proclaimed zombie hunters, TV producers eager for ratings, and apocalyptic preachers rallying the faithful for the end of days. His quiet retirement shattered, ex-NYPD detective Dave Gurney finds himself not only facing down a murderer, but struggling to restore order to the town rapidly spiraling out of control.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640093102
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Series:	Dave Gurney Series , #7
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	919,994
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

JOHN VERDON is the author of the Dave Gurney series of thrillers, international bestsellers published in more than two dozen languages: Think of a Number, Shut Your Eyes Tight, Let the Devil Sleep, Peter Pan Must Die, Wolf Lake, and White River Burning. Before becoming a crime fiction writer, Verdon had two previous careers: as an advertising creative director and a custom furniture maker. He currently lives with his wife, Naomi, in upstate New York.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/04/2021

Verdon’s brilliant seventh mystery featuring retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney (after 2018’s White River Burning) showcases a nifty impossible crime variant. Gurney’s former partner, Mike Morgan, who once saved his life, is now the police chief of the affluent village of Larchfield, N.Y., where Gurney now lives and crime is low. Then an intruder slashes the throat of Angus Russell, Larchfield’s main power player, in his home. The killer’s identity appears to be obvious, as the fingerprints of Billy Tate, a local ex-con who threatened Russell, are found in Russell’s bedroom, but it’s impossible for Tate to be guilty. The night before, Tate was pronounced dead after being struck by lightning and falling from the roof of a church he was vandalizing in front of multiple witnesses, including Morgan. Gurney joins the inquiry, which gets even weirder after a video shows Tate breaking out of the coffin where his body was stored. The surprises keep coming as the plot builds to an impressive reveal. Verdon has never been better at crafting a bizarre setup and resolving it in a satisfactory way. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"I believe John Verdon to be the finest mystery writer working today . . . Verdon does not crank out his stories using a formula. Each and every mystery is a gift to readers who love to play along and try to identify the culprit with no tricks used at all." —Richard Klinzman, The Florida-Times Union 

"A truly ingenious play-fair mystery novel that’s police procedural adjacent while still being able to bend the rules of the latter by featuring an unconventional sleuth and his unconventional friends . . . A thrilling mystery with a smart, sympathetic detective that will puzzle you every step of the way." —Doreen Sheridan, Criminal Element

"Sure to impress . . . The best Verdon piece I have read, though I have loved them all a great deal. The flow of the story is perfect, revealing much as the narrative builds. Verdon has done well to develop this quirky, layered story that is not a simple A to Z crime thriller . . . A book I could not stop reading." —Matt Pechey, Mystery and Suspense Magazine

"Verdon’s brilliant seventh mystery featuring retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney (after 2018’s White River Burning) showcases a nifty impossible crime variant . . . The surprises keep coming as the plot builds to an impressive reveal. Verdon has never been better at crafting a bizarre setup and resolving it in a satisfactory way." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A glorious explosion of detective fireworks." —Booklist

"Clever, cerebral . . . Part puzzle, part police procedural and all entertainment. Verdon has a knack for creating outlandish, almost unbelievable, situations that reach logical, realistic conclusions . . . No matter how weird the circumstances of On Harrow Hill become, Verdon retains tight control of his plot." —Oline H. Cogdill, Shelf Awareness 

"On Harrow Hill is the latest airtight mystery only ex-NYPD detective Dave Gurney can solve. Drawn into another seemingly impossible murder case in a small town with far too many secrets––and suspects––Gurney's keen skills and almost preternatural insights are once again on dazzling display. John Verdon is a master at crafting these Sherlockian stories, each more mind-bending than the last, and On Harrow Hill is destined to be the next hit in the series." —J. Todd Scott, author of Lost River

"John Verdon has written another tightly-wound, intelligent mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. Retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney, a sharp-minded, Sherlockian sleuth with an old soul, is drawn into a murder investigation in a seemingly idyllic small town that has been corrupted by one family’s manipulative power. When the family’s patriarch is brutally killed, the list of suspects with motives rooted in betrayal, loss, and toxic social inequality seems endless, but all evidence points to the one man with the perfect alibi: he died two days before the murder. Or did he? As the plot’s precisely calibrated gears move from one revelation to the next with sure-handed finesse, On Harrow Hill engages the mind and heart in equal measure." —Heather Young, author of The Lost Girls and The Distant Dead

Praise for the Dave Gurney series:

"John Verdon writes grown-up detective novels, by which I mean stories with intelligent plots, well-developed characters and crimes that have social consequences . . . the author's brainy gumshoe-for-hire, Dave Gurney, checks all these boxes." —The New York Times Book Review

"Verdon is a gifted writer and storyteller." —Booklist

"Why isn't John Verdon huge? Like household name huge? Verdon has a very distinctive style, one that is slightly offbeat without being off-putting . . . Verdon is an author deserving of your time and attention." —Bookreporter.com

From the Publisher

2020-12-26
The seventh Dave Gurney thriller opens with a lesson on the unreliability of eyewitnesses and then takes up a series of lurid crimes committed in a village where nothing is what it seems.

Super-detective Gurney, retired from the NYPD, is still periodically drawn into especially difficult investigations, which is why his former partner Mike Morgan has called. Morgan's departure from the NYPD was not as unblemished as Gurney's, but he has landed well and is now chief of police in Larchfield, home to a number of wealthy individuals and mostly the creation of the Russell family. When Angus Russell, the current patriarch, is murdered in his own mansion, there is considerable uproar, and Morgan asks Gurney to help manage the investigation and divert a little of the world's attention from himself. The crime-scene evidence points directly at Billy Tate, a man who had strong motives for murdering Russell but who was, frustratingly, already dead, the victim of a lightning strike the day before Russell was killed. From this puzzling but admittedly gripping beginning, the investigation uncovers progressively more baroque variations on the theme of deceptive appearances. First, it's established that Tate might have survived the lightning bolt and the subsequent fall from the church steeple, because he was a tough guy and, well, who knows about lightning? More bodies pile up, and the emergence of several characters who also might have wanted Russell dead suggests that Tate may have had help. Morgan, while not actually obstructing the investigation, seems to have reasons to want the case closed quickly. At each turn, Gurney helps to classify, consider, and clarify evidence and the theories the evidence gives rise to, but he, too, is somewhat misled. The residents of Larchfield are an admirably unlovable bunch, seething with resentments and snubbed privilege, and Gurney and his wife are pleasantly down-to-earth, but overall the plot mechanics reach too far beyond the merely astonishing.

Well-drawn characters and a dynamic situation but in the end, just a bit too much.

Kirkus Reviews