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Harry Devlin Books In Order

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Publication Order of Harry Devlin Books

All the Lonely People (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
Suspicious Minds (1992)Description / Buy at Amazon
I Remember You (1993)Description / Buy at Amazon
Yesterday's Papers (1994)Description / Buy at Amazon
Eve of Destruction (1997)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Devil in Disguise (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon
First Cut is the Deepest (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon
Waterloo Sunset (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon

“Harry Devlin” is a series of novels by Martin Edwards,. a British solicitor, critic, and crime novelist. The first novel of the Harry Devlin series was “All the Lonely People” that Edwards published in 1991. After much success with his first novel in the series, Martin went on to write seven more titles in the series with the last one “Waterloo Sunset” published in 2008. Edwards was born in Knutsford, England and went to a prestigious Grammar School in Cheshire where he learnt under successful children’s author Robert Westall. He later went to Oxford University’s Balliol College, where he studied jurisprudence to graduate with top honors in 1977. By 1980 he got his qualifications as a solicitor and went to work for Mace & Jones, one of the top legal firms in London, and went on to become partner and later chair of employment law practice, when his firm got into a merger agreement with Weightmans law firm. After three years as partner at the Weightmans, he quit to become a legal consultant. He is married to Helena Shanks with whom he has two children.

Martin Edwards has built quite a career for himself in crime fiction, particularly with his Henry Devlin series of novels. His debut title “All the Lonely People” that introduced Henry Devlin the Liverpool lawyer was so successful that it earned critical acclaim and got nominations for several prestigious awards. Some awards include nomination Lake land Book of the Yea, the Crimefest Ebook Award, 2006 best crime novel at the Theakston Old Peculiar Awards, and the most prestigious the John Creasey Memorial Dagger for his debut. To add to his Devlin books ,he has also written the “Lake District” novels, two standalone novels and several collaborations and short stories in the historical, and psychological suspense genres. His short stories have been featured in anthologies and magazines and Edwards has served as editor of the CWA’s annual crime anthology. His short story “Murder and its Motives” published in 2017 was nominated for the CWA Short Story Dagger Award.

The lead character of the Harry Devlin series of novels is a Liverpool lawyer known as Herny Devlin, that is always getting into trouble. When we first meet the protagonist he is a watching the filming of “Love and Death which are two threads prominent in his life. His wife is brutally murdered soon afterwards and he is the lead suspect in the killing. He needs to find who killed his wife if he is to get out of a tight situation. He will later have a short fling with a neighbor Brenda Rixton, Valerie Kaiwar a legal defender, and Kim Lawrence a lawyer that defends persons against miscarriage of justice. He also has a relationship with Julie May a relationship that could be very dangerous given that she is married to Casper May a wealthy man with a shadowy past. Harry partners with Jim Crusoe who is a more dependable than him, though he also loves to flirt with danger now and then. In fact he is involved in a hit that Harry suspects was intended for him in the novel “Midsummer’s Eve”. Over the course of the series Harry is forced to confront the secrets of his past, though by doing so he is able to progress in professional and personal life. Nonetheless, the happenings in his past and present life still present him with much impetus in his quest for justice that runs throughout the novel series. But even as he evolves, his supporting cast including the city of Liverpool also changes, though all seem to become all the more fascinating with each story arc.

“All the Lonely People” the debut novel of the Harry Devlin series is a crime classic that introduces Harry Devlin a Liverpool lawyer whose wife just left him. Liz had left Devlin after she realized that he did not have any money and that he loved his work too much. She leaves him and goes to find a man that has the money. Her new man turns out to be involved in all manner of illegal activity that forces her to leave him. Since she is still married to Harry she goes back and lets herself into his apartment much to his surprise. It turns out his elation is all for nothing as she is just looking to stay a few days while looking for a new place to stay. She tells him she left her gangster boyfriend and has found a new and mysterious lover who has more money. The only problem is that the man is married though he has promised to end it and marry her. Liz turns up dead a few days later and since she had been living with Harry and had made her intentions of leaving him clear, he becomes the lead suspect. With the police looking to arrest him, he needs to find who killed his wife as his explanations of the love triangle and her gangster boyfriend’s anger at being left by Liz are getting him nowhere. The fact that he does not know the name of the new lover does not make things any easier for him. His investigations take him from his relatively safe life into the back alleys of Liverpool where danger changes any illusions he ever had about his wife or his life.

In “Eve of Destruction” Stephen Whyatt is uneasy given the information he has got from the taped conversations from his wife’s tapped phone. He has come to Harry Devlin looking for advice on how to divorce his wife without too much fuss. Harry thinks nothing of it and takes the case only to find himself with more than he bargained for. The voice of the man the wife has been cheating with is oddly familiar, and the more he listens the more he believes that the case could have more to it than adultery. How connected is the scheme by his brother to sell the Whyatt family business got to do with Stephen’s wife? Stephen seems to care more about his brother’s actions than those of his wife, and when adultery suddenly veers towards attempted murder, things are about to turn really nasty. Three bodies are discovered in a long abandoned church and the police rule it a double homicide and suicide. But for Harry, the police could not be any further from the truth and he is determined to get to the bottom of the case before the killer can get away with the crime.

Book Series In Order » Characters » Harry Devlin

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