Beat Not the Bones is a 1952 suspense novel (and psychological thriller) by Charlotte Jay (pseudonym of Geraldine Halls) which won the inaugural Edgar award for best novel. [1]
The novel follows the actions of a sheltered young women who arrives in New Guinea from Australia, determined to find out what really happened to her husband, the Chief Anthropologist in the colonial administration. His death has been ascribed to suicide but she has reason to believe it was murder.
The novel was praised for its buildup of suspense and for its novel setting. [2]
The novel was reissued in 1992 by Wakefield Press as part of a series reviving Australian crime classics, with an afterword by the editors. They make two further claims for the book. Firstly, it is one of very few historical descriptions of New Guinea, in this case in the immediate post war period. Secondly, they describe it as an ‘’early, a-typical example of an anti-colonial novel’’, and point out its resemblance to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness . [3]
Wuthering Heights is the first and only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with the Earnshaws' foster son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction.
Reginald Charles Hill FRSL was an English crime writer and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1978.
Michael Joseph Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bestselling author of 38 novels and one work of non-fiction, with over 74 million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into 40 languages. His first novel, The Black Echo, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly's 1997 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of Connelly's novel The Lincoln Lawyer starred Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. Connelly was the President of the Mystery Writers of America from 2003 to 2004.
Geraldine Halls was an Australian mystery writer and novelist who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Charlotte Jay, Jay being Halls's maiden name. Halls' book Beat Not the Bones won the then newly created Edgar Allan Poe Award of the Mystery Writers' Association of America for Best Novel of the Year in 1954. The crime novel, The Fugitive Eye was adapted for television for a drama series in 1961. The episode starred Charlton Heston and the series was hosted by Fred Astaire.
Peter Robinson was a British-born Canadian crime writer who was best known for his crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Inspector Alan Banks. He also published a number of other novels and short stories, as well as some poems and two articles on writing.
Dorothy Margaret Salisbury Davis was an American crime fiction writer.
Michael Collins is the best-known pseudonym of Dennis Lynds, an American author who primarily wrote mystery fiction.
Peter Abrahams is an American writer of crime fiction for both adults and children. His works include Oblivion, A Perfect Crime, The Tutor, The Fury of Rachel Monette, Hard Rain, The Fan, Crying Wolf, The Right Side the Echo Falls Mysteries for children, and Lights Out, the last of which was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. Reality Check won the best young adult Edgar Award in 2011. Down the Rabbit Hole, first in the Echo Falls series, won the best children's/young adult Agatha Award in 2005. The Fan was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by Tony Scott (1996).
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Charlotte Armstrong Lewi was an American writer. Under the names Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine she wrote 29 novels, as well as short stories, plays, and screenplays. She also worked for The New York Times' advertising department, as a fashion reporter for Breath of the Avenue, and in an accounting firm. Additionally, she worked for the New Yorker magazine, publishing only three poems for them.
Otto Penzler is an American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels Lost Hills and True Fiction and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk.
Circus Animals is the fourth studio album by Australian band Cold Chisel, released on 8 March 1982. It was recorded and mixed at Paradise Studios and EMI Studios 301, Sydney, between September and December 1981. It reached number one on the Australian charts, remaining in the charts for 40 weeks, and also topped the New Zealand charts. The working title for the album was "Tunnel Cunts".
Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is the fictional protagonist in a series of crime novels by Peter Robinson. From 2010 to 2016 several of the novels were adapted for television, and other original stories were produced, under the series title DCI Banks with Stephen Tompkinson in the lead role.
Maxwell Edgar Fatchen, AM was an Australian children's writer and journalist.
Andrew Klavan is an American writer of crime and suspense novels and a conservative commentator. Klavan has been nominated for the Edgar Award five times and has won twice.
Patricia Bernadette Carlon was an Australian crime fiction writer whose most notable works are fourteen suspenseful novels published between 1961 and 1970. She sometimes used the pen names Patricia Bernard and Barbara Christie.
Jeremy Bates is a Canadian/Australian author. He writes suspense and horror fiction, which typically explores the darker side of human nature. His work is rich in atmosphere and sensory details. The novels in his "World's Scariest Places" series are all set in real locations, such as Aokigahara in Japan, The Catacombs in Paris, Helltown in Ohio, and Island of the Dolls in Mexico. They have been translated into several languages including Russian, Czech, and German among others.
Razorblade Tears: A Novel is a crime novel by S.A. Cosby, published in July 2021 by Flatiron Books. This novel debuted at number 10 on the New York Times bestseller list. Jerry Bruckheimer's company has "optioned the story for Paramount."
The Inspector Banks series is a collection of mystery novels by Peter Robinson about Detective Superintendent Alan Banks.
' Beat Not the Bones – Heart of Darkness revisited', book chapter in Southwards: Essays in South Australian Literature ed. PR Butters pp 166–127 Wakfield Press, Kent Town S.A.; 1995. ISBN 1-86254-354-2