Robert Barnard

A moving and suspenseful story of two men, Peter Proctor, a retired British cabinet minister and Timothy Wycliffe, a young aristocrat murdered thirty years ago, offers a penetrating analysis of social decay and society in transition.

In the Soho studio of Bodies magazine (porn so soft it's "practically marshmallow'') are found four corpses: a photographer, his assistant, an actress-student and a young bodybuilder. Perry Trethowan of London's C.I.D. can't discern a motive for the murders but a few hints point toward the bodybuilder's background. The suave Trethowan finds himself involved in the seedy, naively narcissistic world of competitive body-building. Using a black gym-manager...

The Cherry Blossom Corpse casts Scotland Yard's Perry Trethowan as his sister Cristobel's reluctant escort when the World Association of Romantic Novelists gathers in a picturesque Norwegian village. Perry expects little more than a few dull days watching the grandes dames of romantic fluff float by in their extravagant finery. But when Britain's queen of romance, Amanda Fairchild, is found face down in a fjord, her pale pink shanktung billowing around...