Literary critic, academic scholar, and mystery writer, Robert Barnard has achieved the difficult balance between the seriousness the mystery deserves and the bizarre or eccentric characterizations necessary to comment on human frailty in more than ironic terms in a consistently satisfying manner. Working within the varied patterns offered by the classic tradition, he has made the truly comic detective work in contemporary terms, creating a Dickensian social satire founded on the peculiarities and abominable behavior of characters that nonetheless remain recognizable modern personalities and types. Barnard has been called a more sophisticated Agatha Christie; yet, unlike Christie's work, his novels are driven by characterization and satire rather than plot and, consequently, prove satisfying even when the detection itself is weak.

Robert Barnard was born on 23 November 1936 in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, England, the son of Leslie and Vera (Nethercoat) Barnard. Barnard was brought up in Brightlingsea, near Colchester, where he...