Yet despite such weaknesses, the novel remains a masterly piece of storytelling - set down in durable if ordinary prose. Goddard's attempts to turn his hero's discovery of some disturbing truths into a larger metaphor about England's post-World War I loss of innocence feel unduly strained his orchestration of assorted murders often verges on the melodramatic, and his narrator has an annoying habit of making portentous allusions to the future that tend to undercut rather than build suspense (''If you had told me, my elusive quarry, what to expect from a quest after your past, I would never have embarked upon it,'' he tells his subject at the very start. Certainly it's easy enough to find fault with ''Past Caring'' - Mr. It also turns out, as the reader only gradually realizes, that Martin is himself a somewhat disreputable fellow whose modest self-portrait conceals dark secrets of his own.Ī nominee for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize last year, Robert Goddard's first novel combines the expert suspense-manipulation skills of a Daphne du Maurier romance with those of a John le Carre thriller. As it turns out, of course, he is both - a student of history whose biographical research leads him into a sordid tangle of death and betrayal.

London, that grey month of March, seemed to echo my self-pity.''įor all the Chandleresque echoes of his speech, Martin Radford initially seems more like one of Simon Grey's bedraggled academics than a tough-guy private eye capable of unraveling a nasty series of murders.

''THE spring of 1977,'' says Robert Goddard's hero by way of introduction, ''found me, newly past thirty, a bad case of wasted talent in a largely waste city - an unemployed, divorced ex-schoolteacher of foundered promise and dismal prospect.

His works have been adapted for television, and have garnered other honors for Goddard, including an Edgar Award.PAST CARING. Goddard's first book, Past Caring, was published in 1986, and he has since published 27 additional titles. It is a genuine pleasure to celebrate his illustrious career with the award of the Diamond Dagger.” 'His books are notable for their breathtaking plot twists, sharp characterisation, and insights into history. “Robert Goddard has been entertaining crime fiction fans across the world for over thirty years,' said Crime Writers' Association chair Martin Edwards. The association's highest honor, however, is the Diamond Dagger, which is given to a writer 'whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.' This year's winner is Robert Goddard! The Dagger Awards, presented by the UK's Crime Writers' Association, recognize excellence in crime and mystery writing in a wide range of cateogories, from first novels to translations.

Robert goddard past caring review