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H.R.F. Keating
[1926-2011]

short profile Insp. Ghote series Harriet Martens series other fiction other books movies & other media works about H.R.F. Keating friends & family links

“The scene of the crime. That was where he ought to be. There. Where it happened. Seeing for
himself. Investigating. Taking charge. Taking the case by the scruff of the neck, by God.
At the scene of the crime.” — from "Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote" [1976]

Official Website of Crime Writer H.R.F. Keating
H.R.F. Keating entry at Wikipedia
H.R.F. Keating credits [1969-91] at Internet Movie Database
browse books {returns 13} at the H.R.F. Keating Store at Amazon
search for H.R.F. Keating books {returns 270+} at Amazon

H.R.F. Keating was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature [est. 1820]
Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association [est. 1953] (1970–71) in Britain
Chairman of the Society of Authors [est. 1884] (1983–84) in Britain
and President of the Detection Club (1985–2000) in Britain

H.R.F. Keating received
C.W.A.'s Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, in 1964
an Edgar Allan Poe Special Award {unverified, possibly in 1964 or 1966}
nominations for the Edgar Award in 1966, 1980 & 1988
a second C.W.A. Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, in 1980
the George N. Dove Award of the American Culture Assn., in 1995
C.W.A.'s Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, in 1996
the Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2005

      Insp. Ghote of Bombay, India      
mystery series
search Inspector Ghote series books {returns 25 titles} at Amazon
Inspector Ghote entry at Wikipedia

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Perfect Murder" [#1=1964]

won Golden Dagger in 1964; see also 1988 Merchant-Ivory movie below Someone attempts to kill an employee in the home of an upper-caste family, and Insp. Ghote of Bombay, India C.I.D. is under pressure to solve this and several other cases, as well as dealing with a visiting professor. Academy Chicago Publrs 8x5 pb [10/97] for $10.95 Black Dagger Crime Facsimile Edition 9x5½ hardcover [5/2003] out of print/used Penguin Books French-language 7¾x5 pb [4/2011] for $18.66

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Inspector Ghote's Good Crusade" [#2=1966]

"Inspector Ghote Caught In Meshes" [1967]
murder of American by India First political group

"Inspector Ghote Hunts The Peacock" [#4=1968] London trip

"Inspector Ghote Plays A Joker" [1969]
joker rajah murdered halfway into book

"Inspector Ghote Breaks An Egg" [#6=1970]

"Inspector Ghote Goes By Train" [#7=1971]

"Inspector Ghote Trusts The Heart" [#8=1972]

"Bats Fly Up For Inspector Ghote" [#9=1974]

"Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote" [#10=1976]

"Inspector Ghote Draws A Line" [#11=1979]

"Go West Inspector Ghote" [#12=1981]
sent to California ashram, works with local P.I. Fred Hoskins & police Lt. Foster

"The Sheriff of Bombay" [#13=1984]

"Under A Monsoon Cloud" [#14=1986]

"The Body In The Billiard Room" [#15=1987] at Ooty Hill resort

"Dead On Time" [#16=1988]

"The Iciest Sin" [1990]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Inspector Ghote, His Life and Crimes" [14 stories 1989]

includes intro; "The Test"; "Miracle Baby" (1971); "Not So Fly Fisherman" (1972?); "River Man"; "Inspector Ghote & Noted British Author"; "Wicked Lady" (1976); "Cruel Inspector Ghote" (1983); "Murder Must Not At All Advertise, Isn't It?"; "All-Bad Hat" (1984); "Hello Hello Inspector Ghote"; "Nil By Mouth"; "A Present For Santa Sahib" (1987); "Purloined Parvati & Other Artefacts" (1988?); and "Light Coming" Arrow mass pb [1989] out of print/very scarce

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Cheating Death" [#20=1992]

"Doing Wrong" [1993]

"Asking Questions" [1996]

"Bribery, Corruption Also" [1999]

"Breaking and Entering" [2000]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Keating wrote seven Harriet Martens novels from 2000 to 2007, then wrote two more Ghote novels

"Inspector Ghote’s First Case" [2008]

"A Small Case for Inspector Ghote?" [2009]

Harriet Martens
mystery series
Harriet Martens is a shrewd English police detective; the first book was called “The Hard Detective”
because of the shell of toughness that she must wear to conduct business in the overwhelmingly
male world of crime detection in England, circa 2000.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Hard Detective" [2000]

"A Detective In Love" [2001]

"A Detective Under Fire" [2002]

"The Dreaming Detective" [2003]

"A Detective At Death's Door" [2004]

"One Man and His Bomb" [2006]

"Rules, Regs, and Rotten Eggs" [2007]

Other Fiction by H.R.F. Keating
browse books {returns 13} at the H.R.F. Keating Store at Amazon
search for H.R.F. Keating books {returns 270+} at Amazon

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Death and The Visiting Firemen" [his first novel 1959]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Zen There Was Murder" [1960]

Mr. Utamaro is lecturing on Zen Buddhism at a zen school; Zen questions and their seemingly quirkish answers predominate, until they are superseded by two of greater urgency: 'Who stole the wakizashi*?' and 'Who killed Flaveen Mills?' Kindle Edition from Bloomsbury Reader [10/2011] for $7.99 Penguin Books mass pb [1965] out of print/used Littlehampton Book Services hardcover [4/73] out of print/used * short samurai sword

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"A Rush On The Ultimate" [1961]

"The Dog It Was That Died" [1962]
scholar Roger Farrar and pal Eric Smith are hiding in Dublin, Ireland from a secret anti-Communist group
back in Leeds; when Eric is killed, Roger tries to track down one of possible five ‘infiltraitors’

"Death of A Fat God" [1963]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Is Skin-Deep, Is Fatal" [Dutton 1965]

An aged innkeeper is murdered, and London P.C. Lassington is stumped; so he calls in Supt. Ironside, who is distracted by concern for his impending retirement. Kindle Edition from Bloomsbury Reader [10/2011] for $7.99 Signet mass pb [1967] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Strong Man" [1971]

"The Underside" [1974]

"A Remarkable Case of Burglary" [1975]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Neil Simon's Murder By Death" [1976]

movie novelization by H.R.F. 'Henry' Keating "A bloody funny movie. A funny bloody book." • based on the original screenplay by Neil Simon; ending of the book is different than the movie Warner Books mass pb [5/76] out of print/used Star Books mass pb [5/76] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"A Long Walk To Wimbledon" [science-fiction novel 1978]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Murder of The Maharajah" [1980]

Set in 1930 inside the Bhopor maharajah's Summer Palace; the cast of characters includes the outrageous Maharajah, the Maharajah's heir and his English chorus-girl mistress, the enigmatic Chief Minister, the aloof British Resident (with his dignified little nine-year-old son), and a bunch of Americans; when someone is murdered the imperturbable District Superintendent of Police appears, a man who is Ganesh Ghote's father. Pinnacle Books mass pb [8/83] out of print/used Doubleday 8¼x6 hardcover [1980] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Lucky Alphonse" [10/1982]
http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Alphonse-H-R-Keating/dp/0727830007/

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Mrs. Craggs: Crimes Cleaned Up" [1985]

Very short, too-easy tales of charlady sleuth Mrs. Craggs and her sidekick Mrs. Milhorne; published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine during the late 1970s; Reed Business reviewer describes as 'insubstantial' and 'nonsense', but more likely is that Keating was having some fun with the genre. St. Martins Press 8¼x5¾ hardcover [8/86] out of print/many used Buchan & Enright hardcover [10/85] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Rich Detective" [1993]

"The Good Detective" [1995]

"The Bad Detective" [1996]

"The Soft Detective" [1997]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"In Kensington Gardens Once ..." [10 stories 1997]

short story collection by H.R.F. Keating, drawings by Gwen Mandley Each of these tales is set at a familiar physical location inside London's Kensington Gardens: the Albert Memorial; statues of Queen Victoria, Peter Pan, and of explorer John Hammond Speke; the Round Pond – and so on; three stories are previously unpublished Crippen & Landru Publrs 9x6 pb [4/97] for $12.00 Crippen & Landru Publrs hardcover [4/97] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Jack The Lady Killer" [1999] novel in verse

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

writing as Evelyn Hervey

"Into The Valley of Death" [1960]
Miss Harriett Unwin proves the innocence of a pub owner

"The Governess" [1983?]

"The Man of Gold" [1985?]

Other Works by H.R.F. Keating

	"Murder Must Appetize" anthology [orig 1975, rev 1981] Edited by H.R.F. Keating Editor Keating starts with old friends Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, but then goes beyond with less well-remembered pioneers of detective fiction, including E.C.R. Lorac (alias for Edith Caroline Rivett) and her bookworm hero Inspector Macdonald; E.R. Punshon and his water-swilling Chief Constable; and Gladys Mitchell's psychiatric adviser to the Home Office, Beatrice Lestrange Bradley — plus many others not identified at this time. Kindle Edition from Bloomsbury Reader [10/2011] for $5.53 Mysterious Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [6/81] out of print/used Lemon Tree Press U.K. hardcover [1975] out of print/used
	"Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime - An Anthology of Biographic and Critical Studies" [1977] Edited by H.R.F. Keating with contributions by Christiana Brand, Edmund Crispin, Celia Fremlin, Michael Gilbert, Dorothy B. Hughes, Philip Jenkinson, editor Keating, Emma Lathen, Julian Symons, J.C. Trewin, Elizabeth Walter, Colin Watson, and William Weaver Holt, Rinehart & Winston 9¾x7 hardcover [4/77] out of print/many used Littlehampton Book Services 9¾x7 hardcover [4/77] out of print/many used
	"Crime Writers: Reflections On Crime Fiction" [1978] Edited by H.R.F. Keating based on the BBC-TV series; featuring Reginald Hill, P.D. James, editor Keating, Troy Kennedy Martin, Maurice Richardson, Julian Symons, and Colin Watson British Broadcasting Corp. pb [10/78] out of print/used British Broadcasting Corp. 9½x7¼ hardcover [10/78] out of print/used based on the "Crime Writers" 6-episode series [BBC-TV Nov-Dec 1978] six 25-minute episodes directed by Douglas Argent; featuring Frederic Dannay, Patricia Hodge, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating • IMDb partial series credits
	"Sherlock Holmes: The Man & His World" [1979] 'biography' by H.R.F. Keating, with 136 illustrations Thames & Hudson, Ltd. 9½x7 pb [1979] out of print/used Booksales 9¼x6¼ hardcover [3/2006] out of print/many used Scribner's 9x6 hardcover [10/79] out of print/many used more on BlackHat Mystery Bookstore's Sherlock Holmes Pages
	"Whodunit?: A Guide To Crime, Suspense & Spy Fiction" [1982] Edited by H.R.F. Keating Presents a history of the whole genre, with a description of the works of over 500 novelists and profiles of the 90 most well-known characters of the mystery genre. Van Nostrand Reinhold 9½x6¼ hardcover [6/82] out of print/many, many used
	"Great Crimes: Classic Crimes - Murders - Swindles - Poisoners - Gangsters - Great Robberies" [1982] by H.R.F. Keating Treasure, London hardcover [1987] out of print/used Longmeadow Press 12¾x9 coffeetable hardcover [3/91] out of print/many used
	"Writing Crime Fiction" [1986] Sections/topics include Structuring Plot, Creating Characters, Building Tension, Resolving A Mystery, and Submitting To Publishers A & C Black 2nd edition 8¼x5¼ pb [10/94] out of print/used St. Martins Press 8x5¼ pb [4/91] out of print/used St. Martins Press 8½x5¼ hardcover [11/87] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books" [1987] by H.R.F. Keating, Introduction by Patricia Highsmith includes books from 1845 to 1986; first-tier authors include: Georges Simenon (3 books), Margery Allingham (2), Raymond Chandler ("High Window" & "Long Goodbye"), Agatha Christie (2), Peter Dickinson (2), Arthur Conan Doyle (2), Stanley Ellin (2), Dashiell Hammett ("Red Harvest" & "Maltese Falcon"), Patricia Highsmith (2), Michael Innes (2), P.D. James (2), Margaret Millar (2), Dorothy L. Sayers (2), Julian Symons (2), and Josephine Tey (2); second-tier authors with one book each include: John Franklin Bardin, John Bingham, Nicholas Blake, Christianna Brand, Frederic Brown, W.R. Burnett ("Asphalt Jungle"), James M. Cain ("Postman.."), John Dickson Carr, G.K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Edmund Crispin, Amanda Cross, Guy Cullingford, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Charles Dickens, E.B. Eberhart, Helen Eustis, Elizabeth Ferrars, Joan Fleming, Nicholas Freeling, Celia Fremlin, Jacques Futrelle, Erle Stanley Gardner, Michael Gilbert, Joseph Hansen, Cyril Hare, George V. Higgins ("Friends of Eddie Coyle"), Reginald Hill, Tony Hillerman, Chester Himes, E.W. Hornung, P.M. Hubbard, Dorothy Hughes, Francis Iles, Michael Innes, C.H.B. Kitchin, Emma Lathen, Peter Lovesey, John D. MacDonald ("Green Ripper"), Ross Macdonald, J.J. Marric (John Creasey), Ngaio Marsh, Ed McBain, Helen McCloy, James McClure, Gregory McDonald ("Fletch"), William McIlvanney, Edgar Allan Poe, M.D. Post, Ellery Queen, Ruth Rendell, Mary Roberts Rinehart, George Sims, Sjöwall & Wahlöö, Shelley Smith, Rex Stout, Jim Thompson ("Pop. 1280"), June Thomson, Dorothy Uhnak, Arthur W. Upfield, John Wainwright, Edgar Wallace, Joseph Wambaugh, Colin Watson, Hillary Waugh, Donald E. Westlake, Ethel Lina White, and Cornell Woolrich Carroll & Graf 8x5½ pb [1/97] for $12.95 Carroll & Graf hardcover [11/87] out of print/used

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

	"The Bedside Companion To Crime" [1989] by H.R.F. Keating Rather rambling, often-witty series of Keating's opinions, almost a 1980s version of blog-postings. Mysterious Press 9¾x6¾ hardcover [1990] out of print/used Mysterious Press 9¾x6½ hardcover [11/89] out of print/100+ used
	"The Best of Father Brown" [16 stories 1991] by G.K. Chesterton Selected & introduced by H.R.F. Keating 16 short stories, 1911 to 1935: The Secret of Father Brown; The Secret Garden; The Queer Feet; The Invisible Man; The Wrong Shape; The Hammer of God; The Absence of Mr. Glass; The Man In The Passage; The Mistake of The Machine; The Purple Wig; The Arrow of Heaven; The Oracle of The Dog; The Doom of The Darnaways; The Mirror of The Magistrate; The Song of The Flying Fish; and The Vampire of The Village Everyman Library mass pb [12/93] for $9.95 Everyman Library 7¾x5 pb [7/91] out of print/used Orion 7¾x5 pb [8/2002] out of print/used
	"Crime Waves 1: The Annual Anthology of The Crime Writers Association" [17 stories 1991] Edited by H.R.F. Keating 17 short stories (6 reprints from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine & 3 original stories) from authors Catherine Aird, Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Liza Cody, Antonia Fraser, Michael Gilbert, Paula Gosling, Herbert Harris, Reginald Hill, editor Keating, Michael A. Lewin, Peter Lovesey, Susan Moody, Mike Ripley, Julian Symons, David Williams, and Margaret Yorke Victor Gollancz pb [10/91] out of print/used Trafalgar Square hardcover [1992] out of print/scarce
	"The Man Who..." anthology [12 stories 1992] Edited by H.R.F. Keating, 'published by the Detective Club in honor of author Julian Symons' stories by authors Catherine Aird, Eric Ambler, Simon Brett, Len Deighton, Antonia Fraser, Michael Gilbert, Reginald Hill, P.D. James, editor Keating, Peter Lovesey, Ruth Rendell, George Sims & Michael Underwood Pan Books pb [12/93] out of print/used Macmillan London 8½x5½ hardcover [5/92] out of print/used
	"The Verdict of Us All" anthology [17 stories 2006] Edited by Peter Lovesey, Fore-word by Dick Francis; 'published by the Detective Club in honor of H.R.F. Keating' 17 new stories by authors Catherine Aird, Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Liza Cody, Lionel Davidson, Len Deighton, Colin Dexter, Jonathan Gash, Michael Hartland, Tim Heald, Reginald Hill, P.D. James, Michael Z. Lewin, editor Lovesey, James Melville, Andrew Taylor & June Thomson Crippen & Landru Publrs 9x6 pb [12/2006] for $20.00 Crippen & Landru Publrs 9x6½ hardcover [12/2006] for $43.00 Crippen & Landru Publrs 8½x5½ hardcover [12/2006] out of print/used

Radio, Movies & TV, Other Media

three Keating BBC Radio programs [1972-74] are missing from all archives per Midweek Theatre Lost Radio Plays List
"Inspector Ghote & The All-Bad Man" [aired Sept 1972] with Kevork Malikyan & Saeed Jaffrey
"Inspector Ghote Makes A Journey" [aired July 1973] with Kevork Mulikyan & Saeed Jaffrey
"Inspector Ghote & The River Man" [aired June 1974] with Kevork Malikyan & Saeed Jaffrey

"Hunt The Peacock" episode of series "The Detective" [Oct 1969] /tt0558792/
Adapted from "Inspector Ghote Hunts The Peacock" by Hugh Leonard; directed by Ben Rea;
starring Zia Mohyeddin {as Ghote}, Marne Maitland, Alan Tucker

"Inspector Ghote Moves In" episode of "Storyboard" [July 1983] /tt0946677/

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Perfect Murder" [Merchant-Ivory July 1988]

Someone attempts to kill an employee in the home of an upper-caste family, and Insp. Ghote of Bombay, India C.I.D. is under pressure to solve this and several other cases, as well as dealing with a visiting professor. Co-written & directed by Zafar Hai, co-written by H.R.F. Keating, from his book; starring Nasee-ruddin Shah {as Ghote}, Stellan Skarsgård, Amjad Khan, Madhur Jaffrey, Annu Kapoor, Archana Puran Singh, Dalip Tahil, Dinshaw Daji, Johnny Walker, Mohan Agashe, Rajesh Vivek, Ratha Pathak {Shah} as Ghote's wife & Salim Ghouse Merchant-Ivory widescreen color DVD [1/2005] for $17.99 full credits from IMDb • official movie site based on the 1964 novel by H.R.F. Keating Academy Chicago Publrs 8x5 pb [10/97] for $10.95

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

BBC Radio4 "Insp. Ghote's First Case" in ten episodes read by Sam Dastor [Sept 2009]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mrwbl/episodes/guide
http://www.amazon.com/Inspector-Ghotes-First-compact-discs/dp/0792757890/

BBC Radio4 "The Murder of the Maharajah" [June 2012]
90-minute dramatisation by Neville Teller, MBE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vfhv3

Works About H.R.F. Keating

"H.R.F. Keating: Post-Colonial Detection - A Critical Study" [1993] by Meera Tanaya Popular Press 9x6 pb [1993] for $15.95 Popular Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [1993] out of print/used

BBC-TV documentary on H.R.F. Keating [1988?]

Friends & Family

brother Noel Keating

wife Sheila Mitchell Keating [] - married 1953, widowed March 2011
son Simon Keating & son Piers Keating & son Hugo Keating
daughter Bryony Keating now living in Australia

L i n k s
Official Website of Crime Writer H.R.F. Keating
H.R.F. Keating entry at Wikipedia
H.R.F. Keating credits [1969-91] at Internet Movie Database
browse books {returns 13} at the H.R.F. Keating Store at Amazon
search for H.R.F. Keating books {returns 350+} at Amazon

U.K. publisher H.R.F. Keating page

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