Robert Barnard

Robert Barnard was one of the UK’s most famous crime writers, intellectuals, political activist and literature critics. He is most well-known for his mystery novels, Charlie Peace series and Perry Trethowan novels. He also wrote under an alter ego, “Bernand Bastable” – producing four works under this name, one of which featured Mozart as a detective.

The best place to start is the Perry Trethowan series, the earliest of Robert Barnard's multi-book series: it opens with Death by Sheer Torture / Sheer Torture (1981) and runs to 5 books across 1981–1987, ending with Death In Purple Prose / The Cherry Blossom Corpse (1987). Robert Barnard's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Robert Barnard has 78 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1974 and 2016. 22 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Charlie Peace series with 11 books — and 56 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Robert Barnard's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Idwal Meredith (1979–1988, 2 books), Perry Trethowan (1981–1987, 5 books) and John Sutcliffe (1986–1991, 2 books), plus 2 more.

This guide splits Robert Barnard's 78 books into 5 named series and 56 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Charlie Peace (11 books, 1989–2012); Perry Trethowan (5 books, 1981–1987); Amadeus Mozart (2 books, 1994–1995); Idwal Meredith (2 books, 1979–1988); John Sutcliffe (2 books, 1986–1991).