Charlie Resnick


Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick is the protagonist of a series of eleven police procedural novels by British writer John Harvey, based in the city of Nottingham. Resnick is of Polish descent and loves sandwiches and jazz. The first novel in the series, Lonely Hearts was published in 1989, and was named by The Times as one of the "100 Greatest Crime Novels of the Century". What was believed to be the final novel in the series, Last Rites, was published in 1998. However, in an interview on BBC Four on 7 November 2006 John Harvey mentioned that he was working on a new novel in the Resnick series. In an interview with the BBC on 20 October 2007, it was confirmed that the novel would be entitled Cold in Hand and would see Resnick retire from the police force. Cold in Hand was published in 2008.
There were two TV movies made about Resnick, based on Lonely Hearts and Rough Treatment, for the BBC in 1992 and 1993, starring Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson as the character. Screenplays for both were written by John Harvey himself. Several of the novels have been adapted for radio, often appearing in the rotation on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The Resnick series