> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 2 May 2005
  • ISBN: 9780552771238
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $39.99

Past Mortem




The bestselling new novel from Ben Elton

With old friends like these, who needs enemies?

It's a question mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself when, in romantic desperation, he logs on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of take back '88 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, and failing comprehensively to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again.


In Past Mortem, Ben Elton - previous winner of The Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for Popcorn - delivers both a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance.

  • Published: 2 May 2005
  • ISBN: 9780552771238
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $39.99

About the author

Ben Elton

Ben Elton’s multi-award winning career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past thirty-five years. In addition to his hugely influential work as a stand-up comic, he was co-writer of TV hits The Young Ones and Blackadder and sole creator of The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow. He has written fifteen major bestsellers, including Stark, Popcorn, Inconceivable, Dead Famous, High Society, Two Brothers and Time and Time Again, three West End plays and three musicals, including global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written and directed two feature films, Maybe Baby and Three Summers.

He is married and has three children.

Also by Ben Elton

See all

Praise for Past Mortem

Fans will love it

Heat

Engaging and smartly plotted

Observer

It's warm-hearted characterisation and deft pacing should make the paperback popular on next summer's beaches

The Sunday Times

Past Mortem confirms Elton as craftsmanlike, thoughtful and readable. Fans will find plenty to enjoy

Daily Mail

A writer who provokes almost as much as he entertains

Daily Mail