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Past Mortem

ben elton

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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.

460 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2004
Literary awards
prix polar international, 

This edition

Format
460 pages, Paperback
Published
May 1, 2005 by Black Swan
ISBN
9780552771238
ASIN
0552771236
Language
English

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About the author

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ben elton

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Ben Elton was born on 3 May 1959, in Catford, South London. The youngest of four, he went to Godalming Grammar school, joined amateur dramatic societies and wrote his first play at 15. He wanted to be a stagehand at the local theatre, but instead did A-Level Theatre Studies and studied drama at Manchester University in 1977.

His career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past twenty years. His ground breaking work as a TV stand-up comedian set the (high) standard of what was to follow. He has received accolades for his hit TV sit-coms, The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line.

More recently he has had successes with three hit West End musicals, including the global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written three plays for the London stage, including the multi-award-winning Popcorn. Ben's international bestselling novels include Stark, Inconceivable, Dead Famous and High Society. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for the novel Popcorn.

Elton lives in Perth with his Aussie wife Sophie and three children.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
28(28%)
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42(42%)
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30(30%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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Dragon_Tube
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I have read quite a few of Ben Elton's novels and with the exception of Blast from the Past have enjoyed them, some of them (High Society, Chart Throb) very much so.
Past Mortem is an okay mystery very heavy on the message about bullying. It's an important issue and I presume it was personal for Elton. An enjoyable read it is not, but then I suppose it's not meant to be.
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polandspringz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Really enjoyed it. Have read a number of Ben Elton books this is by far the best.
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Ishizu123
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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First book of 2022 was a Xmas gift picked up at the Op Shop and it was great! Ben Elton is such a brilliantly comedic writer even when the genre is crime / thriller. Started Dec 25th and finished on New Year's Day, it was a great way to start the year :)
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No1_LoliLover
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Ben Elton is unashamedly into the groove of selecting themes of popular culture and satirising them. This is a typical offering, this time centring round a Friends Reunited-type website, and contains a lot of humour as well as some rather startling sex scenes. The whodunnit was weak, I thought, as I guessed the perpetrator pretty early on. There was still a minor twist I didn't guess, though, so top marks to him there. Not his best, but not his worst by any means.
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mmmayonnaise
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This was given to me by my Scottish friend who bought it in a UK charity shop. I hadn't ready any Elton before, and I'm really enjoying this. It's basically a police procedural, albeit a more lighthearted one (though the crimes are not at all lighthearted). It's sort of a veddy serious procedural crossed with a Kingsley Amis novel.
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Sirjacer
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I really like Ben Elton's style. Being a multi-talented actor/director/playwright/comedian/everything, I could tell he was a good story teller. The murders are gruesome and creative, although anyone who has read a few murder mystery novels I feel would have guessed in the middle of the book who the culprit was.
Regardless, I loved the theme of exploring the past especially around the traumas and bullying from high school that sticks with you your whole life. It is cringey and uncomfortable but a lot of people did not enjoy high school did they.
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khaego
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Let me first say that the plot and the pace are very good. So why the low rating? The characters. This is one of the most sexist books I've ever read with bat-shit crazy women and submissive idiots who love the bad boy while the main male character is so slimy it makes reading this book almost unbearable. He reinforces every fear that women have about all men being shallow, sex-focused, disgusting perverts at their core. Not worth the read.
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