A Coat of Varnish Recent Major Sharpe finds himself a

Major Sharpe finds himself a fugitive

assisted by his cockney manservant Sam Weller

or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener

A dazzling and lyrical debut crime novel

Conservative and famously controversial

A Coat of Varnish Recent Major Sharpe finds himself aHumphrey Leigh, retired resident of Belgravia, pays a social visit to an old friend, Lady Ashbrook, who is waiting for medical test results. When Lady Ashbrook gets the all clear, she enjoys her new lease of life for ten days. When she is then found brutally murdered, the entire upper middle class neighbourhood is thrown into disarray.