Death by Sheer Torture (1981

1981 in literature

The year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...

), also known simply as Sheer Torture, is a mystery novel by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 Robert Barnard

Robert Barnard

Robert Barnard is an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.- Life and work :Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College in Oxford....

, the first of five novels, penned in the '80s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

, featuring his recurring detective character Perry Trethowan.

Synopsis

Police detective Perry Trethowan suffers a terminal embarrassment when his estranged, aristocratic

Aristocracy

Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

 father is found dead atop a Strappado

Strappado

Strappado is a form of torture in which the victim's hands are first tied behind their back and suspended in the air by means of a rope attached to wrists, which most likely dislocates both arms...

-style torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 device of his own design. Even more humiliating is the revelation that he was wearing spangled tights at the time, exacerbating Perry's fear that he'll be mocked about this case for the rest of his life. However, any hopes he may have had of fading quietly into the background are halted when his superior's force him to lead the investigation, and so he soon finds himself in search of a killer amongst the eccentric relatives he thought he'd left behind years ago…

Reception

The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics and also did very well sales-wise.

Another of the author's unfailingly entertaining forays into crime. One of the most inventive writers of detective fiction today. - Westlake

Westlake

-New Zealand:*Westlake, New Zealand, a suburb of Auckland**Westlake Girls High School**Westlake Boys High School-United States:*Westlake, Daly City, California*Westlake, Los Angeles, California*Westlake, Louisiana*Westlake, Ohio*Westlake, Oregon...