Patrick Petrella
Patrick Petrella is a police detective created by the British mystery writer Michael Gilbert and who appears in 6 books published between 1958 and 1993. In his first appearance, in the police procedural ''Blood and Judgement'' Petrella is a Detective Sergeant at the (fictional) Q Division of the London Metropolitan Police. In the final novel in the series, ''Roller Coaster'', he has become a Superintendent. Petrella's character combines an erudite and cultured background with a fiery ("Mediterranean") temper.[1] He was born to a Spanish policeman father, from whom he gets his last name, and an English mother who gave him his first name. He was educated in Madrid, England, Beirut and Cairo.[2] Michael Gilbert attributes reading the poem Who Has Seen The Wind? by Christina Rossetti, during a boring church sermon, as the inspiration for the first Petrella mystery.[2]
BBC Radio broadcast two series of radio plays adapted from the novels in 2007, with Petrella played by Philip Jackson.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Obituary, Michael Gilbert. The Telegraph. Retrieved on March 1, 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gilbert, Michael (1977). Petrella at Q. Harper & Row Publishers. ISBN 0-06-080963-9.
- ↑ Petrella Episode Guide. BBC Radio. Retrieved on March 1, 2014.