Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year: Peter
Dickinson targets England's upper classes in this murderous and
strikingly original theme-park mystery
Tourists are waiting in line for entry into the world of Old England, a
graceful, elegant country house run as a theme park, complete with
wrought-iron gates, pet lions, and maids in white caps greeting visitors
with a bob and a curtsy.
But this fantasy world turns very real when one of the servants takes
his own life. Why did the loyal and faithful Arthur Deakin hang himself
in the pantry without leaving even a note? Dispatched to find out,
Scotland Yard superintendent James Pibble wonders why the local police
weren't called in on a seemingly run-of-the-mill suicide. But as Pibble
will soon find, life at the Herryngs estate of twin brothers Ralph and
Richard Clavering is anything but ordinary. Sir Ralph, a retired
general, and Sir Richard, a former admiral who now writes about animals
being driven out of their native habitats, are war heroes who have gone
from charmingly eccentric to dangerously certifiable. Sir Ralph's only
daughter is desperate to shield the family from scandal. A
disappearance, a man-eating lion, and an old dueling ground add up to
foul play as Pibble uncovers a viper's nest of evil behind an
upper-crust facade that could claim his life next.
The Old English Peep Show is the 2nd book in the James Pibble
Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
