Perfect Gallows: A Crime Novel

(Paperback)

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The twisted circumstances surrounding an unspeakable crime, an old mans fortune, and a production of Shakespeares The Tempest come to light four decades on in this masterful tale of greed, deception, and murder by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson

Behind his practiced facade of cheerful sophistication, the renowned actor Adrian Waring is a haunted man. The ghost that torments him is from an earlier era, when a world war raged and Adrian was still Andrew, the guest and possible heir of his rich uncle, Arnold Wragge. Wragge had returned from the diamond mines of South Africa with a fortune and a loyal servant named Samuel Mkele, and when his own son vanished, presumably in the smoke of combat, the old man looked to his poor relation as a potential replacement. Andrews true interests lay elsewhere, however, in applause and the attentions of eager young ladies, both of which he realized he could have by starring in his cousins amateur production of The Tempest. But young Andrews fledgling theatrics would prove merely to be the opening act of a horrific human tragedy, forcing him to keep a terrible truth locked inside himselfeven four decades after a body was discovered hanging from a perfect dovecote gallows...

A master practitioner of the literary art of mystery and murder, author Peter Dickinson stands tall alongside P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, and other luminaries of contemporary British crime fiction. A brilliant innovator unafraid to tamper with the rules of genre, he is at the very top of his game with this gripping, twisting, and altogether remarkable psychological thriller.

Reviews

An astonishing novel... Stunning artistry... Subtle magic. The Philadelphia Inquirer

Engrossing... Dickinson is one of the most versatile and inventive writers of mysteries. Los Angeles Times

From the marvelous first chapter of Perfect Gallows...we know we are once again in the safe hands of a master. P. D. James

Dickinsons touch is so masterly here that he makes other fine domestic mysteries seem quite amateurish. Kirkus Reviews

An adroit and suspenseful tale. The New York Times Book Review

The whodunits of British novelist Peter Dickinson are exceptional. Newsweek

Author Bio

Peter Dickinson was born in Africa but raised and educated in England. From 1952 to 1969 he was on the editorial staff ofPunch,and since then earned his living writing fiction of various kinds for children and adults. His books have been published in several languages throughout the world.

The author of twenty-one crime and mystery novels for adults, Dickinson was the first to win the Gold Dagger Award of the Crime Writers Association for two books running: The Glass-Sided Ants Nest (1968) and The Old English Peepshow (1969). Dickinson was shortlisted nine times for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for childrens literature and was the first author to win it twice.

Dickinson served as chairman of the Society of Authors and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for services to literature. Peter Dickinson died on December 16, 2015, at the age of eighty-eight.