Gallows Thief PB Warehouse Spe - Softcover

Bernard Cornwell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007755171 ISBN 13: 9780007755172

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

The year is 1820. Rider Sandman, a hero of Waterloo, returns to London to wed his fiancée. But instead of settling down to fame and glory, he finds himself penniless in a country where high unemployment and social unrest rage, and where men—innocent or guilty—are hanged for the merest of crimes.

When he's offered a job as private investigator to re-open the case of a painter due to be hanged for a murder he didn't commit, Sandman readily accepts—as much for the money as for a chance to see justice done in a country gone to ruins.

Soon, however, he's mired in a grisly murder plot that keeps thickening. Sandman makes his way through gentlemen's clubs and shady taverns, aristocratic mansions, and fashionable painters' studios determined to rescue the innocent young man from the rope. But someone doesn't want the truth revealed.

About this title

About the Author:

BERNARD CORNWELL is the author of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling Saxon Tales series, which includes The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land, Death of Kings, The Pagan Lord, and, most recently, The Empty Throne and Warriors of the Storm, and which serves as the basis for the hit television series The Last Kingdom. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod and in Charleston, South Carolina.

From AudioFile:

Rider Sandman, the government's investigator, believes a painter due to hang in a week is innocent of murder. His investigation sparks a race for proof that will last until the hour of execution. James Frain reads with a somber tone that adds tension and menace to Sandman's quest. His readings of the hanging scenes that open and close the novel are harrowing, as are details emphasizing the cruelty of English prisons of the post-Napoleonic era in general and the gallows in particular. The abridgment is effective, preserving both historical details and the murder plot. The novel works both as a thriller and as a glimpse of life in England shortly after the French Wars. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0007755171
• ISBN 13: 9780007755172
• Binding: Paperback