The Last Days of Newgate (A Pyke Mystery) - Hardcover

Pepper, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 029785237X ISBN 13: 9780297852377

Publisher: Orion Publishing, 2008

Synopsis

St Giles, London, 1829. Three people have been brutally murdered and the city simmers with anger and political unrest. Pyke, sometime Bow Street Runner, sometime crook, finds himself accidentally embroiled in the murder investigation but quickly realizes that he has stumbled into something more sinister and far-reaching. In his pursuit of the murderer, Pyke ruffles the feathers of some powerful people, and, falsely accused of murder himself, he soon faces a death sentence and the gallows of Old Bailey. Imprisoned, and with only his uncle and the headstrong, aristocratic daughter of his greatest enemy believing in him, Pyke must engineer his escape, find the real killer, and untangle the web of politics that has been spun around him. From the gutters of Seven Dials, to the cells of Newgate prison; from the turmoil of 1800s Belfast to the highest levels of murky, pre-Victorian politics, The Last Days of Newgate is a gripping, darkly atmospheric story with a fantastic, pragmatic—and reluctantly heroic—hero.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Pepper is a lecturer in English at Queen's University.

Review

This is a potent mix of sectarian politics and raw violence, a richly-researched novel...with a provocative hero...This gritty detective novel will apeal to those who loke plenty of gore and bodies galore. -- Marina Oliver * HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW (August 2007) * Well researched and enjoyably disturbing, THE LAST DAYS OF NEWGATE is on of the few novels in the new wave of historical fiction likely to leave the reader clamouring for more. * TLS (27.10.06) * ...the period detail is well observed, with the issues of of the day effectively illustrated. -- Robert Colbeck * YORKSHIRE EVENING POST (29.7.06) * Pyke is violent, vengeful and conflicted in the best tradition of detectives. His story takes in grisly murder and torture, and uses 1800s London in the same way that hard-boiled fiction uses Los Angeles as a mirror of a corrupt society. -- Jerome de Groot * TIME OUT (2-9 August) **** * [The Last Days of Newgate is] peppered with thrilling escapes, audacious crimes, snatched sexual encounters. Several murders (including that of a baby) are graphically described, as is the way that Pyke tortures his principal adversary before consigning him to a cage of hungry sewer rats. -- Sarah Burton * TIMES (15.7.06) * Gripping and atmospheric. * DAILY EXPRESS (21.7.06) * This is an excellent, atmospheric mystery...it is the character of Pyke that is of greatest interest. I struggle to find anyone to compare him with, with the possible exception of Patricia Highsmith?s Ripley. He is an anti-hero who intends to prove his innocence at whatever cost. But his acts can be heroic - and there is no lack of morality in the book. The final chapter hints at the impact of some of the compromises made. I can?t wait for the sequel. * CRIMESQUAD.COM * The novel drips with all the atmospheric detail of a pre-Victorian murder mystery - "pea-soupers", dingy lanterns and laudanum. -- John Cooper * TIMES (27.6.06) * The main character is a Bow Street Runner who is investigating three brutal murders in St Giles, London. He crosses powerful people, ends up in Newgate prison heading for the gallows, has the help of a headstrong aristocratic beauty...a story of high intrigue and low politics, brutal murder and cunning conspiracies...Tangy and rambunctious stuff. -- Peter Guttridge * OBSERVER (18.6.06) *

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 029785237X
• ISBN 13: 9780297852377
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320