Some Deaths Before Dying - Softcover

Dickinson, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446676128 ISBN 13: 9780446676120

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 2000

Synopsis

Harrowing Suspense in the Most Unexpected Places

Paralyzed by a debilitating illness, 90-year-old Rachel Matson finds herself confronted by a disturbing mystery -- one that begins when a 19th-century pistol that belonged to her husband pops up on Antiques Roadshow. Determined to solved it, she begins the arduous task of teasing the past from the shadows, uncovering a tale bearing a sordid secret -- and an even more devastating truth.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

The New York Times Book Review calls multiple-award winner Peter Dickinson "a stylist of subtle brilliance". Always surprising and incisive, the author of The Yellow Room Conspiracy and dozens of other unique novels returns with his first new book in five years; and proves again that in his masterful hands, powerful drama and devastating secrets can be found at the heart of even the smallest mysteries.

For nearly her whole life, through most of the twentieth century, Rachel Matson saw the world through the lens of a camera, and produced stunning photographs that not only captured the moment but hinted at a greater truth. Now the ninety-year-old widow lies paralyzed, in the final stages of a debilitating illness. Yet while Rachel's body may be useless, her spirit remains indomitable, her mind razor sharp, and her eye, the trained eye of an artist, still picks up the most telling details. Together with her vast collection of photographs, these gifts are about to help her meet an extraordinary challenge, as she confronts a shattering mystery that harkens back over the decades...

On a television program that showcases heirlooms, an antique pistol that belonged to her late husband, Colonel Jocelyn Matson, turns up, leaving Rachel bewildered and then profoundly disturbed. How could the prized Ladurie -- one of a matched pair of dueling pistols she had given to him to commemorate his return from the horrors of a Japanese POW camp -- appear hundreds of miles away in the possession of a stranger?

Determined to learn the fate of Jocelyn's gun, Rachel falls back on the one thing left to her -- her intellect -- and soon begins the painful process of teasing the past from the shadows. Whatemerges from the vivid shards of her memories is a mesmerizing tale of honor, passion, and betrayal that stretches from colonial India to modern-day England ...a tale of a loving marriage interrupted by war, of a once-proud regiment of soldiers broken by unspeakable cruelty, and of a dashing officer burdened by a lurid secret.

Charged with emotion and harrowing suspense, Peter Dickinson's astonishing novel draws you in, until, as helpless as Rachel herself, you can only wait and ponder, while the missing pieces of the past are slowly brought into sharp focus, and the haunting truth at last is shockingly revealed.

From the Back Cover:

Peter Dickinson has won international acclaim for his stunning and uniquely inventive crime fiction. Now the author P. D. James calls "the true original" returns once again to prove that in his masterful hands, harrowing suspense can be found in the most unexpected places.

Paralyzed by a debilitating illness, ninety-year-old Rachel Matson has been robbed of everything but her intellect. Yet when the indomitable widow finds herself confronted by a disturbing mystery -- one that begins when a nineteenth-century pistol that belonged to her husband pops up on Antiques Roadshow -- she is determined to solve it. From the confines of her bed, with only the photographs she took long ago to guide her, Rachel begins the arduous task of teasing the past from the shadows. But what finally emerges is a tale stretching back more than half a century, a tale bearing a sordid secret and an even more devastating truth...

About this edition

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0446676128
• ISBN 13: 9780446676120
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256