The James Pibble Mysteries
6 primary works • 14 total works
Book 1
Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger: Scotland Yard's James Pibble puzzles over the murder of a pygmy tribesman in the middle of London in this "first class" mystery (The Times Literary Supplement).
Oddball cases are James Pibble's specialty. But the brutal bludgeoning of the revered elder of a New Guinea tribesman may be his strangest yet.
The corpse, in striped pajamas, lies in the middle of a room completely absent of furniture. Seven women squat on the floorboards. One knits. Another sits cross-legged at his feet. They all chant incantations in a strange language. The murder weapon, a wooden balustrade ornament in the shape of an owl, could have been wielded by any of the myriad suspects Pibble meets at Flagg Terrace, the London residence where the Ku family currently lives. And the only clue seems to be an Edwardian penny.
So who killed bearded, four-foot-tall Aaron Ku? Everyone seems to have an alibi, including a local real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist whose marriage into the tribe was forbidden. In a house where men and women live in separate quarters, Pibble must follow a hierarchy of primitive rituals and gender-role reversals to unmask a surprising killer.
The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest is the 1st book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Oddball cases are James Pibble's specialty. But the brutal bludgeoning of the revered elder of a New Guinea tribesman may be his strangest yet.
The corpse, in striped pajamas, lies in the middle of a room completely absent of furniture. Seven women squat on the floorboards. One knits. Another sits cross-legged at his feet. They all chant incantations in a strange language. The murder weapon, a wooden balustrade ornament in the shape of an owl, could have been wielded by any of the myriad suspects Pibble meets at Flagg Terrace, the London residence where the Ku family currently lives. And the only clue seems to be an Edwardian penny.
So who killed bearded, four-foot-tall Aaron Ku? Everyone seems to have an alibi, including a local real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist whose marriage into the tribe was forbidden. In a house where men and women live in separate quarters, Pibble must follow a hierarchy of primitive rituals and gender-role reversals to unmask a surprising killer.
The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest is the 1st book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Book 2
Book 3
Scotland Yard detective James Pibble travels to a remote Scottish island to free an old man from a dangerous cult of self-proclaimed saints and saviors in this mystery by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson
Ninety-two-year-old Sir Francis Francis summons James Pibble to an isolated island in the Hebrides to find out who pilfered the memoirs he was in the process of writing. The Nobel Prize–winning scientist was one of the builders of the first atom bomb. Is Francis senile? Paranoid? Was the manuscript really stolen? What’s the real reason he sent for Pibble?
As Pibble tries to untangle the mystery of the missing document, he starts to suspect that the devout millenarian religious sect inhabiting the island may be less virtuous than it seems; the community is strangely hell-bent on preventing Francis from ever leaving. It’s up to Pibble to seek out the truth and find his own salvation before the walls of Jericho come tumbling down forever.
The Sinful Stones is the 3rd book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Ninety-two-year-old Sir Francis Francis summons James Pibble to an isolated island in the Hebrides to find out who pilfered the memoirs he was in the process of writing. The Nobel Prize–winning scientist was one of the builders of the first atom bomb. Is Francis senile? Paranoid? Was the manuscript really stolen? What’s the real reason he sent for Pibble?
As Pibble tries to untangle the mystery of the missing document, he starts to suspect that the devout millenarian religious sect inhabiting the island may be less virtuous than it seems; the community is strangely hell-bent on preventing Francis from ever leaving. It’s up to Pibble to seek out the truth and find his own salvation before the walls of Jericho come tumbling down forever.
The Sinful Stones is the 3rd book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Book 4
A strange malady afflicts the children of McNair House in this British mystery featuring former Scotland Yard superintendent James Pibble, from CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson
Recently given the sack by Scotland Yard, James Pibble arrives at McNair House on a private matter, only to find that this charitable institution is not at all what it seems. The children who live here have a rare disease called cathypny, which renders them sleepy and fat. It also imbues them with special telepathic powers, which is how one boy instantly pegs Pibble as a cop.
A dreamy nine-year-old named Marilyn has perceived that someone at McNair House is in mortal danger. With all the research money that's suddenly pouring in, the pressure is on to prove that these children really are empaths; a Greek tycoon is banking on it. But Pibble is beginning to suspect the worst kind of fraud: an exploitative con game using innocent young lives as bait. And one of the children may be the target of an escaped killer obsessed with the supernatural. Now Pibble must pit his own finely honed instincts against an adversary who can see the future: a world without James Pibble.
Recently given the sack by Scotland Yard, James Pibble arrives at McNair House on a private matter, only to find that this charitable institution is not at all what it seems. The children who live here have a rare disease called cathypny, which renders them sleepy and fat. It also imbues them with special telepathic powers, which is how one boy instantly pegs Pibble as a cop.
A dreamy nine-year-old named Marilyn has perceived that someone at McNair House is in mortal danger. With all the research money that's suddenly pouring in, the pressure is on to prove that these children really are empaths; a Greek tycoon is banking on it. But Pibble is beginning to suspect the worst kind of fraud: an exploitative con game using innocent young lives as bait. And one of the children may be the target of an escaped killer obsessed with the supernatural. Now Pibble must pit his own finely honed instincts against an adversary who can see the future: a world without James Pibble.
Book 5
On the lonian island of Hyos, where James Pibble has been sent to protect millionaire Thanassi Thanatos, it is difficult to know what is true. Is there really a lizard that will poison you if it drowns in your milk? Is the man from the Home Office there to kill? Or to save? Or just to play cricket with the local boys under local rules? Why does the grubby English girl live in a hut in a vineyard? She has a mysterious past, true. But then so has everyone else, and most of them have mysterious presents as well ...
Book 6
CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson is back: Now-retired Scotland Yard superintendent James Pibble isn't about to go quietly into the night-not when there's a murder case or two (or three) to solve
At Flycatchers, a well-to-do nursing home watched over by no-nonsense nurse Jenny, one-time detective James Pibble shuttles between his nothing-to-live-for present and memories of the crimes he's solved-or failed to. He's roused from his listless existence when he discovers a dead body on top of the water tower.
Security guard George Tosca isn't the only one at Flycatchers who has met his maker a bit too abruptly. There have been other suspicious deaths in the last three years, including those of military man Sir Archibald Gunter and Bertie Foster-Banks, an inveterate gambler and shareholder in the home. The arrival of a woman in black sets off a sinister chain of events, and before he knows it, Pibble is on the case.
As he travels down a twisting path of blackmail and escalating violence, Pibble finds that his life is suddenly filled with purpose again. He will bring a cunning killer to justice-or die trying. But the real reason he went up to the tower on that stormy winter night is linked to a secret he'll carry to his grave.
One Foot in the Grave is the 6th book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
At Flycatchers, a well-to-do nursing home watched over by no-nonsense nurse Jenny, one-time detective James Pibble shuttles between his nothing-to-live-for present and memories of the crimes he's solved-or failed to. He's roused from his listless existence when he discovers a dead body on top of the water tower.
Security guard George Tosca isn't the only one at Flycatchers who has met his maker a bit too abruptly. There have been other suspicious deaths in the last three years, including those of military man Sir Archibald Gunter and Bertie Foster-Banks, an inveterate gambler and shareholder in the home. The arrival of a woman in black sets off a sinister chain of events, and before he knows it, Pibble is on the case.
As he travels down a twisting path of blackmail and escalating violence, Pibble finds that his life is suddenly filled with purpose again. He will bring a cunning killer to justice-or die trying. But the real reason he went up to the tower on that stormy winter night is linked to a secret he'll carry to his grave.
One Foot in the Grave is the 6th book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
A London woman taking her grandson to the park finds her lonely life disrupted by murder in this award-winning author's "gripping thriller" (Reginald Hill).
Poppy Tasker never imagined this would be her life at age fifty: divorced, living alone, and stuck caring for a tiny grandson while his mother is busy seeking public office. Sad and resentful, Poppy feels completely detached from the nannies she's now forced to associate with when she brings little Toby to the park to play. But her discomfort is replaced by a creeping dread when she notices a stranger watching her and the boy a bit too closely-and her fear turns to near panic when the man tries to follow them home.
The following day, the stalker is found murdered in the park, his corpse decorated in an odd and troubling manner. Poppy's terror grows as she realizes that she and her innocent grandson have become entangled in something twisted and very dangerous. Then the nanny of one of Toby's playground friends meets an untimely end-and Poppy realizes that this may only be the beginning.
One of the true greats of contemporary British crime fiction, Peter Dickinson is often compared to luminaries including Ruth Rendell, Peter Lovesey, P. D. James, and Reginald Hill. Play Dead is a shining example of his storytelling artistry.
Poppy Tasker never imagined this would be her life at age fifty: divorced, living alone, and stuck caring for a tiny grandson while his mother is busy seeking public office. Sad and resentful, Poppy feels completely detached from the nannies she's now forced to associate with when she brings little Toby to the park to play. But her discomfort is replaced by a creeping dread when she notices a stranger watching her and the boy a bit too closely-and her fear turns to near panic when the man tries to follow them home.
The following day, the stalker is found murdered in the park, his corpse decorated in an odd and troubling manner. Poppy's terror grows as she realizes that she and her innocent grandson have become entangled in something twisted and very dangerous. Then the nanny of one of Toby's playground friends meets an untimely end-and Poppy realizes that this may only be the beginning.
One of the true greats of contemporary British crime fiction, Peter Dickinson is often compared to luminaries including Ruth Rendell, Peter Lovesey, P. D. James, and Reginald Hill. Play Dead is a shining example of his storytelling artistry.
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.
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.
The twisted circumstances surrounding an unspeakable crime, an old man's fortune, and a production of Shakespeare's 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. Andrew's 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 cousin's amateur production of The Tempest. But young Andrew's fledgling theatrics would prove merely to be the opening act of a horrific human tragedy, forcing him to keep a terrible truth locked inside himself-even 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.
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. Andrew's 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 cousin's amateur production of The Tempest. But young Andrew's fledgling theatrics would prove merely to be the opening act of a horrific human tragedy, forcing him to keep a terrible truth locked inside himself-even 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.
In this brilliant crime novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, a writer looks back on his past and discovers the memory of a murder that needs to be solved
It's been forty years since Paul Rogers spent a night at St. Aidan's Preparatory School. When a biographer asks the now-middle-aged novelist about his youth, it triggers memories that Rogers thought he had lost forever. He begins writing about the summer of 1940, when the Nazis took Paris and his entire boarding school was evacuated to a country house in Devon. There the boys discovered a pastoral countryside whose woods held untold mysteries-one of which, Rogers realizes in hindsight, might have been a murder.
To write about this long-forgotten crime, Rogers digs deep into his past, uncovering terrifying recollections that may or may not be real. Something gruesome happened that summer, but understanding it will force Rogers to clear the fog of memory and unravel its mysteries once and for all.
It's been forty years since Paul Rogers spent a night at St. Aidan's Preparatory School. When a biographer asks the now-middle-aged novelist about his youth, it triggers memories that Rogers thought he had lost forever. He begins writing about the summer of 1940, when the Nazis took Paris and his entire boarding school was evacuated to a country house in Devon. There the boys discovered a pastoral countryside whose woods held untold mysteries-one of which, Rogers realizes in hindsight, might have been a murder.
To write about this long-forgotten crime, Rogers digs deep into his past, uncovering terrifying recollections that may or may not be real. Something gruesome happened that summer, but understanding it will force Rogers to clear the fog of memory and unravel its mysteries once and for all.
Two ex-lovers, he merely old, she now slowly dying, have been listening to a radio quiz about a juicy political scandal in which they were both involved at the time of the Suez crisis. To his astonishment she asks her how another participant was killed. His answer startles her as much as the question had him. Turn and turn about they start to tell each other their part in the events, re-treading the maze of high politics, espionage, sex and shady property deals until she finds the answer.
