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Peter Dickinson

Three mysteries in the CWA Gold Dagger–winning series by a “master of the bizarre” (Louis Untermeyer).
 
 Scotland Yard detective James Pibble is known for accepting any case, no matter how strange. Taking him to every corner of England, his job throws him into the most curious circumstances.
 
The Glass-Sided Ants’ Nest: Detective Pibble is on the case when the revered elder of a New Guinea tribe is bludgeoned to death. All the suspects—including a real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist who married into the tribe—have alibis. And Pibble’s only clue is an Edwardian penny.
 
The Old English Peep Show: Pibble’s next case takes him to the World of Old England, a country house run as a theme park. When one of the servants at the estate hangs himself, Detective Pibble discovers not a suicide, but a bizarre set of circumstances that add up to foul play.
 
The Sinful Stones: Nobel Prize–winning scientist and one of the first builders of the atomic bomb Sir Francis Francis summons Detective Pibble to an isolated island to find his stolen memoir. But is Francis senile? Was the manuscript really stolen? What’s the real reason he sent for Pibble? And why does the island’s religious sect want Francis to stay so much?

Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller

The James Pibble Mysteries

The James Pibble Mysteries Volume One: The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest, The Old English Peep Show, and The Sinful Stones

Detective Pibble returns in three more mysteries in the CWA Gold Dagger–winning series by a “master of the bizarre” (Louis Untermeyer).

 Fired by Scotland Yard, James Pibble continues to solve the weirdest and most difficult cases, testing his wit while traveling to new and strange locales.
 
Sleep and His Brother: When Pibble arrives at McNair House after being discharged by Scotland Yard, he discovers children there with a rare disease called Cathypny, which renders them sleepy, fat, and gifted with telepathic powers. Detective Pibble suspects these children are being used as bait in an exploitative con game—and one may even be the target of an escaped killer obsessed with the supernatural.
 
The Lizard in the Cup: Pibble has come to the island of Hyos to protect Greek tycoon Thanassi Thanatos from the mob after he muscles in on their territory. Rumor has it the crooks are eyeing Hyos for its booming drug-smuggling industry. The mystery deepens when Detective Pibble uncovers a monastery led by Fathers Polydore and Chrysostom, who may be the richest men on the island. But a myth about a lizard called the samimithi could hold the key . . .
 
One Foot in the Grave: At Flycatchers, a well-to-do nursing home, Detective Pibble is mired in a listless existence—until he discovers a dead body on top of the water tower, one of several suspicious deaths. The subsequent arrival of a woman in black sets off a sinister chain of events, and before he knows it, Pibble is on the case.

The James Pibble Mysteries Volume Two: Sleep and His Brother, The Lizard in the Cup, and One Foot in the Grave

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.

The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest

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.

The Old English Peep Show

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.

The Sinful Stones

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.

 Sleep and His Brother is the 4th book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Sleep and His Brother

An ex-Scotland Yard superintendent is caught up in an international mystery: “The most original crime novelist to appear for a long, long time.” —The Guardian

 The West Indies island of Hog’s Cay is soon to open for tourism, but the money behind the deal comes from the Mafia, which is ready to turn the island into the next Vegas. And the politicos in charge have given Greek tycoon Thanassi Thanatos the contract. That’s where James Pibble comes in.

 The former Scotland Yard superintendent has come to Thanatos’s hideaway on the Ionian island of Hyos to protect the Greek tycoon from the Mob, which doesn’t like anyone muscling in on its territory. Rumor has it the crooks are eyeing Hyos for their booming drug-smuggling trade. Throw in British intelligence and a clandestine American operation, and you’ve got an international free-for-all.

 The mystery deepens when Pibble uncovers a monastery led by Fathers Polydore and Chrysostom, who may be the richest men on the island. And why is an English artist named Nancy living in a primitive hut? The answers may lie in a myth about a lizard called the samimithi, a harbinger of violent death.

 With superstition and distrust running rampant, Pibble races to stop a conspiracy set in motion by an obsessive love with the power to kill.

 The Lizard in the Cup is the 5th book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The Lizard in the Cup

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.