Most Popular Books by Peter Dickinson

For one young boy, a box full of nothing is a ticket to adventure While skipping school, James sees his mother on the street. He ducks inside an abandoned store, where an aged shopkeeper asks what he wants to buy. When James says “nothing,” the old man sells it to him: a heavy cardboard box stuffed full of top-quality nothing. James tries to explain this to his mother, but she doesn’t believe him and throws the box over the fence and into the dump. He sneaks in to retrieve his new possession—and finds himself trapped in another world. The dump is an eerie place populated by hyperintelligent rats, monstrous seagulls, and a very clever pile of garbage called the Burra. Once it was a thriving community, but something strange has happened, and the dump has become stuck in time. To get back home, James must help the Burra save the dump—using all the nothing he can find. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

When Theodore’s safe, predictable world is destroyed, his life—and his faith—are in danger Thirteen-year-old Theodore has lived in China all his life and never felt terror, until his father’s missionary settlement is attacked and burned in the night. Theodore follows his father’s orders and hides in the forest, only creeping back the next morning to see if anything—or anyone—has survived. But before he reaches the smoldering wreckage he runs into the formidable Mrs. Jones, a botanist and adventurer who’s traveling across China on horseback with her young companion, Lung. The three head into the Himalayan foothills, where a mountainside escape puts them at the mercy of the Lama Amchi. The holy man seems interested in Theodore and leads the group to an extraordinary hidden monastery. But deep in the mountains, with winter coming and monks following their every move, will rescue come at a price? Are Theodore and his friends honored guests—or prisoners? This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

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.

On a prehistoric shore, a young girl fights to help her tribe survive She is at home in the ocean, as comfortable in the water as she is on dry land. The child’s people have made their homes by the bay for as long as anyone can remember, diving for mussels and any other food the ocean will serve to them. They have no language; they have no names. Although they know love and jealousy and pride, they are not quite human—not yet. This child of the sea will show them the way. Two million years later, Vinny is visiting her father at an archaeological site in Africa when they discover the remains of that forgotten tribe of cliff dwellers. Across the ocean of time, these two young women will find a connection, an inexplicable bond that builds slowly but arrives with all the power of a tidal wave. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

A boy with psychic powers struggles to save his loved ones When Davy’s mother deserts their family, Davy’s father packs his children into a rickety old car and takes them on a vacation. They drive to their mysterious old grandparents’ house in the sprawling Welsh countryside, a place so rural that running water is a novelty. It is there that Davy learns he has the gift. He has always seen the pictures—images in his head that tell of the future or the past—but his grandmother explains that the gift is both a remarkable power and a terrible curse. It was the gift that killed Davy’s great-uncle—and it is the gift that could save his life. Seven years later, Davy is in high school, and for the first time he can remember, life is almost normal. But when he starts having troubling visions of his father’s new employer he knows that only he can save his family from destruction. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

To save a country, a girl and her grandfather must learn what it means to be a hero The greatest hero in the history of Varina was baptized in a cave. Every schoolchild knows the story. His parents were on their way to the city when a storm drove them to take shelter in the mountainside, along with a priest, a bandit, and a scholar. When the storm did not abate, they asked the priest to give their child a name, and he christened the boy Restaur Vax. The boy would grow to be a warrior, a scholar, and a man of god, and his name would lead an oppressed people to independence for the first time. Alas, that liberty would not survive. Generations later, Vax''s oldest living descendant is in London, teaching the language of Varina to his inquisitive young granddaughter. When his homeland is torn apart once more by war, calls come for this man to take up the mantle of the Vax name--and become a hero for a new age. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author''s collection.

Four children embark on a quest for a new land at the dawn of human history Africa, two hundred thousand years ago: Suth and Noli were orphaned the night the murderous strangers came, speaking an unfamiliar language and bringing violence to the peaceful Moonhawk tribe. Determined not to die in the desert, Suth and Noli slip away with Ko and Mana. Suth, the eldest, leads them; Noli’s dreams of the future guide them. Ko gives them courage; Mana gives them peace. Their search for a new Good Place, one of food and safety, will take them across the valleys and plains of prehistoric Africa and bring them together as a tribe and as a family.

Can a child defeat a frozen giant and bring summer back to Apple Island? It’s the last night of a family’s holiday on a tropical island filled with black beaches, sweetfruit, and red-necked looby birds. Their final adventure is to climb the island’s tallest mountain before they leave in the morning. But when the child—who might be you—wakes up the next morning, the world has become a frozen wasteland and the father has been transformed into ice. Setting out in search of Giant Cold, a frozen monster no one has ever seen, you—now a tiny elf—meet two giants: white-beard, a scholar; and black-beard, a sailor. You’re forced to live inside a bottle and travel with black-beard—until the looby birds snatch up the bottle. Flying over forests, fields, and seas, you must rescue Apple Island from Giant Cold and his armies of wind, snow, and ice. With only the warmth of your own life—a tiny spark—you take on the powerful giant. Riding the wind up to the mountain peak, your tiny size will become your greatest asset as you make a surprising discovery about yourself. Giant Cold is a strikingly original, big-hearted fantasy about love, family, and finding your way home. This ebook features black-and-white illustrations by Alan Cober and an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

To save his friend, a daring young boy infiltrates a healing center If it weren’t for the migraines, Barry would be an ordinary boy. When a crushing headaches strikes him during the school day, he goes to the nurse’s office to beg for aspirin. He is waiting for her help when a chubby-faced six-year-old girl puts her hands on his neck. Heat flows through them, and when it stops, the headache is gone. Her name is Pinkie, and she has the power to heal. When her stepfather uses her ability to found a highly profitable healing center, Barry fears the gentle little girl is being exploited. On the outside, Barry is just a scared, sickly teenager. But inside he is Bear—and Bear is afraid of nothing. To save his friend, he infiltrates the healing center, where he will find that those who plan to cure the world’s ills also know something about causing pain. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

When the town clock stops, a colony of telepathic mice comes to the rescue Unthinkable! The Branton Town Hall Clock has stopped! The intricately carved turret clock had attracted tourists from all over the world. Every day six small bells would chime at precisely fourteen minutes and twenty seconds past the hour. And out would come a procession of prancing lambs followed by a shepherd playing Pan-pipes and, finally, old Father Time himself. The impressive clock tower is also home to a group of Clock Mice, extraordinary rodents who are twice as bright as rats and just as smart as humans. They speak their own complex language of mind-pictures and elude Juno, the clock tower cat. When the clockmaker’s grandson fails to repair the town’s beloved clock, will the Clock Mice be able to save Time? Filled with unforgettable characters, including the Hickory, Dickory, and Dock mouse families and some eccentric humans, Time and the Clock Mice, Etcetera is a whimsical tale of mice, magic, cats, clocks, science, people, and the nature of time. This ebook features full-color illustrations by Emma Chichester-Clark and an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

In an ancient kingdom, a boy and his hawk challenge the gods All his life, Tron has been destined to join the priests who rule his strange desert kingdom. When the old king grows sick, a ritual is called for to restore his health: the sacrifice of a blue hawk, the symbol of the god Gdu. For the first time, Tron is chosen to take part in the ritual. Just before the bird is sacrificed, the young priest notices that its eyes are cloudy. The bird is sick, and to give its soul to the king would be to kill him. And so Tron steals the bird away. The priests are enraged at his disruption of the ritual. Some call for his head, but others see Tron’s potential. They give him three months to train the wild bird—three months to save its life and rescue the kingdom from the wrath of the gods. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

In a far-off kingdom, an English boy befriends the mad ruler’s daughter The Khan of Dirzhan is a monster. Nigel, the son of the English ambassador to a backward Asian country, is transfixed by stories of the Khan’s brutality. It is said that he had his own brother strangled, that he once shot two cabinet ministers to death during a government meeting, and that he will stop at nothing to keep his daughter safe. At first, these are nothing but stories, but when Nigel and the Khan’s daughter form an unlikely friendship, the terror of the Khan will become all too real. Enlisted by the Khan to help beautiful young Taeela with her English, Nigel gets a firsthand look at life in a palace ruled by fear. When the Khan’s enemies threaten Taeela, Nigel helps her escape. Together, they flee across a barren countryside where sheer survival is an adventure. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

A former child soldier tries to learn the ways of peace in an African nation in this “rip-roaring adventure story” by a Carnegie Medal winner (Publishers Weekly). Paul remembers nothing from before the conflict. Twelve years old, he is no longer a child. He is a warrior—one of a handful of elite commandos who live only to fight the corrupt government of Nagala. He has no family but the boys who fight beside him, and he owns nothing but his AK-47 rifle. This is the only life he has ever known, and it is one he understands—right until the day the standoff ends and his life changes forever. Paul buries his AK and heads north to attend school and attempt to live life as just another child. But at night, the battlefield consumes his dreams. When a rogue faction stages a coup in the capital and Paul’s adoptive father is put in prison, the boy turns into a warrior once more. It is too late for him to have a childhood, but Paul will do whatever it takes to guarantee himself a future. From the author Philip Pullman called “one of the real masters of children’s literature,” this is an extraordinary novel for readers of all ages, a winner of the prestigious Whitbread Award in which “Dickinson deals intelligently with vital issues, devises potent symbols with his usual skill, and offers much to discuss in a vivid and compelling setting” (Kirkus Reviews). This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

A New York Times Notable Book: CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson revisits his alternate British monarchy, ensnaring the imagined royal family in a dark conspiracy of kidnapping, politics, scandal, and murder Britain’s beloved Princess Louise is a grown woman now, married to commoner Piers Chandler and enchanted by their infant son, Davy. While visiting a certain Mrs. Walsh—a mysterious old woman claiming to be a royal relation, a Romanov who escaped the terror of the Russian Revolution—Louise and little Davy are nearly taken captive by would-be kidnappers. Through pluck and quick thinking, Her Royal Highness avoids the unthinkable, but Mrs. Walsh is killed in the melee, leaving her secrets unspoken and her mysteries unsolved. Not easily daunted, the young princess turns to her husband for help in unraveling the tangled truth about the murdered Mrs. Walsh—a hunt that soon leads them to Tashkent, the teeming capital city of Uzbekistan, where they hope to find answers. But some doors to the past are opened only at gravest risk to life and limb—even for those of royal blood. Bringing back many of the unforgettable characters from his acclaimed King and Joker, Dickinson’s Skeleton-in-Waiting is yet another majestic thriller from a true master mystery novelist, offering further proof that this author has few equals among crime fiction royalty.

A blind boy and his brother set out on a motorcycle in search of their ghost-hunting grandfather It all starts with the postman. Jake cannot see the mail, but he is an excellent listener, and he can tell by the sound the mail makes when it hits the floor that bad news is coming. At the top of the pile is a very thin letter rejecting Jake’s brother, Martin, from every college he applied to. Even worse, there is no news from their grandfather, an eccentric ghost hunter whose supernatural investigations have carried him into the wilds of northern England. Martin cashes in his college savings to buy a secondhand motorcycle, and the boys set out to find their grandfather. It is a trip that will change their lives forever. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson is back: An Indian doctor joins the English underground to fight racial oppression Dr. P. P. Humayan expects prejudice from the English. Growing up in Bombay, he was raised on stories of the injustices of life in Britain, where racial status is marked on one’s papers and anyone of Celtic descent is born with green skin and forced to live in walled-off ghettos. But when he travels to London to announce that he has solved the genetic mystery of why the Celts are born green, he is shocked by the system’s brutality. Only one English girl is kind to him—and she will soon find herself in mortal peril. When his host family is murdered, Humayan slips underground, joining a small band of rebels who would do anything to see racial equality restored to England. There are powerful men working to maintain the sinister status quo, and bringing them down will be the toughest problem this mathematician has ever faced.

In the cavernous halls of Buckingham Palace, a series of pranks lead to murder in this mystery by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson Princess Louise and her father, King Victor II of England, agree that life has become painfully dull. When she’s not in school, Louise spends her days roaming the palace and fulfilling her royal duties while her father fusses over budgets and attempts to keep his family out of the tabloids. So when a prankster begins placing frogs on the breakfast trays, Louise delights in the break from routine—as does King Victor. But this innocent mischief soon escalates into bloodshed when a body is found in the palace. In an attempt to quell his family’s panic, King Victor resolves to catch the killer. At last he has a purpose—but the palace may be in greater danger than either he or Louise suspects.

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.

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.

In this “exceptional” British mystery by a Gold Dagger winner, an aging aristocrat and her longtime lover explore the dark events of their shared past (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Lady Lucy Vereker Seddon is dying of a terminal illness when something she hears on the radio reminds her of her younger, darker days and inspires her to question her dearest friend and former lover, Paul Ackerley, about his role in a series of past family tragedies. There was the strange death of Lucy’s brother-in-law, the brute Gerry Grantworth, in the Yellow Room of Blatchards—the huge and ugly Vereker estate—and the subsequent destruction by fire of the sprawling manor house. And then there was the infamous Seddon Affair, the sordid scandal that rocked Great Britain in the midst of the Suez Crisis. Surprised to hear that the woman he has always loved suspects him to be the culprit behind these events—especially since he always assumed Lucy herself helped engineer them—Paul suggests that they each record their memories and compare them. By doing so, perhaps they will both find their way to the long-hidden and terrible truth. Told through an alternating series of memories and flashbacks, The Yellow Room Conspiracy brilliantly re-creates a post-war era and a world of privilege corrupted by greed, jealousy, lust, and lies. The astonishing Peter Dickinson, one of Britain’s greatest suspense novelists of the late twentieth century, ingeniously wraps a love story around a mystery and once again solidifies his position alongside luminaries such as P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Peter Lovesey, and Reginald Hill.

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.

When cut off from their kin and lost in the desert 200,000 years ago, Suth and five other orphans struggle to survive and to find their way to safety.

Three dystopian novels by an award-winning author that imagine a world where humankind has suddenly and violently rejected modern technology. Something has gone very wrong in England. In a tunnel beneath Wales one man opens a crack in a mysterious stone wall, and all over the island of Britain people react with horror to perfectly normal machines. Abandoning their cars on the roads and destroying their own factories, many flee the cities for the countryside, where they return to farming and an old-fashioned life. When families are split apart and grown-ups forget how they used to live, young people face unexpected challenges. Nicola Gore survives on her own for nineteen days before she’s taken in by a Sikh family that still remembers how to farm and forge steel by hand. Margaret and Jonathan brave the cold and risk terrible punishment in order to save a man’s life and lift the fog of fear and hate that’s smothering their village. And Geoffrey and his little sister, Sally, escape to France only to be sent back to England on a vital mission: to make their way north to Wales, alone, and find the thing under the stones that shattered civilization—the source of the Changes. Prolific author Peter Dickinson was known for “keeping up a page-turning pace,” and these adventure-packed novels are some of his most important contributions to science fiction (The Guardian). This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

Praise for Peter Dickinson''s mysteries: "A literary magician controlling an appar-ently inexhaustible supply of effects."—Penelope Lively For best-selling author Lady Margaret, the past is no longer a pleasant memory. Her first lover''s mysterious death and the seeming inevitability of her inheriting the family''s stately home are cast in new light by secrets unwillingly revisited. The first in a series of reprints of Peter Dickinson''s mysteries, this classic British mystery will win fans currently engrossed in Downton Ab-bey. Peter Dickinson has twice received the Crime Writers'' As-sociation''s Gold Dagger. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

What magical beings inhabit earth''s waters? Some are as almost-familiar as the mer-people; some as strange as the thing glimpsed only as a golden eye in a pool at the edge of Damar''s Great Desert Kalarsham, where the mad god Geljdreth rules; or as majestic as the unknowable, immense Kraken, dark beyond the darkness of the deepest ocean, who will one day rise and rule the world. These six tales from the remarkable storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson transform the simple element of water into something very powerful indeed.

Chuck is a whippet. A very nervous whippet, who''s scared of absolutely everything: paper bags, pigeons, supermarket trolleys, cats (even the little fluffy ones). Some people say Chuck''s a wimpet, not a whippet, and Mum keeps pretending she''s going to give Chuck away, but Danielle loves her scaredy-cat whippet and knows that there''s more to Chuck than meets the eye... Seven funny, charming and totally whippet-friendly stories from Peter Dickinson, the winner of several major awards for his books for young readers - and the owner of three whippets!

Four powerful stories of adventure and imagination—in this world and beyond When Keith’s father dies, his mom sells their house and takes Keith with her to live in Scotland. He misses his dad and his home, but most of all he misses Melly, a girl whose father is a lion tamer, and who seemed to come from another world. Keith is in a park in Edinburgh when he sees a girl who looks exactly like Melly, and whose father once worked for the circus, taming lions. To save his best friend’s life, Keith embarks on a perilous quest to untangle the mystery of Melly’s doppelgänger. In these four tales, Peter Dickinson writes with clarity and wit about young people in extraordinary situations, characters whose adventures take place across space, time, and the boundaries of their souls. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD EVA wakes up in the hospital unable to remember anything since the picnic on the beach. Her mother leans over the bed and begins to explain. A traffic accident, a long coma . . . But there is something, Eva senses, that she’s not being told. There is a price she must pay to be alive at all. What have they done, with their amazing medical techniques, to save her?

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. "Read this tale carefully: It''s a jewel." -The New York Times "This is a bit crazy, suspenseful, surprising . . . altogether, not to be missed." -San Francisco Chronicle "Confirms Dickinson as the best thing that has happened to serious, sophisticated, witty crime fiction." -The Sunday Times Peter Dickinson was born in Africa but raised and educated in England. From 1952 to 1969 he was on the editorial staff of Punch, and since then has earned his living writing fiction of various kinds for children and adults. His books have been published in several languages throughout the world. The recipient of many awards, Dickinson has been shortlisted nine times for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for children''s literature and was the first author to win it twice. The author of twenty-one crime and mystery novels for adults, Dickinson was also the first to win the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers'' Association for two books running: The Glass-Sided Ants'' Nest (1968) and The Old English Peepshow (1969). A collection of Dickinson''s poetry, The Weir, was published in 2007. His latest book, In the Palace of the Khans, was published in 2012 and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Dickinson has served as chairman of the Society of Authors and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for services to literature.

This brilliant crime novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson is set in the Caribbean, where a researcher becomes trapped like a rodent in a maze When it comes to his rats, David Foxe is an expert. He decides when they eat, when they exercise, when they take their medicine—and when they die. For the sake of the Company, he performs all manner of experiments on his helpless subjects, testing various drugs designed to improve the animals’ nature. After a particularly grueling series of tests, he is sent on a working vacation to the Southward Islands. This Caribbean paradise is ruled by the shadowy dictator Dr. Trotter, who is said to possess demonic power and whose mother is rumored to be a witch. Foxe may be a man of science, but he now finds himself in a world governed by the occult. When a dead body is discovered in his island laboratory, Foxe becomes the key suspect and is taken prisoner. The only way to clear his name is to carry out experiments on his fellow inmates. Amid radical insurgents, crazed prisoners, and a crumbling dictatorship, Foxe must now escape this most dangerous experiment of all.

Alfredo, a choir boy in 18th-century Italy, loses his family in a fire, and his mysterious Uncle Giorgio spirits him away to their ancestral home below a volcano. There he learns that Uncle Giorgio is the Master of the Mountain; he can control the volcano. He is also an alchemist, able to make gold from the tears of the fiery salamander he captured from the heart of the mountain. Alfredo is his heir, the next Master; and as Alfredo learns the history of his family and its power, he begins to suspect that his uncle is actually a fearsome sorcerer.

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.