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.
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.
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.
“First class . . . gripping, intelligent, and
original.” —The Times Literary Supplement
“Brilliantly imaginative and wonderfully convincing.” —The Observer
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