The Highwayman and Mr. Dickens
An Account of the Strange Events of the Medusa Murders
1 of 1 copy available
It was the best of times, it was the worst of crimes . . .
The ghastly double murder of a society doctor’s beautiful wife and her maid reunites celebrated novelist Charles Dickens, his protegé Wilkie Collins, and the formidable Inspector Field of the Metropolitan Protectives in another brilliant quest for justice. They manage to defend old friend and ex-burglar Tally Ho Thompson, who’s arrested at the scene—but then the case takes the men from the pestilential cells of Newgate to the city’s steamiest dives. Gamblers, thieves, swells, whores, and Collins’s fiery lover, Irish Meg, will all join in chasing a killer who is the stuff of nightmares . . .
This is the thrilling follow-up to The Detective and Mr. Dickens—praised as “a superb performance” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and “a delightful hot toddy of a read” by the Los Angeles Times.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 6, 2019 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781626817333
- File size: 1381 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781626817333
- File size: 1561 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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January 31, 2000
Second in a series inventing the secret journals of 19th-century ghost-story author Wilkie Collins, this uneven mystery trails novelist Charles Dickens through a warren of murky London streets in 1852. Sprung from a salacious embrace with his bawd, Irish Meg, Collins hears that Tallyho Thompson, a highwayman turned actor, is accused of killing a lady and her servant. ``This tyme 'ee's innersent,'' squeaks Meg's friend and Tallyho's helpmeet, Scarlet Bess. In cahoots with Inspector Field of the Metropolitan Protectives, Dickens and Collins help Tallyho escape from Newgate Prison. The quartet work to trip up the Medusa Murderer, whose victims' faces are found frozen in agony. A cobweb-thin, lackluster plot is shouldered aside by the meticulously crafted setting and Palmer's pleasure in literary and historical asides: a young Dr. Jekyll makes a cameo appearance; hansom cabs clatter down badly paved streets; accents are laid on so thick as to make speech unintelligible at times. Despite some witless dialogue and padded narrative, fans of both Dickens and Palmer ( The Detective and Mr. Dickens ) will enjoy this ride. BOMC alternate.
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