Before the Poison - Hardcover

Robinson, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062004794 ISBN 13: 9780062004796

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 2012

Synopsis

“The accomplished Robinson never disappoints, mixing well-developed characterizations with edge-of-the-seat action.”
—New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Make no mistake, he’s among the very best.”
—The Times (London)

Already justifiably acclaimed for his bestselling crime fiction novels featuring British Chief Inspector Alan Banks (“The best series now on the market” —Stephen King), Peter Robinson delivers a truly stunning standalone thriller, Before the Poison. Brilliantly combining the rich, atmospheric narrative of his award-winning In a Dry Season with the twists and suspense of the noir classic Laura, Before the Poison tells the riveting story of a composer who comes to the scene of a notorious crime and becomes obsessed with a beautiful, mysterious, and possibly very dangerous woman. Evocatively set in the picturesque Yorkshire Dales, Before the Poison is a masterful tale of mystery and suspense from the Anthony and Edgar® Award winner whose extraordinary fiction Janet Maslin of the New York Times compared to, “the masculine, brooding work of Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, George P. Pelecanos, and Jonathan Kellerman.”

About this title

From the Back Cover

Chris Lowndes built a comfortable career composing scores for films in Hollywood. But after twenty-five years abroad, and still quietly reeling from the death of his beloved wife, he decides to return to the Yorkshire dales of his youth. To ease the move, he buys Kilnsgate House, a rambling old mansion deep in the country.

Although Chris finds Kilnsgate charming, something about the house disturbs him, a vague sensation that the long-empty rooms have been waiting for him—feelings made ever stronger when he learns that the house was the scene of a murder more than fifty years before. The former owner, a prominent doctor named Ernest Arthur Fox, was supposedly poisoned by his beautiful and much younger wife, Grace. Arrested and brought to trial, Grace was found guilty and hanged for the crime.

His curiosity piqued, Chris talks to the locals and searches through archives for information about the case. But the more he discovers, the more convinced he becomes that Grace may have been innocent. Ignoring warnings to leave it alone, he sets out to discover what really happened over half a century ago—a quest that takes him deep into the past and into a web of secrets that lie all too close to the present.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062004794
• ISBN 13: 9780062004796
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 358