Abracadaver (A Sergeant Cribb Investigation)

By Peter Lovesey

Book Overview

"Fine picture of period vice, good mystery plotting, and fun." --San Francisco Chronicle

A sadistic practical joker is haunting the popular music halls of London, interfering with the actors and interrupting their acts by orchestrating humiliating disasters that take place in view of the audience. A trapeze artist misses her timing when the trapeze ropes are shortened. A comedian who invites the audience to sing along with him finds the words of his song "shamefully" altered. Mustard has been applied to a sword swallower's blade. A singer's costume has been rigged. The girl in a magician's box is trapped. Then the mischief escalates to murder. Or was murder intended all along? That indomitable detective team, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray of Scotland Yard, must track down the elusive criminal.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156947561X
• ISBN13: 9781569475614
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Soho Crime
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Victorian-era Mystery

It's the late 19th century in London as the events of "Abracadaver" begin to unfold. We open on two sisters' argument over who's to blame for a trapeze act gone wrong, only to find their act had been sabotaged through no fault of either sister. It is soon discovered that this is not the only act of the old music halls that has succumbed to sabotage, there seems to be a dark practical joker on the loose, and his theatrics seem to know no bounds. After one of the joker's antics proves fatal, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray of Scotland Yard are called in to catch the now murderous and always elusive villain. Through excellent descriptions and detail, this fast paced, fun, and intriguing novel takes the reader straight back to London's streets and music halls of the late 1800's. Follow Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray as they attempt to solve another great Victorian-era mystery.