Gallow's Thief

In the cobbled streets outside Newgate Prison, the common and desperate of London gather regularly to enjoy the spectacle of human necks broken at the end of a hangman's rope. For Rider Sandman, newly returned from the Napoleonic Wars, it is not grim entertainment that draws him here, but a mission to prove the guilt or innocence of a condemned prisoner -- a duty that leads Sandman from the hellish bowels of Newgate to the scented drawing rooms of the ruthless and powerful, and into the darkest shadows of the filthy, bustling city, in search of the truth.

rider Sandman, A Hero At Waterloo, Returns Home To A Country Where Both Corruption And Social Unrest Run Rampant, And Where Justice Is Most Often Delivered—to Those Whose Primary Crime Is Poverty—at The End Of A Hangman's Noose.

penniless, Sandman Accepts A Job Investigating The Case Of A Painter Due To Be Hanged For A Murder He Didn't Commit. In A Race Against The Clock, Sandman Moves From The Hellish Bowels Of Newgate Prison To The Perfumed Drawing Rooms Of The Aristocracy—and In The Process Begins To Peel Back The Layers Of An Utterly Corrupt Penal System That Pits Him Against The Wealthiest And Most Ruthless Men In Regency England.

publishers Weekly

fans Of Cornwell's Gallant Up-from-the-ranks Rifleman, Richard Sharpe, Will Welcome The Upright Captain Rider Sandman, A Veteran, Like Sharpe, Of Waterloo And The Peninsula Campaign, In A Mystery That Highlights The Horrors Of Capital Punishment In Regency England. Compelled As A Civilian To Play Cricket To Earn A Bare Living In The Wake Of His Disgraced Father's Financial Ruin And Suicide, Sandman Can Hardly Refuse The Home Secretary's Job Offer Of Looking Into The Case Of Charles Corday, A Portrait Painter Convicted Of Murdering The Countess Of Avebury. Since Corday's Mother Has The Ear Of Queen Charlotte, Someone Has To Go Through The Motions Of Confirming Corday's Guilt Before He Goes To The Scaffold. Sandman, Though, Soon Realizes That The Man Is Innocent, And To Prove It He Has To Locate A Servant Girl Who Was A Likely Witness To The Countess's Murder And Has Now Disappeared. Sandman's Investigation Leads Him To Confront The Corrupt And Decadent Members Of London's Seraphim Club, But Fortunately His Reputation As A Brave Battlefield Officer Turns Into Allies Any Number Of Ex-soldier Ruffians Who Might Otherwise Have Given Him Trouble. The Suspense Mounts As Sandman Must Race The Clock To Prevent A Miscarriage Of Justice At The Nail-biting Climax. An Unresolved Subplot Involving Our Hero's Ex-fiancee, Who Still Loves Him Despite His Fall Into Poverty, Suggests That Sandman Will Be Back For Further Crime-solving Adventures. Traditional Historical Mystery Readers Should Cheer. (may 5) Forecast: Since The Sharpe Series Already Has A Strong Following Among Mystery Fans, It Should Be Easy For Cornwell To Build On That Audience If This Is Indeed The Start Of A New Crime Series. He Is Also The Author Of Two Other Historical Series, The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles And The Warlord Chronicles. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

A spellbinding historical drama about an ex-soldier in 1820s London who must help rescue an innocent man from Death Row, by bestselling author Bernard Cornwell It is the end of the Napoleonic Wars and England has just fought its last victorious battle against the French. As Rider Sandman and the other heroes of Waterloo begin to make their way back to England, they find a country where corruption, poverty, and social unrest run rampant, and where "justice" is most often delivered at the end of a hangman's noose. Nowhere in London are the streets as busy as in front of Newgate Prison, its largest penitentiary, where mobs gather regularly to watch the terrible spectacle of the doomed men and women on the gallows' stands. Rider Sandman -- whose reputation on the battlefields of France is exceeded only by his renown on the cricket fields of England -- returns home from war to discover his personal affairs in a shambles. Creditors have taken over his estate, leaving him penniless -- and forcing him to release the woman he loves from her obligations to marry him. Desperate to right his situation, he accepts the offer of a job investigating the claims of innocence by a painter due to hang for murder in a few days' time. The Home Secretary makes it clear that this is pro-forma, and that he expects Sandman to rubber-stamp the verdict. But Sandman's investigation reveals that something is amiss -- that there is merit to the young artist's claims. He further discovers that, though the Queen herself has ordered a reinvestigation of the circumstances, someone else does not want the truth revealed. In a race against the clock, Sandman moves from the hellish bowels of Newgate prison to the perfumed drawing rooms of the aristocracy, determined to rescue the innocent man from the rope. As he begins to peel back the layers of an utterly corrupt penal system, he finds himself pitted against some of the wealthiest and most ruthless men in Regency England. Gallows Thief combines the rich historical texture of Edward Rutherford and the taut suspense of Caleb Carr to create an eviscerating portrait of capital punishment in nineteenth-century London Rider Sandman, having fought Napoleon in the French wars, expected to lead the life of an English country gentleman, but now, two years after Waterloo, his family is impoverished, his name is disgraced and he has been forced to relinquish the woman he loves from her obligation to marry him. Desperate to earn money he accepts the job of being the government's Investigator; an official who discovers whether petitions for mercy sent by condemned criminals should be granted. His first case concerns a portrait painter who is due to hang for murder in a week's time and the government makes it clear that they want the verdict confirmed. But Rider Sandman, whose qualifications for the post are nonexistent, discovers that the painter is almost certainly innocent and, as he peels back the layers of a corrupt penal system, he finds himself pitted against some of the wealthiest and most ruthless men in Regency England who want to keep the truth hidden. A man in Newgate had been found guilty of murdering the aristocrat whose portrait he was painting. Captain Hawkes is given the job of investigating, but when his first steps produce a sizeable bribe to look the other way, it arouses his smouldering anger over the condition of England SIR HENRY FORREST, banker and alderman of the City of London, almost gagged when he entered the Press Yard, for the smell was terrible, worse than the reek of the sewer outflows where the Fleet Ditch oozed into the Thames.