Summary

Fans hooked on Pallisers writing since his engrossing puzzle-box debut, The Quincunx, will be delighted to learn that he has returned to mid-1800s England, where Richard Shenstone has been sent down from Cambridge in uncertain disgrace. Living with his newly impoverished mother, he learns that creepy letters making the village rounds speak of wicked crimes, even murder.

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One of the Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly "Endlessly fascinating...one of the strongest novels of the year. " - School Library Journal "Readers will have as much grisly fun just sorting out the facts as they will solving the mysteries." -The Daily Beast A vertiginous gothic masterpiece from the best-selling author of The Quincunx.