Böcker av David Dickinson

"e;I will tell you a story that will make you believe in God."e;No story can guarantee being able to do this. Yet novelists can tell stories that make us think about what we believe about God and why. Despite repeated predictions of the death of the novel, thousands of works of fiction are published and read in Britain each year. Although Western society is less religiously observant than it was, many 21st-century novelists persist in pursuing theological, religious and spiritual themes. Make-Believe seeks to explain why. With chapters offering analyses of novels from several genres - so-called literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and dystopia - David Dickinson discusses a wide spectrum of novelists. Authors who are avowedly atheistic and authors who have a vested interest in perpetuating biblical stories are both featured. Well-known writers such as Rushdie, McEwan, McCarthy and Martell rub shoulders with some you may be meeting for the first time. Appealing to literature students and people who simply enjoy reading, whether Christian or not, this study of God in novels invites us to open our minds and allow aspects of our culture to shape our understanding of God and to change our ways of talking about the divine.

People will kill for a desirable address...When the Bishop of Lynchester visits Lord Francis Powerscourt at home in London, seeking advice about the death of an aged parishioner, Powerscourt advises that discretion rather than accusation is the best way forward - but this is just the start of his association with the diocese of Lynchester.The parishioner's death has left available a property in the cathedral close which the church traditionally rents out to a suitable tenant. Four worthy candidates are nominated . . . and then one of them is found dead in the house, poisoned by strychnine. This time there is no doubt of foul play, and Powerscourt is once again summoned by the bishop. But there are many potential suspects and Powerscourt's investigations lead him to uncover a trail of greed, deception and death which goes straight to the heart of the cathedral itself.

The British Museum in Bloomsbury is home to one of the Caryatids, a statue of a maiden that acted as one of the six columns in a temple which stood on the Acropolis in ancient Athens. Lord Elgin had brought her to London in the nineteenth century, and even though now she was over 2,300 years old, she was still rather beautiful - and desirable.Which is why Lord Francis Powerscourt finds himself summoned by the British Museum to attend a most urgent matter. The Caryatid has been stolen and an inferior copy left in her place. Powerscourt agrees to handle the case discreetly - but then comes the first death: an employee of the British Museum is pushed under a rush hour train before he and the police can question him.What had he known about the statue's disappearance? And who would want such a priceless object? Powerscourt and his friend Johnny Fitzgerald undertake a mission that takes them deep into the heart of London's Greek community and the upper echelons of English society to uncover the bizarre truth of the vanishing lady...

The 15th Lord Francis Powerscourt murder mystery.

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The first man murdered was Abel Meredith, a resident at the Jesus Hospital Almshouse near London.The second victim, Roderick Gill, was burser at the Allison's school in Norfolk. Victim number three, Sir Rufus Walcott, was slain in his own hall by the Thames. All had their throats cut.And all had strange markings on their chests, carved there by the murderer but which neither doctor nor coroner could identify.Lord Francis Powerscourt, brought in to solve this case of triple murder, had no shortage of suspects or suspicions.Meredith had shadowy links with the civil service. Gill, a man who seduced women at church during Harvest Festival or the Christmas carol service, had been threatened by angry husbands and disinherited sons while Sir Rufus had wiped fifteen years out of his own past history.And all had ties to Sir Peregrine Fishbourne, Prime Warden of the Guild of Silkworkers, who had visited all three men shortly before their untimely deaths. Yet on one question Powerscourt never wavered, and he knew that only when he had solved the mystery of the strange markings on the victims' bodies would he then be able to solve the mystery of the death at the Jesus Hospital.Praise for David Dickinson:'Splendid entertainment' Publishers Weekly'A leisurely period whodunit with Dickinson's customary historical tidbits and patches of local color, swathed in an appealing Victorian narrative' Kirkus Reviews'Detective fiction in the grand style' James Naughtie'A cracking yarn, beguilingly real from start to finish' Peter Snow

Master of the Hunt, the fifteenth Earl of Candlesby, has come to lead his riders once again. But this time he comes as a corpse, wrapped in blankets across his horse, a corner of his scarlet coat visible in the morning mist. Only three people see the body. One dies. Another vanishes. Now only one man knows how he was killed. Powerscourt is summoned to investigate murder in a crumbling house where the paper is peeling off the walls and the stuffed owls each only have one leg. The estate is virtually bankrupt as Powerscourt uncovers a world of jealousy, revenge and hatred, where the sons are as dissolute and dangerous as the father. The fifteenth earl had left a trail of duels, theft and adultery across the flatlands of Lincolnshire. It takes another death and a deadly chase under the crumbling estate before Powerscourt unlocks the secret of death in a scarlet coat.Praise for David Dickinson:'Splendid entertainment' Publishers Weekly'Detective fiction in the grand style' James Naughtie'Beguilingly real from start to finish... you have to pinch yourself to remind you that it is fiction - or is it?' Peter Snow'Dickinson's customary historical tidbits and patches of local colour swathed in... appealing Victorian narrative' Kirkus Reviews

An unwelcome guest - Death - gatecrashes a society wedding and Lord Francis Powerscourt is summoned by his barrister friend, Charles Augustus Pugh, to investigate this most singular case of murder in the Fens.The dead man is Randolph Colville, successful wine merchant and father of the groom. The murderer would appear to be his brother Cosmo, found in the same room with a gun in his hand. But is this simply a modern-day version of Cain and Abel, or is there more to it than that? Cosmo isn't speaking and time is running out for him for he has an appointment with the gallows in two weeks.Francis has to act fast and sets out to discover all he can about the dead man - and his brother. Cosmo's silence is bothering him for it can only be for two reasons; either he is protecting a woman - or a family scandal. His investigations take him to the vineyards and towns of Burgundy, where he uncovers evidence of serious malpractise in the Colville wine trade, bitter rivalry with a London-based competitor and a disgruntled ex-employee bent on revenge. But there is another secret - more terrible and shocking than anything gone on before - which finally reveals the motive for the untimely death of a wine merchant.Praise for David Dickinson:'Splendid entertainment' Publishers Weekly'A leisurely period whodunit with Dickinson's customary historical tidbits and patches of local color, swathed in an appealing Victorian narrative' Kirkus Reviews'Detective fiction in the grand style' James Naughtie'A cracking yarn, beguilingly real from start to finish' Peter Snow

1905. A young man called James Delaney is dying in a New York hospital. The doctors and the nuns cannot save him. When his life is spared his tycoon father takes it as a miracle and organizes a family pilgrimage to the resting place of the boy's name saint, Saint James the Greater in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the greatest pilgrimage site of the Middle Ages.The first modern-day pilgrim is killed in Le Puy en Velay in Southern France and Powerscourt is summoned to investigate. The pilgrims' progress across the holy sites is punctuated by further bizarre deaths. After his own life is put in terrible danger Powerscourt finally solves the murders on the day of the Bull Run at Pamplona in Southern Spain where young men race down the cobbled streets pursued by the bulls. The careless are gored to death, but it is up to Powerscourt to beware of the horns and other hidden dangers to finally resolve the Deaths of the Pilgrims.

The year is 1905 and Powerscourt is sent to Ireland to investigate a series of art thefts from stately houses. Motive troubles Powerscourt; were these robberies merely for gain? A number of Old Masters had been left untouched and the ones taken were all ancient family portraits of the aristocratic Protestant gentry. Are these thefts political?Then, astonishingly, some of the portraits begin to return - but with altered faces; the aristocrats' being replaced by those from the estates and towns beyond the gates. Truly an elaborate joke, but then real people begin to disappear - and not long after the first body is found in the chapel at the top of Croagh Patrick, Ireland's Holy Mountain on the very day 10,000 people make the great pilgrimage to the summit.More follow, and as Powerscourt makes his way towards the killer his own life comes under threat, while his patriotism, and his devotion to Ireland is called into question on his journey towards the truth.

In May 1901 the Salisbury Galleries announce the biggest exhibition of the Old Master Paintings ever seen in Europe. Excitement is intense. But before it opens, one of Britain's leading art experts, Christopher Montague, is found murdered in his study. When Lord Francis Powerscourt is called in to investigate he finds every book, notepad and scrap of paper has been removed from the scene of the crime. Montague had been working on something that would have rocked the art world. Did his article that claimed a number of the Old Masters had been painted recently by a single hand have anything to do with his death? Powerscourt embarks on an odyssey through a treacherous world of art dealers and picture restorers in pursuit of a master forger. He travels to Sicily where the trail goes cold, but, after the thrills and danger of that wild, lawless isalnd, in a remopte corer of England, the truth is finally revealed.

A case of murder in the cathedralCompton Minster is preparing to celebrate a very special anniversary in the year 1901 - a thousand years of Christian worship. But a few weeks before the main ceremonies, a high official of the cathedral, the chancellor, dies in mysterious circumstances, and no on except the doctor and the undertaker is allowed to view the corpse. It then transpires that the chancellor was one of England's richest men. When his sister suspects foul play, Lord Francis Powerscourt is asked to investigate. As Powerscourt paces the ancient cloisters and listens to evensong from the choir stalls, he begins to suspect that a terrible secret lies hidden in the cathedral, one that may have someting to do with the anniversary. Then a chorister is strangles, his body found turning on the great spit in the Vicars Hall kitchen. Powerscourt himself escpaes death by a whisker, as does his wife, Lady Lucy, before he uncovers the astonishing secret of Compton Minster and unmasks a murderer.

Mystery surrounds the death of Queen Victoria's grandson England, 1892.Victoria, Queen and Empress, is in the 54th year of her reign, when her grandson Prince Eddy, eldest son of the Prince of Wales, is found slaughtered in his bed at Sandringham. Terrified of more royal scandal, the Prince of Wales and his spindoctors decide to cover up the facts and the murder is disguised as death by influenza.Lord Francis Powerscourt, an Irish investigator, is privately asked to find the killer. His quest takes him on a journey through the prince's debauched and dissolute past, across Europe to the misty waterways of Venice where, amidst scandal and suicide, Powerscourt finally unravels themystery of the sweet prince's last goodnight.PRAISE FOR THE BOOK"e; 'In this excellent novel, Dickinson weaves a tale of blackmail and murder among the royals late in Victoria's reign& [his] knowledge of the arts, history and literature is nothing if not exhaustive, and adds enormously to the overall background& One hopes to see more of Lord Powerscourt and his friends in the near future.' - Publishers Weekly"e; 'This is detective fiction in the grand style; the characters and the plot soar upwards and carry us in their wake. Powerscourt's debut in this intoxicating book is the start of a gilded life in the archives of crime.' - James Naughtie

Queen's Inn is London's youngest and most fashionable Inn of Court. On 29th February 1902, at a Feast, senior barrister Alexander Dauntsey collapses into his soup and dies. He has been poisoned. Soon after his friend Woodford Stewart is shot dead, and Lord Francis Powerscourt is summoned to discreetly investigate the matter of the murdered barristers. His inquiries take him into the heart of legal London where the wills of the dead can reveal the crimes of the living. It takes him to the heart of a troubled marriage where lack of children imperils everything. And it takes him to Calne, a mysterious house in the country where the glorious past is boarded up and the treasures of generations hide beneath the dustsheets. There are many suspects: a jealous wife, a mistress fearful of being jilted, a work colleague beaten to the senior role in the Inn and a cuckolded husband who writes books about poisons. Powerscourt himself is put in grave danger before he finally solves the mystery of Death Called to the Bar.

Find a murderer - and save the Queen's Jubilee!It is 1897 and the London is preparing for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. But a corpse is with no head or hands is dragged out of the Thames. The dead man was old and proserously dressed, but there are no other clues to his identity and the police ask for the discreet assistance of Lord Francis Powerscourt.His investigation leads him to a mysterious mansion in Oxfordshire, with classical temples in the gardens and in the house, a second corpse killed in a fire. On the track of the murderer, Powerscourt realizes that both he and his family are in mortal danger - and the outcome could wreck the Queen's Diamond Jubilee...

Finally, after building himself a reputation as an antiques dealer to the rich and famous with an eye for treasures, a chance meeting with a TV exec at a barbecue began Davids journey to primetime TV on Bargain Hunt, and in his autobiography David shares some of his experiences of sudden celebrity.