From Publishers WeeklyFans 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. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalDisgraced by his father's suicide and impoverished by the debts that drove him to it, Capt. Rider Sandman, late of His Majesty's 52nd Regiment of Foot, has been forced to sell his commission to support his mother and sister. Desperate to earn a living but with no skills besides soldiering and cricket, he has come to London in search of a job. When the Home Secretary offers him temporary employment investigating a sensational murder, he accepts it as easy money. All he has to do is elicit a confession from the young artist accused of raping and murdering the Countess of Avebury during her portrait sitting. But when Sandman visits him in Newgate, the artist defends his innocence so vehemently that Sandman begins to have his doubts. Unwillingly, he is drawn into an investigation that not only risks his life but introduces him to the darkest secrets of several aristocratic families. As with his popular Richard Sharpe novels (Sharpe's Trafalgar) and his Arthurian trilogy, "The Warlord Chronicles," Cornwell is superb at weaving the ambience and issues of the day (this time Regency England) with a gripping plot and a memorable character. Readers will hope to see more. Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistCornwell, author of the best-selling Richard Sharpe saga, turns his attention from the battlefield in this meticulously crafted historical mystery. After successfully defending his country at Waterloo, Captain Rider Sandman returns to England to face bankruptcy and disgrace. Unable to pay off his enormous gambling debts, Rider's father has committed suicide, leaving his son to uphold the family honor. Penniless and without prospects, Rider sells his commission to house his mother and younger sister. Looking for any type of honest work that will enable him to live and to pay off some of his father's creditors, he accepts an assignment to investigate the circumstances of the brutal rape and murder of the countess of Avebury. Though a hapless young portrait painter has already been convicted of the crime, Sandman begins to suspect well-connected members of the aristocracy have framed him. Racing against time to save a man from the gallows, his inquiries lead him into the seamy underbelly of upper-class Regency society. Cornwell's flair for authentic detailing distinguishes this suspenseful, action-packed period whodunit. Margaret FlanaganCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved what is the best book ever Gallows Thief: A Novel
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful. ... never read anything by Bernard Cornwell that I didn't enjoy immensely. While he is best known for series ...By T StaffordI have never read anything by Bernard Cornwell that I didn't enjoy immensely. While he is best known for series (The excellent Sharpe books, the even better Saxon Tales and the equally excellent Archer's Quest trilogy) so far at least Gallows Thief stands alone. I wouldn't be shocked if he eventually added to Captain Sandman's adventures.One other thing which made this book stand out from his other work is the setting is not during a time of war. It takes place after Waterloo and answers the question "where do all the soldiers go after the wars?"I recommend this book and all of Cornwell's work.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Regency mystery novel published in 2001 that should have had a sequel but never did.By OLTI'd like another book featuring this one's protagonist. It's not that this book ends in a cliffhanger. It's that this is not your usual Bernard Cornwell novel. It's simpler, shorter, less epic and, let's face it, just plain less in terms of the main plot and what happens to the characters.The hero, Captain Ryder Sandman, comes back from an exemplary life as a soldier in the Napoleonic Wars to take his place in private life. Unfortunately, although Ryder was a born a gentleman, his father managed to bring down the family's finances and good name before committing suicide. Ryder is forced to live in penury over an unsavory tavern in Drury Lane, has lost his beloved fiancee, and is living a hardscrabble life, picking up money here and there from sporadic cricket matches he plays in.But that's not enough money to support even himself, much less also his mother and younger sister. So he finds himself forced to take a temporary job as a "gallow's thief" for the Crown, to investigate whether or not a young painter named Corday actually committed the vicious murder he is sentenced to hang for. If innocent, Corday's trip to the gallows will be stolen from him, or more to the point, be stolen from the hoi polloi who use hangings as one of their main entertainments.So this is a Regency mystery but it's more than that since this is a Cornwell book. There's extensive historical research woven into the story, about cricket, about the criminal justice system in the 1800s, about the actual logistics of execution by hanging, about the class system and inequities and injustices suffered by the lower classes. One thing that particularly struck me was that during this period of England's "Bloody Code", there were more than 200 capital crimes punishable by hanging, to name a few, petty theft, forgery, and sodomy.More than a third of this book is taken up with mini-screeds on these various topics and that made for too little space for actual really good development of the mystery or the characters. I was left wanting more. What there was, however, was very good, with excellent portrayals of various characters from all walks of life and all social strata and of varying degrees of honesty and ethics. Some caused your skin to crawl, some entertained you with their humorous ways, and some deserved your admiration.This is close to a 4-star book for me but I felt its excesses in interwoven "essays" bogged it down and broke up the pacing. I enjoyed the mystery, enjoyed the characters, but somehow I finished the book thinking there should have been more to the plot and less information dumps.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Good story. There should be more.By Al JReally good story. It ended without unwinding some of the previous plot lines. Looks suspiciously like a sequel is planned. if so, unwind the stories of the ladyfriend of Sandman and the anti-hero Hood.