The Serpent In The Garden
Janet Gleeson
  • Published: 1 November 2004
  • ISBN: 9780553815245
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $14.99
Categories:

The Serpent In The Garden

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Another compelling murder mystery set in the eighteenth century from the acclaimed author of The Grenadillo Box.

Summer, 1765. The renowned portrait painter Joshua Pope is eager to escape London and his unhappy past and accepts a commission to paint a wedding portrait for Herbert Bentnick and his bride-to-be, Sabine Mercier.
Joshua learns that the couple are avid horticulturalists. Bentnick's country house, Astley, in Richmond, is famous for its verdant gardens, designed by the master landscape artist Capability Brown. Sabine Mercier, who has lived most of her life in the Indies, is an expert in growing pineapples, the fruit of choice at the grandest dinner parties and an inspiration to artists and craftsmen.
But soon after Sabine begins to cultivate pineapples in the vast conservatory at Astley, she discovers a body among her plants. Why, wonders Joshua Pope, is so little attention paid to this bizarre death? Why do Bentnick's children regard their future stepmother with suspicion and fear? And what connection does Sabine's daughter Violet have with the dead man?
Outraged that any life can be valued so lightly, Joshua begins to investigate the death. But then Sabine's valuable emerald necklace disappears, and he is implicated. His need to discover what has happened at Astley suddenly becomes more pressing. Can Joshua solve the mystery before his reputation is ruined? And, more immediately, can he stay alive long enough to do so?

Following her acclaimed début, THE GRENADILLO BOX, Janet Gleeson has written another compelling tale of murder and mystery set in an exquisitely and authentically rendered Georgian England.
  • Published: 1 November 2004
  • ISBN: 9780553815245
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $14.99
Categories:

About the author

Janet Gleeson

Janet Gleeson is the author of works of fiction and nonfiction which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her books include The Arcanum, which was Radio 4 Book of the Week and a Sunday Times bestseller, The Money Maker, An Aristocratic Affair and The Lifeboat Baronet, as well as three historical crime novels. She has a BA Hons in English and Art History from Nottingham University and an MA from Birkbeck College, University of London. She worked at Sotheby's and Bonhams where she specialised in old master paintings before starting her writing career as a columnist for House & Garden and an editor for Reed Books. She lives in a medieval barn in Dorset.

Also by Janet Gleeson

An Aristocratic Affair
The Thief Taker
The Grenadillo Box
The Moneymaker
The Arcanum
See all

Praise for The Serpent In The Garden

An irresistible follow-up to acclaimed THE GRENADILLO BOX: 'Colourful and wildly entertaining...A wonderful read'

Guardian

'As attractively crafted as the box itself'

Independent on Sunday

'A delicious five-course banquet: a murder mystery is succeeded by an abandoned infant weepie, a love story, a social history and, finally, a richly flavoured, full-bodied, 18th-century whodunnit...You'll be kept guessing right up until the last page in this splendid novel'

Harpers & Queen

'A compulsive page-turner which will appeal especially to anyone who was spellbound by Charles Palliser's The Quincunx'

Daily Mail

'Masterful...the sheer weight of events carries you on...a cheerful whodunnit'

The Times

'An auspicious fiction début...engaging and enjoyable'

Observer

'A delicious tale of crime'

Home & Country

Full of Chippendale-style hidden compartments...her narrative is absolutely enchanting'

Literary Review

'Gripping...Gleeson's evocation of the period is meticulously researched and her plotting is neat and controlled...a good yarn'

Independent on Sunday
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