Janet Gleeson THE GRENADILLO BOX First Edition Signed
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Janet Gleeson THE GRENADILLO BOX First Edition Signed
First edition, first print hardback of THE GRENADILLO BOX, by Janet Gleeson and published by Bantam/ Transworld Publishers Ltd, London, in 2002. Signed by Janet Gleeson on the title page. With full numberline 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 on the copyright page.The book is in very good condition (Clean maroon cloth boards with gilt lettering on spine), with only minor wear to the dust jacket which is not price clipped (light creasing to the edges). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no other inscriptions. There is minor tanning to the pages.
Janet Gleeson was born in Sri Lanka, where her father was a tea planter. After taking a degree in History of Art and English and an MA in Comparative History of Early Modern European Societies from Birkbeck College, London University. she joined Sotheby's, and later worked for Bonhams Auctioneers.
In 1991 she joined Reed Books, where she was responsible for devising and writing Miller's Antiques and Collectibles. She is the author of the Sunday Times non-fiction bestsellers The Arcanum and The Moneymaker. She is also the author of three novels, The Grenadillo Box, The Serpent In The Garden and The Thief-Taker.
"It is New Year's Day, 1755 and Nathaniel Hopson, journeyman to the famous cabinetmaker, Thomas Chippendale, finds himself drawn into a chilling affair. While working at the country home of Lord Montfort, Nathaniel discovers his patron shot dead in his magnificent new library. The conclusion is obvious; Montfort burdened with gambling debts and recently possessed of a melancholic nature, must have taken his own life.
Nathaniel, however, is not convinced. The gun near Montfort's hand suggests suicide, but what of the blood on the windowsill and the confusion of footprints on the library floor? And there is another strange detail: Lord Montfort was found clutching a small and elaborately carved box of grenadillo wood. Does the answer to this most baffling of mysteries lie within this unusual keepsake?
No sooner has Nathaniel been set up as a most unlikely investigator than another body is found, frozen and cruelly mutilated. Nathaniels' detachment is shattered. He knows the victim well - but what was he doing on Montfort''s country estate?
Nathaniel's investigation will take him from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the slums of Fleet Street and the archives of London's Foundling Hospital, where the identity of a child abandoned twenty years ago may hold the key to the grenadillo box. But someone has already killed to keep this secret and each step Nathaniel takes on his journey is a step further into danger.
As intricately crafted as a Chippendale cabinet, The Grenadillo Box is both an utterly irresistible detective story and a vibrant recreation of eighteenth-century England, and marks the fiction debut of this supremely accomplished writer."
'Masterful...a cheerful whodunnit' - The Times
'Mystery and intrigue set in 18th century London...colourful and wildly entertaining. A wonderful read' - Guardian
'An auspicious fiction d?but...engaging and enjoyable' - Observer
'Brings alive the clatter of carriages and the seedy, unsanitary alleys and thoroughfares of London...the research is impeccable...utterly convincing...the faultless historical perspective carries the reader willingly to the end' - Good Book Guide
'Full of energy and inventiveness.' - Sunday Mirror
'After cutting her teeth on two highly acclaimed factual books, art and antiques expert Janet Gleeson has put her specialist knowledge to good use in her first work of fiction...A fascinating tale of murder and intrigue' - Yorkshire Post
'A compulsive page-turner...will appeal especially to anyone who was spellbound by Charles Palliser's The Quincunx' - Daily Mail
429 pages.
ISBN: 0 593 04803 2
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Janet Gleeson THE GRENADILLO BOX First Edition Signed