Some Deaths Before Dying

In this crime fiction masterwork from CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, a dying old woman determined to solve a family mystery before the end of her life finds herself reopening doors into a dark and very dangerous past

Once a talented photographer, Rachel Matson is now old, paralyzed, bedridden, and dying—yet her wits remain as sharp as a well-stropped straight razor. Watching television to keep her mind focused, she is shocked to see a woman on Antiques Roadshow asking to have an old pistol appraised—a firearm Rachel is certain once belonged to her late husband.

Though confined to her bedroom and barely able to communicate with the outside world, Rachel is determined to figure out how and why a treasured family heirloom wound up in a stranger’s possession. With the help of her old photographs, her devoted nurse, Dilys, and Jenny, the sweet young lady from the telly, Rachel sets out to unravel this last mystery before the end comes. But the answers she seeks are waiting for her in the darkest shadows of a past best left unexplored and in shocking family secrets that, by rights, should remain locked away forever.

P. D. James has called Peter Dickinson “a master” and “a true original.” Acclaimed worldwide for his stylistic flair, his unique storytelling genius, and his remarkable penchant for reconfiguring British crime fiction, Dickinson once again offers the mystery reader something fresh and surprising with his final novel, Some Deaths Before Dying.