A Sergeant Cribb mystery
Shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Awards, 1973
The Victorian entertainment chosen for Cribb’s next case was the seaside. Brighton was an obvious choice for me, as it was my first sight of the sea after the war. Albert Moscrop, an obsessive voyeur, wanders the sea front in 1882 using his telescope. The beautiful Zena Prothero is particularly fascinating to watch.
Then the whole of Brighton is horrified by the discovery of a murder. The local police need the help of Scotland Yard, so Cribb and Thackeray get a chance of some sea air.
UK Publisher: Macmillan, 1973
UK Paperback: Panther, 1974
US Publisher: Dodd, Mead, 1973
US Paperback: Penguin, 1981
Reissued in the US in June, 2009, by Soho Press
“A minor gem, catching to perfection the social atmospherics of Victorian Brighton and at the same time telling an ingenious story of murder and discovery.”
Publishers Weekly
“His best yet.”
HRF Keating, The Times
“Positively, this is the best Lovesey to date.”
Anthony Price, Oxford Mail
This is easily the best story Mr Lovesey has written.”
FE Pardoe, Birmingham Post
“The sleuthing is neat and satisfying: in the meantime, Victorian pleasures, permitted and illicit, are rendered up with gusto.”
Matthew Coady, The Guardian
