Gallows Thief is a mystery novel by Bernard Cornwell set in London in the year 1817, which uses capital punishment as its backdrop. Rider Sandman, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, is hired as an investigator as a formality to rubber-stamp the death sentence of a condemned murderer. Instead, he discovers a conspiracy to conceal the real killer. In the slang of the time, a “gallows thief,” is a person who prevents the hanging of an innocent person. Though not mentioned by name, Cornwell’s earlier character Richard Sharpe is likely alluded to as a Rifle officer who Sandman... encountered during the wars. The book describes, in meticulous detail, the hanging of four condemned criminals on the public scaffold outside Newgate Prison in London. One of the attendees in the “prize” seats is Sir Henry Forrest, a financier and city alderman. He is sickened by the spectacle, but the crowd and his fellow attendees treat it as a public entertainment. Captain Rider Sandman, formerly of His Majesty’s 52nd Regiment of Foot, arises in his attic room above the Wheatsheaf Tavern in Drury Lane. Sandman is a gentlemen, but is hurting for cash.
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| Author: | Bernard Cornwell |
| Genre: | Fiction, Mystery, Suspense |
| Year published: | 2001 |
| Number of editions: | 5 |