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Some Deaths Before Dying
The New York Times Book Review calls multiple-award winner Peter Dickinson "a stylist of subtle brilliance". Always surprising and incisive, the author of The Yellow Room Conspiracy and dozens of other unique novels returns with his first new book in five years; and proves again that in his masterful hands, powerful drama and devastating secrets can be found at the heart of even the smallest mysteries.
For nearly her whole life, through most of the twentieth century, Rachel Matson saw the world through the lens of a camera, and produced stunning photographs that not only captured the moment but hinted at a greater truth. Now the ninety-year-old widow lies paralyzed, in the final stages of a debilitating illness. Yet while Rachel's body may be useless, her spirit remains indomitable, her mind razor sharp, and her eye, the trained eye of an artist, still picks up the most telling details. Together with her vast collection of photographs, these gifts are about to help her meet an extraordinary challenge, as she confronts a shattering mystery that harkens back over the decades...
On a television program that showcases heirlooms, an antique pistol that belonged to her late husband, Colonel Jocelyn Matson, turns up, leaving Rachel bewildered and then profoundly disturbed. How could the prized Ladurie -- one of a matched pair of dueling pistols she had given to him to commemorate his return from the horrors of a Japanese POW camp -- appear hundreds of miles away in the possession of a stranger?
Determined to learn the fate of Jocelyn's gun, Rachel falls back on the one thing left to her -- her intellect -- and soon begins the painful process of teasing the past from the shadows. Whatemerges from the vivid shards of her memories is a mesmerizing tale of honor, passion, and betrayal that stretches from colonial India to modern-day England ...a tale of a loving marriage interrupted by war, of a once-proud reg
For nearly her whole life, through most of the twentieth century, Rachel Matson saw the world through the lens of a camera, and produced stunning photographs that not only captured the moment but hinted at a greater truth. Now the ninety-year-old widow lies paralyzed, in the final stages of a debilitating illness. Yet while Rachel's body may be useless, her spirit remains indomitable, her mind razor sharp, and her eye, the trained eye of an artist, still picks up the most telling details. Together with her vast collection of photographs, these gifts are about to help her meet an extraordinary challenge, as she confronts a shattering mystery that harkens back over the decades...
On a television program that showcases heirlooms, an antique pistol that belonged to her late husband, Colonel Jocelyn Matson, turns up, leaving Rachel bewildered and then profoundly disturbed. How could the prized Ladurie -- one of a matched pair of dueling pistols she had given to him to commemorate his return from the horrors of a Japanese POW camp -- appear hundreds of miles away in the possession of a stranger?
Determined to learn the fate of Jocelyn's gun, Rachel falls back on the one thing left to her -- her intellect -- and soon begins the painful process of teasing the past from the shadows. Whatemerges from the vivid shards of her memories is a mesmerizing tale of honor, passion, and betrayal that stretches from colonial India to modern-day England ...a tale of a loving marriage interrupted by war, of a once-proud reg
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1999
17 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Peter Dickinson
141 books156 followersPeter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL was a prolific English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 21, 2019
Rachel, paralyzed and slowly dying, reconsiders events in her past, particularly those involving her late husband.
This was a well-written mystery novel. It's fairly dry and doesn't have many 'big events' - the mystery isn't introduced for several pages and the real mystery doesn't get looked at until several chapters. Regardless, it's an interesting read with several well-defined characters and good differing points of view.
I still wasn't sure I fully understood all the bits and pieces by the end, and that seems to be by design of the author. If you need your books to wrap up with a pretty bow and everything spelled out, maybe give this one a pass. I enjoyed spinning it around in my mind, prodding different parts to see how they all fit together.
This was a well-written mystery novel. It's fairly dry and doesn't have many 'big events' - the mystery isn't introduced for several pages and the real mystery doesn't get looked at until several chapters. Regardless, it's an interesting read with several well-defined characters and good differing points of view.
I still wasn't sure I fully understood all the bits and pieces by the end, and that seems to be by design of the author. If you need your books to wrap up with a pretty bow and everything spelled out, maybe give this one a pass. I enjoyed spinning it around in my mind, prodding different parts to see how they all fit together.
July 5, 2016
3.5 - Dickinson is a fantastic observer of humanity, and writes so well that, though this book has a fairly typical structure, and uses the crutch of labeling shifts in point of view, I didn't notice the former and wasn't bothered by the latter, a convention that normally drives me bonkers. Glad I started this the day before a day off. Nothing revolutionary but I enjoyed the crap out of it.
February 24, 2020
In this book, all the murders have happened decades before the book begins, and the idea of murder doesn't even come up until a good third of the way into the book.
At the start of the book, Rachel, an elderly woman who is mostly paralyzed and needs a full time care giver, gets the book started off. Her son (whom neither she nor her deceased husband cared for, apparently) comes to ask her for the antique dueling pistols that Rachel had gotten as a gift for her military husband many years ago so that he can get them valued. Since Rachel doesn't like him, she waves him off. But that does start her thinking about the pistols... and of course you know the principle of Chekov's gun- if it's introduced, it must be fired, right?
The first part of the book is a bit confusing because there are a lot of different threads that have to come together. It turns out that one of the matched set of dueling pistols is missing- how could this have happened? WHEN could this have happened? Rachel has her suspicions but her memory is foggy and it's an effort for her to put it all together. However, she was an avid photographer, and by meticulously looking through her albums that chronicle her family history over and over again, she begins to remember.
So, I've spoiler-warninged this review because I want to discuss the murders. This will make much more sense to you if you have actually read the book and are looking at reviews to get confirmation for your own ideas (as I often do). It turns out that Rachel killed a man back in the day, because he showed up at her house when she was all alone and sort of threatened her, both physically and with the idea that her husband loved him instead of her. Rachel immediately confesses this murder to her husband when he comes home later that evening and her husband promptly puts together an alibi for her that includes burning down part of the house. Weirdly, within the next couple of weeks an old army friend of her husband's absconds with the money from a charitable foundation that he had been managing for her husband, and very shortly after that her husband has a stroke.
The author also tells us that both Rachel's husband (Jocelyn) and his friend had used the charity as a way to meet young men and that this friend was killed in a duel (although not by Jocelyn) after he was accused of stealing the money from the charity and trying to blackmail Jocelyn. Rachel's killing of the young man is not in doubt, and neither is the friend's murder by the end of the book. Rachel sees the whole thing as the friend's fault- the friend enticed Jocelyn into being gay, into even being a pedophile, and Jocelyn was trying to restore his own honor with the duel. My book club went along with this assessment. I have another thought- Rachel was EXTREMELY enamoured and protective of her husband through the whole book. The whole explanation was merely her memories. I think that Jocelyn was a criminal mastermind who had decided to kill Rachel and run off with the charity's money and with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, the boyfriend failed to take care of Rachel and then Jocelyn had to think on his feet. He framed his friend for the robbing of the charity and got his two old army buddies to help him set up the duel and then dispose of the friend. Also, there was some incest because of some hanky-panky between these two old friends and their wives. And I wonder if this is what the author had in mind all along? You tell me.
At the start of the book, Rachel, an elderly woman who is mostly paralyzed and needs a full time care giver, gets the book started off. Her son (whom neither she nor her deceased husband cared for, apparently) comes to ask her for the antique dueling pistols that Rachel had gotten as a gift for her military husband many years ago so that he can get them valued. Since Rachel doesn't like him, she waves him off. But that does start her thinking about the pistols... and of course you know the principle of Chekov's gun- if it's introduced, it must be fired, right?
The first part of the book is a bit confusing because there are a lot of different threads that have to come together. It turns out that one of the matched set of dueling pistols is missing- how could this have happened? WHEN could this have happened? Rachel has her suspicions but her memory is foggy and it's an effort for her to put it all together. However, she was an avid photographer, and by meticulously looking through her albums that chronicle her family history over and over again, she begins to remember.
So, I've spoiler-warninged this review because I want to discuss the murders. This will make much more sense to you if you have actually read the book and are looking at reviews to get confirmation for your own ideas (as I often do). It turns out that Rachel killed a man back in the day, because he showed up at her house when she was all alone and sort of threatened her, both physically and with the idea that her husband loved him instead of her. Rachel immediately confesses this murder to her husband when he comes home later that evening and her husband promptly puts together an alibi for her that includes burning down part of the house. Weirdly, within the next couple of weeks an old army friend of her husband's absconds with the money from a charitable foundation that he had been managing for her husband, and very shortly after that her husband has a stroke.
The author also tells us that both Rachel's husband (Jocelyn) and his friend had used the charity as a way to meet young men and that this friend was killed in a duel (although not by Jocelyn) after he was accused of stealing the money from the charity and trying to blackmail Jocelyn. Rachel's killing of the young man is not in doubt, and neither is the friend's murder by the end of the book. Rachel sees the whole thing as the friend's fault- the friend enticed Jocelyn into being gay, into even being a pedophile, and Jocelyn was trying to restore his own honor with the duel. My book club went along with this assessment. I have another thought- Rachel was EXTREMELY enamoured and protective of her husband through the whole book. The whole explanation was merely her memories. I think that Jocelyn was a criminal mastermind who had decided to kill Rachel and run off with the charity's money and with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, the boyfriend failed to take care of Rachel and then Jocelyn had to think on his feet. He framed his friend for the robbing of the charity and got his two old army buddies to help him set up the duel and then dispose of the friend. Also, there was some incest because of some hanky-panky between these two old friends and their wives. And I wonder if this is what the author had in mind all along? You tell me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2024
Poirot loved to denigrate Holmes’s pursuit of clues and boast that he could solve mysteries purely by sitting in a chair and thinking, but in “Some Deaths Before Dying” Dickinson one-ups Christie with a detective — or rather, a mystery-solving protagonist — who is completely bed-ridden. Though still mentally sharp, Rachel Matson is paralyzed, and can barely even speak. As a consequence, she spends a fair amount of time watching daytime TV, and so happens to see a young woman getting an antique pistol evaluated on the British version of “Antiques Roadshow”, a pistol that Rachel knows perfectly well belongs to her. Rachel has to unravel the mystery entirely with her brains and, since it’s Dickinson and history always matters, her memory, aided by the fact that she was a dedicated amateur photographer and took, and preserved, copious photographs over the years. Because Rachel’s movements are limited, Dickinson also shifts viewpoints for a bit, giving us the perspective both of the young woman with the pistol and of Rachel’s nurse: both of them do the necessary legwork, of which there is always some, even for a mystery where most of the clues lie in the past. Alas, the mystery itself turns out to be of somewhat limited interest, certainly not matching up to the stories that Dickinson came up with in “Perfect Gallows” or “The Yellow Room Conspiracies”, also mysteries based around long-ago crimes that can only be solved by rummaging through memories. But as always with Dickinson, there’s much more going on than just the mystery, which in a way is merely an excuse for Rachel to come to terms with her life — the ups and downs of her marriage, the disappointing way that her no-good son turned out — in the small amount of time that remains to her before she leaves it. She is not, perhaps, entirely sympathetic, but she’s very interesting and very well-written. And though her nurse and the young woman she sees with her pistol can’t really compete, Dickinson does well enough with them that their sections of the story don’t drag. It’s not Dickinson’s best, but even somewhat less than his best is still very good indeed.
July 8, 2023
This book spawned a very interesting conversation with my gf about whether and how Peter Dickinson is homophobic - my own position is that he is one of the few people who is actually, by deep orientation, heterosexual. Like the way there are solely-same-sex-attracted people finding each other and long before the "invention of the homosexual" in the twentieth century or the creation of the "post-Stonewall gay identity". Like even on a gay planet, Peter Dickinson would be finding a way to meet girls. And as such, his lovely thoughtful brain occasionally latches onto the problem of how come some men don't want to do such a terrific thing as have sex with women, and how interesting that is and how perhaps he should put it into a novel, at which point he gets it disastrously wrong. (His lesbians - or his Theory of Lesbianity - are better, presumably because although lesbians are not heterosexual, we are attracted to women, and thus make more sense to him.)
Anyway the whole plot of this book hinges on a theory of homosexuality that is unutterably bizarre, although in my Peter Dickinson headcanon quite endearing. Read at your own risk.
Anyway the whole plot of this book hinges on a theory of homosexuality that is unutterably bizarre, although in my Peter Dickinson headcanon quite endearing. Read at your own risk.
August 23, 2017
What a great read. I like the problem viewed from various character POV. It works well and the ending is perfect.
April 16, 2018
I was in the mood for the British murder mystery. Loved the pacing, the writing, the characters and the setup. Makes me want to read more by this author.
October 14, 2019
One of my 10 best mysteries read in 1999. Love the beauty of his writing.
November 17, 2019
3.75 stars
This was difficult to rate. The writing is wonderful, atmospheric and descriptive. But the plot was implausible and the main character unlikeable.
This was difficult to rate. The writing is wonderful, atmospheric and descriptive. But the plot was implausible and the main character unlikeable.
September 12, 2021
Very strange, hypnotic atmosphere.
July 9, 2024
Enjoyed this book. I have not read any books by this author! Good characters.
January 7, 2016
I think it was Peter Dickinson's obituary that made me reserve one of his books at the library. So glad I did! I intend to find more. It's been a long time since I've read such a satisfying mystery. It reminded me of other admired authors (whose names I can't remember but books I remember loving - I know - not very helpful - I have a terrible memory for facts). Full and grounded and detailed in just the right ways, coupled with the curiosity of a mystery. Good stuff. Maybe I should have given it a five, but those are usually reserved for books that I feel change or inspire me in some way. At least I think that's what I like to reserve my fives for. It could just depend on my mood. Right now I need to be writing a paper - not reviewing a novel I shouldn't have been reading because I should have been writing - you know how procrastination works.
April 9, 2016
2.5 stars
Rachel is 90-years old, paralyzed and dying. When her son lets her know that he saw a gun that should belong to their family on the Antiques Roadshow (they still have the matching gun), Rachel decides to investigate with the help of her nurse and daughter, bringing back memories and old secrets.
Although some parts of it were more interesting than others, for a good portion of the book, I just wasn't interested. Maybe the writing style? I couldn't get into it, and I didn't really care. I thought, at about half-way through when there was one incident that really caught my interest, it would pick up, and it did for a short time, but the interest, unfortunately, waned again.
Rachel is 90-years old, paralyzed and dying. When her son lets her know that he saw a gun that should belong to their family on the Antiques Roadshow (they still have the matching gun), Rachel decides to investigate with the help of her nurse and daughter, bringing back memories and old secrets.
Although some parts of it were more interesting than others, for a good portion of the book, I just wasn't interested. Maybe the writing style? I couldn't get into it, and I didn't really care. I thought, at about half-way through when there was one incident that really caught my interest, it would pick up, and it did for a short time, but the interest, unfortunately, waned again.
March 19, 2009
It is clear that Peter Dickinson writes from the vantage point of old age really well. His reveals are very cleverly done and not at all expected. I really enjoyed this book, but also felt a bit heavy at the end when you realize that all is not what it seems and someone you were brought to greatly admire was not the person you thought you knew. I realize that the book would be boring if everyone was as great as we thought, but all the same, it left a slightly bad taste in my mouth. The cleverness of the story and the inspiring testament to will, if not spirit, is well worth the read.
February 11, 2012
Each of Peter Dickinson's mysteries is unique, quirky, and drawn with a master's hand. I'm sad to see that he has devoted his writing increasingly to YA books. Some Deaths Before Dying, which seems to be his last mystery so far, is in my opinion the best of the lot. We have not met these characters before. I strongly advise any lover of British mysteries who hasn't discovered Dickinson to read this one. Then go back and find (if you can) his mysteries from the 70s and 80s. They're all gems.
April 21, 2013
More of a character study than much of a mystery…although many secrets were revealed in the end. This was a book that I've owned for some time from my TBR bookshelf. I placed it on my bed stand but I read it intermittingly, which makes it hard to review. I was constantly refreshing my memory of some of the characters. It is a thoughtful, well written novel.
January 2, 2013
One of the best contemporary mysteries I've read in quite some time - Dickinson hooks you immediately and doesn't let go. The premise is exceptionally strong and the way Dickinson inexorably leads you towards the payoff as you furiously try to stitch the clues together is utterly compelling. Definitely a banner way to kick off a new reading year.
April 22, 2013
Wonderful writing and wonderful characters (in the beginning, anyway).
Two of the "wonderful" characters each excuse themselves for . One of the "wonderful" characters has Then, there's the evil character.
The beginning's enjoyable, but the ending's wretched.
Two of the "wonderful" characters each excuse themselves for . One of the "wonderful" characters has Then, there's the evil character.
The beginning's enjoyable, but the ending's wretched.
August 27, 2008
This book was a revelation. A bedridden old woman unable to move discovers an old crime and solves a web of deception and lies. This was a great reading, my first Dickinson and one of my all time favourites in mystery books.
February 21, 2011
This book unfolded well, it was skillfully done. The subject matter is quite adult, and not everyone would be comfortable with what is revealed about the family of the elderly, paralyzed female photographer. I really enjoyed all the elements of the story coming together over such a span of time.
December 10, 2014
Fascinating story of a completely paralyzed woman trying to solve an old mystery. I liked the characters and enjoyed the story. Good page turner. Not sure I bought the reasoning behind the break up of the daughter's marriage plans. I'll have to think on that one.
December 28, 2010
A finely crafted story by a writer who excels at his craft. I agree with those who put this book in the league of Ruth Rendell's better works.
December 12, 2012
Hypnotic.
August 5, 2014
I truly enjoyed reading this book and look forward reading other books written by Peter Dickinson.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews