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Sweet Poison
David Roberts

Sweet Poison

It is August 1935 and the Duke of Mersham is hosting one of his influential parties, bringing together public figures interested in improving Anglo-German relations. One of his guests is General Sir Alistair Craig VC, who swallows poison in the duke's excellent port and dies just as latecomers Lord Edward Corinth and journalist Verity Browne arrive on the scene.

The unlikely pair - the younger son of a duke and a journalist committed to the Communist Party - find common ground as they seek the truth behind the general's murder and discover that everyone present, including the duke himself, had a motive for wanting Sir Alistair out of the way.

But more deaths will follow before Verity and Lord Edward get to the bottom of this singular mystery...

Book Details:

  • Author: David Roberts
  • Published Year: 2001
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Constable
    • US: Carroll & Graf
    • Italy: Mondadori
David Roberts

David Roberts

David Roberts was an editor at Chatto and Windus, editorial director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson and a partner of Michael O'Mara Books, before becoming a full-time writer in 2000.His series of crime novels set during the 1930s featuring Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne and optioned by Columbia Pictures include Sweet Poison, Bones of the Buried, Hollow Crown, Dangerous Sea and The More Deceived.He is married and divides his time between London and Wiltshire.
More about David Roberts

Book Reviews

  • "A classic murder mystery with as complex a plot as one could hope for and a most engaging paid of amateur sleuths whom I look forward to encountering again in future novels."
    Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie
  • "Readers...will find great pleasure in this thoroughly enjoyable first novel."
    Booklist
  • "Roberts is convincing on period detail and crafts prickly characters...while in fact the period parallels Dorothy L.Sayers, Roberts goes his own way to create - or rather, recreate - a vision of those troubled times."
    Poisoned Pen