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Sandman and
Berrigan travel to Skavadale's estate and find Meg, still alive. In the presence of the Home Secretary, Meg confesses: Lord Christopher is the killer. His own stepmother seduced him and then blackmailed him, with her eye on the earldom's vast fortune. He came to the house, begging her to
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Sandman's one-time fiancé, Eleanor
Forrest, tells him that her maid saw Meg taken away from the house in a coach belonging to the Seraphim Club. When Sandman mentions Skavadale, Eleanor excitedly tells him that Skavadale's family is close to bankruptcy, but, as the heir to a dukedom, he has managed
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his estate onto
Christopher, meaning he will inherit a vast fortune when his father dies, while his father is merely living off the income. The Earl himself insists he did not kill his wife, and does not know who did, but he hated her all the same. She spent all his money, and was unfaithful to him,
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The
Countess's husband, the Earl of Avebury, commissioned a boudoir painting of his wife. The Countess was sitting for Corday in her London house when she was brutally stabbed to death, and her clothes were torn off, suggesting that she had been raped. Corday's palette knife was found on her body.
204:
of
Skavadale, who claims to have no idea what Sandman is talking about. Sam Berrigan, an ex-army sergeant who is now the Club doorman, tells Sandman that the Seraphim Club is made up of young, aristocratic rakes who commit crimes just for the fun of it. Sandman develops a theory that one of the
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return his love letters; she mocked him, and he lost control and stabbed her with his pocketknife. Meg discovered him, as did
Skavadale when he arrived shortly thereafter. Lord Sidmouth writes a hasty pardon while ordering horses and a police escort to speed Sandman to
188:
and Corday's mother has petitioned for his pardon. Lord
Sidmouth makes it clear that he has no doubts that Corday is guilty, and regards Sandman's job as an empty formality. His task is simple: to visit Corday and obtain a confession.
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to become engaged to the wealthiest heiress in
England. To both of them, it seems obvious: Skavadale was one of the Countess's many lovers, and he killed her when she attempted to blackmail him and likely killed Meg.
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Christopher Carne, the Earl of
Avebury's son, supports the theory that his father did the murder. His father, he confides, hates him because Christopher's grandfather decided to pass over his son and
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245:, while more grisly in effect, was a swifter and less painful means of death, yet the English refused to adopt it, because of its association with the anarchic
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241:'s book, "The Hanging Tree," a work of history on capital punishment in late 18th and 19th century England. Gatrell's book noted that the French
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so he turned her out of the house and ordered her allowance cut off. She laughed it off, telling him she was supplementing her income through
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the death sentence of a condemned murderer. Instead, he discovers a conspiracy to conceal the real killer.
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Sandman discovers that it was not the Earl who commissioned the portrait of the
Countess, but instead a
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in London, the Seraphim Club. At the club's premises, Sandman is met by the young
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In his Historical Note, Cornwell says the primary inspiration for the story was
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The Countess's maid, Meg, was in attendance, but did not appear at his trial.
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as its backdrop. The story concerns an amateur investigator hired to
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Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles
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Retired Captain Rider Sandman is summoned to the office of the
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The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People 1770–1868
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277:. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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1229:Cultural depictions of Henry Addington
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205:Seraphim Club killed the Countess.
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106:384 pp (first edition, hardback)
98:Print (hardback & paperback)
292:, London: HarperCollins, 1982.
943:Stonehenge: A Novel of 2000 BC
1:
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1204:Novels by Bernard Cornwell
1209:British historical novels
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119:(first edition, hardback)
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1199:Novels set in the 1810s
579:The Starbuck Chronicles
217:of her various lovers.
1214:British mystery novels
742:The Lords of the North
626:The Warlord Chronicles
156:, England in the year
790:Warriors of the Storm
249:practised during the
1219:Novels set in London
1154:Seven Kings Must Die
1224:HarperCollins books
1194:Fiction set in 1817
1189:2001 British novels
833:With Susannah Kells
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1122:Sharpe's Challenge
518:Sharpe's Trafalgar
462:Sharpe's Christmas
286:Bernard Cornwell.
273:V. A. C. Gatrell.
162:capital punishment
146:historical mystery
61:Historical mystery
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1115:Sharpe's Waterloo
1080:Sharpe's Regiment
975:Fools and Mortals
734:The Pale Horseman
716:The Saxon Stories
680:The Archer's Tale
613:The Bloody Ground
558:Sharpe's Assassin
510:Sharpe's Skirmish
502:Sharpe's Fortress
446:Sharpe's Waterloo
414:Sharpe's Regiment
255:Obadiah Hakeswill
251:French Revolution
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117:978-0-00-712715-3
87:Publication place
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1147:The Last Kingdom
1108:Sharpe's Justice
1101:Sharpe's Revenge
1094:Sharpe's Mission
1038:Sharpe's Company
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841:A Crowning Mercy
798:The Flame Bearer
782:The Empty Throne
758:The Burning Land
726:The Last Kingdom
566:Sharpe's Command
494:Sharpe's Triumph
438:Sharpe's Revenge
382:Sharpe's Company
338:Bernard Cornwell
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806:War of the Wolf
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636:The Winter King
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478:Sharpe's Ransom
470:Sharpe's Battle
430:Sharpe's Rifles
406:Sharpe's Honour
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347:Bibliography
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233:Major themes
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166:rubber-stamp
144:(2001) is a
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986:Non-fiction
605:Battle Flag
247:mob justice
1183:Categories
908:Stormchild
750:Sword Song
597:Copperhead
261:References
243:guillotine
198:men's club
82:1 Oct 2001
16:2001 novel
959:Azincourt
916:Scoundrel
900:Crackdown
880:Wildtrack
872:Thrillers
675:Harlequin
652:Excalibur
336:Works by
215:blackmail
148:novel by
67:Publisher
967:The Fort
895:) (1989)
888:Sea Lord
864:) (1986)
822:War Lord
687:Vagabond
682:) (2000)
202:Marquess
132:47192973
49:Language
935:Redcoat
695:Heretic
227:Newgate
186:Avebury
152:set in
52:English
1014:Sharpe
997:(2014)
978:(2017)
970:(2010)
962:(2008)
954:(2001)
946:(1999)
938:(1987)
919:(1992)
911:(1991)
903:(1990)
883:(1988)
852:(1984)
844:(1983)
825:(2020)
817:(2019)
809:(2018)
801:(2016)
793:(2015)
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777:(2013)
769:(2011)
761:(2009)
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569:(2023)
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457:(1992)
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417:(1986)
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385:(1982)
377:(1981)
369:(1981)
356:Sharpe
296:
210:entail
154:London
39:Author
1139:Other
891:(aka
860:(aka
678:(aka
589:Rebel
103:Pages
57:Genre
703:1356
294:ISBN
172:Plot
158:1817
126:OCLC
112:ISBN
1185::
180:,
329:e
322:t
315:v
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