The Day of the Peppercorn Kill

by John Wainwright

A man has been sentenced to eighteen years for rape. He is released after twelve, and returns to a wife who wants, in spite of everything, to stand by him and help him. But the man has other ideas. Men convicted of rape are not well-treated by their fellows in prison. This man, sensitive and civilized, had been treated very badly indeed. And he didn’t consider that he’d committed rate at all. In his view he’d been framed – “set up”. The people he blamed for framing him play a large part in the story that follows. There are also, as always with john WAINWRIGHT’S NOVELS, THE POLICEMEN; IT IS THE FAT, TOUGH, KINDLY Superintendent Lennox who uses all his energy and acumen to try and sort things out as they head towards a multiple, disastrous climax. John Wainwright is always a subtle and original storyteller. He has outdone himself here by the use of narrative techniques that make this new novel absolutely compulsive reading.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

aka Jack Ripley

John William Wainwright was a rear gunner in World War II, after which he spent twenty years as a policeman in Yorkshire. He wrote eighty crime novels between 1965 and 1992, sometimes under the pseudonym 'Jack Ripley'. He also wrote some short stories (mostly uncollected in book format), 7 radio plays, and an indefinite amount of magazine articles and newspaper columns.

Reviews

[Bill Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, a police procedural, but this well-crafted mystery employs interior monologue technique and characterization to explore the why behind character actions. A brutal policeman, his loyal but doubting subordinate, a crooked alderman and a recently released prisoner seeking to avenge a fit-up and resolve his dormant marriage are the main characters. The fate and motivations of the parolee form the core of the mystery and provide the suspense. Wainwright uses time skips and interior monologues to provide a patient reader with clues for solving the puzzle. There is a series character, Lennox, who provides a unifying force for the action and some much needed humor in an otherwise grim story. There are three well done male-female relationship character studies of vivid contrast that provide an emotional backbone to the story, elevating the book beyond the standard police procedure fare. Readers looking for a crime drama with heart and sympathy should be pleased. Look forward to reader more Wainwright.

[Laura Palmiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raramente mi capita di trovare, tra i tanti gialli che leggo (un po' così, quasi come fossero fumetti, per rilassarmi e mettere alla prova la mia capacità deduttiva) delle perle. Questa lo è, un piccola perla dal nord dell'Inghilterra.
Consigliata a tutti gli appassionati del genere.

[John Marr · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that dares to not only ask but answer the question "Hey, Joey, where are you going with that gun in your hand?"