Most Popular Books by Peter Dickinson

A former child soldier tries to learn the ways of peace in an African nation in this "rip-roaring adventure story" by a Carnegie Medal winner ( Publishers Weekly). Paul remembers nothing from before the conflict. Twelve years old, he is no longer a child. He is a warrior—one of a handful of elite commandos who live only to fight the corrupt government of Nagala. He has no family but the boys who fight beside him, and he owns nothing but his AK-47 rifle. This is the only life he has ever known, and it is one he understands—right until the day the standoff ends and his life changes forever. Paul buries his AK and heads north to attend school and attempt to live life as just another child. But at night, the battlefield consumes his dreams. When a rogue faction stages a coup in the capital and Paul''s adoptive father is put in prison, the boy turns into a warrior once more. It is too late for him to have a childhood, but Paul will do whatever it takes to guarantee himself a future. From the author Philip Pullman called "one of the real masters of children''s literature," this is an extraordinary novel for readers of all ages, a winner of the prestigious Whitbread Award in which "Dickinson deals intelligently with vital issues, devises potent symbols with his usual skill, and offers much to discuss in a vivid and compelling setting" ( Kirkus Reviews). This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author''s collection.

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger: Scotland Yard''s James Pibble puzzles over the murder of a pygmy tribesman in the middle of London in this "first class" mystery ( The Times Literary Supplement). Oddball cases are James Pibble''s specialty. But the brutal bludgeoning of the revered elder of a New Guinea tribesman may be his strangest yet. The corpse, in striped pajamas, lies in the middle of a room completely absent of furniture. Seven women squat on the floorboards. One knits. Another sits cross-legged at his feet. They all chant incantations in a strange language. The murder weapon, a wooden balustrade ornament in the shape of an owl, could have been wielded by any of the myriad suspects Pibble meets at Flagg Terrace, the London residence where the Ku family currently lives. And the only clue seems to be an Edwardian penny. So who killed bearded, four-foot-tall Aaron Ku? Everyone seems to have an alibi, including a local real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist whose marriage into the tribe was forbidden. In a house where men and women live in separate quarters, Pibble must follow a hierarchy of primitive rituals and gender-role reversals to unmask a surprising killer. The Glass-Sided Ants'' Nest is the 1st book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Three mysteries in the CWA Gold Dagger–winning series by a "master of the bizarre" ( Louis Untermeyer). Scotland Yard detective James Pibble is known for accepting any case, no matter how strange. Taking him to every corner of England, his job throws him into the most curious circumstances. The Glass-Sided Ants'' Nest: Detective Pibble is on the case when the revered elder of a New Guinea tribe is bludgeoned to death. All the suspects—including a real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist who married into the tribe—have alibis. And Pibble''s only clue is an Edwardian penny. The Old English Peep Show: Pibble''s next case takes him to the World of Old England, a country house run as a theme park. When one of the servants at the estate hangs himself, Detective Pibble discovers not a suicide, but a bizarre set of circumstances that add up to foul play. The Sinful Stones: Nobel Prize–winning scientist and one of the first builders of the atomic bomb Sir Francis Francis summons Detective Pibble to an isolated island to find his stolen memoir. But is Francis senile? Was the manuscript really stolen? What''s the real reason he sent for Pibble? And why does the island''s religious sect want Francis to stay so much?

Articles, tributes and reminiscences of composer, pianist and author Peter Dickinson are here brought together for the first time. Peter Dickinson made an enduring contribution to British musical life, and his music has been regularly performed and recorded by leading musicians. His writings, brought together here for the first time, are equally noteworthy. Covering well over half a century, the subjects are fascinatingly varied. Apart from musical interests ranging from Charles Ives to John Cage, they touch on literature; and Dickinson''s meetings with W.H. Auden and Philip Larkin are an intriguing insight that led to his Auden songs and the chamber work Larkin''s Jazz. American themes are prominent in this collection. There are unique reviews of concert life in New York from 1959 to 1961; an account of the teaching programme at the Juilliard School of Music at that time; three studies of Ives; and features containing original material on Copland, Thomson and Cage, all of whom Dickinson knew. Features on Erik Satie include the imaginary discussion marking his centenary in 1966. Dickinson also writes about his own music, providing an insight into what it was like being a British composer in the later twentieth century. Peter Dickinson was born in Lancashire in 1934 and lived in Suffolk until his passing. His 80th birthday was marked by a whole variety of tributes, including concerts, articles, broadcasts and various interviews - some included in this book. PETER DICKINSON was a British composer and pianist as well as author and editor of Boydell/URP books on Berkeley, Copland, Cage, Barber and Berners. As a pianist, Dickinson had a twenty-five-year, international partnership with his sister, the mezzo Meriel Dickinson, for whom he wrote song cycles to poems of E. E. Cummings, Gregory Corso and Stevie Smith. He was a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and was widely read as a critic on the Gramophone. He was an Emeritus Professor of the Universities of Keele and London and was chair of the Bernarr Rainbow Trust, for which he edited several books on music education.

"I think Peter Dickinson is hands down the best stylist as a writer and the most interesting storyteller in my genre." —Sara Paretsky, author of Breakdown Praise for The Poison Oracle: "I have no idea if any of this talk and ac-tion is authentic, and I don''t care. Either way it''s marvellous."—Rex Stout "Intelligent, elegantly written . . . a thoroughly enjoyable read."—Sunday Times Praise for Peter Dickinson''s mysteries: "He is the true original, a superb writer who revitalises the traditions of the mystery genre . . . incapable of writing a trite or inelegant sentence . . . a mas-ter."—P. D. James "Consummate storytelling skill."—Peter Lovesey Take a medieval Arab kingdom, add a ruler who wants to update the kingdom''s educational facilities, include an English research psycholinguist (an Oxford classmate of the ruler) invited to pursue his work on animal communication, and then add a touch of chaos in Dinah, a chimpanzee who has begun to learn to form coherent sentences with plastic symbols. When a murder is committed in the oil-rich marshes, Dinah is the only witness, and Morris has to go into the marshes to dis-cover the truth. The Poison Oracle is a novel of its time that exposes in the everyday language people use humanity''s thinking and unthinking cruelties to one another and to the animals with whom we share this earth. Peter Dickinson has twice received the Crime Writers'' Association''s Gold Dagger. His novels include Death of a Unicorn, A Summer in the Twenties, and many more. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

Praise for Peter Dickinson''s mysteries: "A literary magician controlling an appar-ently inexhaustible supply of effects."—Penelope Lively For best-selling author Lady Margaret, the past is no longer a pleasant memory. Her first lover''s mysterious death and the seeming inevitability of her inheriting the family''s stately home are cast in new light by secrets unwillingly revisited. The first in a series of reprints of Peter Dickinson''s mysteries, this classic British mystery will win fans currently engrossed in Downton Ab-bey. Peter Dickinson has twice received the Crime Writers'' As-sociation''s Gold Dagger. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

In these collection, you will find stories that range from the mythic to contemporary fantasy to science fiction. You will find a troll, gryphons, a beloved dog, the Land of the Dead, an owl, a minotaur, and a very alien Cat. Earth and Air is the third and final book in a trilogy of shared collections connected by the four classical elements. It follows previous volumes Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits and Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, written by both Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley. Ridiki is Steff’s beloved dog, named after Eurydice, whom the poet Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead. When, like her namesake, Ridiki is bitten by a snake and dies, Steff decides that he too should journey to the Underworld to ask the King of the Land of the Dead for his dog back. Mari is the seventh child of a family in which troll blood still runs. When her husband goes missing in a Scottish loch, she must draw upon the power of her blood to rescue him. Sophie, a young girl, fashions a witch’s broomstick out of an ash sapling, and gets more than she bargained for. An escaped slave, Varro, must kill a gryphon, in order to survive. A boy named Yanni allies himself with an owl and a goddess in order to fight an ancient evil. A group of mind-bonded space travelers must face an unknown threat and solve the murder of a companion before time runs out. All of these stories are about, in one way or another, the contrary and magical pull of two elements, Earth and Air. Each story showcases the manifold talents of a master storyteller and craftsman who has twice won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award, as well as the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. A Junior Library Guild Selection "These unusual, memorable tales from a much-admired writer should appeal both to teens and Dickinson’s adult fans."—Publishers Weekly "Strange, sometimes beautiful tales."—Kirkus Reviews Praise for Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits World Fantasy Award finalist "There is plenty here to excite, enthrall, and move even the pickiest readers."—School Library Journal "... a collection of enchanting tales."—Publishers Weekly Praise for Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits "This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome."—School Library Journal "Dickinson’s offerings are notable for their sophisticated magical thinking and subtlety of expression."—The Horn Book "Dickinson’s stories are told with a storyteller’s cadence."—Booklist “This collection ... offers something for every fantasy fan.”—Library Media Connection Praise for Peter Dickinson''s children''s books: "One of the real masters of children''s literature."—Philip Pullman "Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian "Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Emma Tupper''s Dairy, and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers'' Association''s Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

In this mystery from CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, a landlady discovers a corpse beneath her crowded London boardinghouse A sturdy young woman with a knack for home repair and a practical sense of Marxism, Lydia is renovating her London townhouse while her husband finishes law school. To bring in extra money, she rents her upper floors to the exiled government of Livonia, a Baltic state that was long ago absorbed into the Soviet Union. One day, as Lydia is taking up the floorboards, the Livonians carry a coffin through the house. It bears their housekeeper, who is to be honored with vodka toasts and a solemn funeral. After the ceremony, Lydia returns to her floorboards. Beneath the rotted wood is dirt—and in the dirt, she discovers a corpse that never reached the graveyard. Identifying the body and finding the person who stashed it there draws Lydia into a tangle of spies and counterspies as her quiet little boardinghouse becomes a new front in the global Cold War.

Grandad is the most important person in Gavin''s life. But he is suddenly struck down by a massive stroke and is paralysed. The doctors are not optimistic. Gavin begins a desperate emotional journey, against all the odds, to bring his grandfather back to life.

Chuck is a whippet. A very nervous whippet, who''s scared of absolutely everything: paper bags, pigeons, supermarket trolleys, cats (even the little fluffy ones). Some people say Chuck''s a wimpet, not a whippet, and Mum keeps pretending she''s going to give Chuck away, but Danielle loves her scaredy-cat whippet and knows that there''s more to Chuck than meets the eye... Seven funny, charming and totally whippet-friendly stories from Peter Dickinson, the winner of several major awards for his books for young readers - and the owner of three whippets!

In this gripping novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, the survivor of a manor-house crime delves into the past to solve a mystery At the elegant English manor known as Snailwood, tourists come daily to hear decades-old gossip about the second wife of the sixth earl. Zena was a remarkable young woman whose scandalous reputation has been dimmed neither by time nor by her bizarre death. In the 1930s, Zena was the star of a notorious party set whose members included playwrights, politicians, and Nazi sympathizers. They passed wild weekends at Snailwood, arguing about politics and drinking until dawn. At the center of their parties was the manor’s magnificent tower clock. The clock stopped long ago, but the darkness of its legacy continues to spread. When a workman offers to fix the clock for free, the only remaining survivor of the old days is forced to revisit her memories of Zena’s last mad party, when death came to Snailwood and Britain changed forever.

Tilja has grown up in the peaceful Valley, which is protected from the fearsome Empire by an enchanted forest. But the forest’s power has begun to fade and the Valley is in danger. Tilja is the youngest of four brave souls who venture into the Empire together to find the mysterious magician who can save the Valley. And much to her amazement, Tilja gradually learns that only she, an ordinary girl with no magical powers, has the ability to protect her group and their quest from the Empire’s sorcerers.

Three dystopian novels by an award-winning author that imagine a world where humankind has suddenly and violently rejected modern technology. Something has gone very wrong in England. In a tunnel beneath Wales one man opens a crack in a mysterious stone wall, and all over the island of Britain people react with horror to perfectly normal machines. Abandoning their cars on the roads and destroying their own factories, many flee the cities for the countryside, where they return to farming and an old-fashioned life. When families are split apart and grown-ups forget how they used to live, young people face unexpected challenges. Nicola Gore survives on her own for nineteen days before she’s taken in by a Sikh family that still remembers how to farm and forge steel by hand. Margaret and Jonathan brave the cold and risk terrible punishment in order to save a man’s life and lift the fog of fear and hate that’s smothering their village. And Geoffrey and his little sister, Sally, escape to France only to be sent back to England on a vital mission: to make their way north to Wales, alone, and find the thing under the stones that shattered civilization—the source of the Changes. Prolific author Peter Dickinson was known for “keeping up a page-turning pace,” and these adventure-packed novels are some of his most important contributions to science fiction (The Guardian). This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author’s collection.

Emma is spending the summer with her Scottish cousins—who are wonderful material for her attempt to win the School Prize for most interesting holiday diary. The cousins, lofty Andy, reserved Fiona, and fierce Roddy, are experimenting with their grandfather''s dilapidated old mini-submarine to see if they can find a monster in the family loch. Emma Tupper''s Diary is a sometimes terrifying, sometimes broadly hilarious adventure novel in the spirit of From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and I Capture the Castle. Praise for Emma Tupper''s Diary: "Fish out of water Emma must spend the summer in Scotland with cousins she’s never met. They’re somewhat older and get along fine with minimal adult supervision. Even when they plot to take an old submarine out on the nearby loch for a spin, adding a Nessy-like monster head to the top for fun, there’s no one around to urge caution. It’s the sort of family where everyone is whip-smart, conversations are fast and fascinating, and statements of fact are rarely truthful. All of which makes for one extremely suspenseful and surprisingly thought-provoking adventure."—Gwenyth Swain (author of Chig and the Second Spread) "One of my favorite childhood books. . . . Its themes and plot have come around again, and a smart production company should scoop it up for a film adaptation."—Atomic Librarian "An enthralling book, with fascinating characters, told with humor and wit, and with a story that just might, barely, be possible."—Book Loons "Comedy of manners? Ecological allegory? Adventure? Farce?"—Kirkus Reviews Praise for Peter Dickinson''s children''s books: "One of the real masters of children''s literature."—Philip Pullman "Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian "Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Earth and Air, The Dancing Bear, and the Michael L. Printz honor book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers'' Association''s Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

Dragons aren''t real ... or are they? This carefully constructed and beautifully illustrated case for the existence of dragons will convince even the skeptics.

The Gold Dagger–winning author "outdoes himself" with this pair of "most unusual and original" mysteries set in an alternate twentieth-century British monarchy ( Publishers Weekly). With two CWA Gold Dagger awards for his mystery novels and two Carnegie Medals for his children''s books, Peter Dickinson is one of the most acclaimed and beloved fiction authors in recent history. In this pair of mysteries featuring an imaginary royal family, and told from the perspective of Princess Louise—a precocious teenager and later a proud mother—Dickinson reaffirms his reputation as "one of the most versatile and inventive writers of mysteries" ( Los Angeles Times). King and Joker: Princess Louise is bored at Buckingham Palace before someone starts playing pranks. But when one joke really kills, the teenage princess and her father, King Victor II, stop laughing and start sleuthing in this "exceptional" mystery ( Newsweek). "Wry, witty, irresistible." — Financial Times Skeleton-in-Waiting: Now a young mother, Princess Louise is on a case that takes her to Uzbekistan where a mysterious woman claims to be a Romanov royal relation. Kidnapping, conspiracy, scandal, and murder all play a part in this New York Times Notable Book, the "wonderful" follow-up to King and Joker ( Financial Times). "Fast paced and enthralling as a good detective thriller should be but also a study of extraordinary social and psychological perception." — The New York Times Book Review

After she and Suth rescue four small children following an attack on Good Place about 200,000 years ago, Noli heeds the warnings of Moonhawk and leads the group to safety.

Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, the team behind Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, collaborate again to create five captivating tales incorporating the element of fire. In McKinley?s ?First Flight,? a boy and his pet foogit unexpectedly take a dangerous ride on a dragon, and her ?Hellhound? stars a mysterious dog as a key player in an eerie graveyard showdown. Dickinson introduces a young man who must defeat the creature threatening his clan in ?Fireworm,? a slave who saves his village with a fiery magic spell in ?Salamander Man,? and a girl whose new friend, the guardian of a mystical bird, is much older than he appears in ?Phoenix.? With time periods ranging from prehistoric to present day, and settings as varied as a graveyard, a medieval marketplace and a dragon academy, these stories are sure to intrigue and delight the authors? longtime fans and newcomers alike.