The Attenbury Emeralds

It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury's most dazzling heirloom made headlines - and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective.

Now it is 1951: a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Then the new young Lord Attenbury - grandson of Lord Peter's first client - seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921.

It will be the most intricate and challenging mystery he has ever faced . . .

Since the publication of A Presumption of Death, which was set in 1941 in the wartime English countryside, readers have been eagerly asking for this story - a wholly original and utterly engrossing new detective adventure.

“A delight. - Irish Times Sayers's fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers are in for a treat - Laura Wilson, Guardian Sayers would not have recognised that it wasn't her own work. - Marcel Berlins, The Times A great deal of fun. - Natasha Cooper TLS An absolute treat: civilised, intelligent and spellbinding. . . - Barry Forshaw, Daily Express A pitch-perfect Golden Age mystery; not a pastiche but a gem of a period puzzle that belongs on the shelf beside the Wimsey originals. - Christopher Fowler, Financial Times An enjoyable and clever concoction . . . a good puzzle . . . skilled portrait of the austere postwar world. - Jessica Mann, Literary Review Wit, worldly wisdom and literary jokes . . . As a Peter Wimsey story, it should give unalloyed pleasure to Sayers' fans: and simply in its own right as a novel, it makes joyous light reading. - Anthony Lejeune, Tablet”

A delight. - Irish Times

Sayers's fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers are in for a treat - Laura Wilson, Guardian

Sayers would not have recognised that it wasn't her own work. - Marcel Berlins, The Times

A great deal of fun. - Natasha Cooper TLS

An absolute treat: civilised, intelligent and spellbinding. . . - Barry Forshaw, Daily Express

A pitch-perfect Golden Age mystery; not a pastiche but a gem of a period puzzle that belongs on the shelf beside the Wimsey originals. - Christopher Fowler, Financial Times

An enjoyable and clever concoction . . . a good puzzle . . . skilled portrait of the austere postwar world. - Jessica Mann, Literary Review

Wit, worldly wisdom and literary jokes . . . As a Peter Wimsey story, it should give unalloyed pleasure to Sayers' fans: and simply in its own right as a novel, it makes joyous light reading. - Anthony Lejeune, Tablet

Jill Paton Walsh, born in 1937, is also the author of many non-crime novels for adults: the fourth of these, Knowledge of Angels, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Before writing for adults she made a career as a writer of children's books and has won many literary prizes.

It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury's most dazzling heirloom made headlines - and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective.Now it is 1951: a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Then the new young Lord Attenbury - grandson of Lord Peter's first client - seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921.It will be the most intricate and challenging mystery he has ever faced . . .Since the publication of A Presumption of Death, which was set in 1941 in the wartime English countryside, readers have been eagerly asking for this story - a wholly original and utterly engrossing new detective adventure.

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