Old English Peep Show [Hardcover]

Peter Dickinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1969

Americans may have Colonial Williamsburg, but for the Brits, there's "Old England," an elaborate theme-park that pays homage to a similarly imaginary glorious past. At Old England, the woods are lush with game-birds, servants know their place, and round every corner is a pink-cheeked, mob-capped maid, bobbing a curtsey and trilling "lawk-a-mussy!" in a rustic brogue. It's no wonder the tourists are happy to buy tickets to a yesterday that never was. Lately, though, there's been a fly in the Old England ointment. The two doddering old war-heroes who own the estate seem to have slipped from charmingly eccentric to disturbingly nuts, and one of the "servants" has committed suicide. Dispatched to investigate the death, Inspector Jimmy Pibble is half-hypnotized by Old England's allure, but when he forces himself to poke beneath the daydream, what he finds is not exactly a green and pleasant land.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Read this tale carefully: It's a jewel" --New York Times

"This is a bit crazy, suspenseful, surprising...altogether, not to be missed" --San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Multi-award winning author with a significant cult following. Who's Likely to Like This? Anglophiles and Fan's of PBS's "Mystery" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Harpercollins; First Edition edition (June 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060110376
• ISBN-13: 978-0060110376
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,395,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind Disneyland's Scenes, June 30, 2008

By 

Lazy reviewer (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Old English Peep Show (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Paperback)

Peter Dickinson is one of my favorite authors, so I'm biased, but I really enjoyed this book. I'd rate it about third of the 5 Pibble mysteries, just below 'The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest' and 'One Foot in the Grave'. Maybe 4 and a half stars, rounded to 5. Pibble is partly an anti-hero here, with his career going down-hill, assigned to the case simply to rubber-stamp it. But his mind is too quick [I think Dickinson is superb in showing us this, making real the flights of inference that in, e.g., Agatha Christie seem to come out of the blue], and won't let him overlook the evidence of stage-managing of one murder-account after another. The setting is a beloved British theme-park, and so the staff are experts at stage-managing. The park does sound more like 'Renaissance Fair' than Disneyland, but keeping the Disneyland model in mind reminded me of what sacrileges Pibble kept getting dragged into committing as he investigated. Maybe the villain was predictable, but in every Dickinson book there are wheels within wheels, and watching him get to the heart of things was captivating.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Very British Mystery...Almost, February 11, 2008

By 

A. Anderson "Book Person" (Chico, Califiornia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Old English Peep Show (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Paperback)

The characteristics of an (older) British mystery include eccentrics, a country house, the Old Retainer, and a detective of roughly the same background as the suspects and wry, dry wit. A former war hero and his twin brother have converted their country estate into a caricature of Olde England and busloads of tourists (mostly American) come to see it, saving the estate from bankruptcy. A son in law is actually the brains behind the outfit, and he calculates what will sell down to the last farthing. (OK, this is more modern than 'farthings'...It is set in current day). The Old Retainer is found hanged and the home office wants it found to be suicide. Our hero is the CID detective who understands that to bring shame on a war hero (who is a hero for failing to win a battle)would make an unhappy Scotland Yard and would very much like to avoid the ramifications to his career if he finds anything but a minor tragedy.

This book has the perfect recipe for either an English romp with wit and charm or a true mystery with clues that the reader has a chance of correctly interpreting. It is neither. I didn't find the characters engaging enough to root for anyone in particular (except perhaps the lion who is mentally disturbed). The one twist that propels the plot is predictable. The most interesting two characters (both women) go nowhere and the killer becomes predictable with an obvious, and sort of boring, motive. There is no sex, very little violence (not counting the lion) and not much wit to redeem it all.

A disappointment from a skilled writer.

2.0 out of 5 stars English theme park mystery that misses, February 6, 2010

By 

Michelle Boytim (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Old English Peep Show (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Paperback)

I found the writing uninteresting and the mystery was not engaging. I was disappointed because the concept of an English history theme park was interesting to me. The characters failed to engage me and the ones (the ladies) that seemed most interesting failed to develop. While death by lion was intriguing, for the most part, the mystery was predictable.