Product Description

Elizabeth Glendinning QC has lost faith in the legal system. In an attempt to restore it, she has secretly devised a scheme to bring back to court a guilty man ? Graham Riley ? whom she had successfully defended some ten years before. As part of an elaborate contingency plan, Elizabeth leaves the unsuspecting Father Anselm with a key to a safety deposit box, to be opened in the event of her death. Three weeks later she is found dead in the East End of London and, once the box has been opened, a chain of events is triggered as if from beyond the grave, leading Anselm to fulfil what Elizabeth has begun. A powerful portrait of the dark heart of London and a tense thriller, THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD confirms William Brodrick?s growing critical reputation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27406 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'It makes a good, twisting mystery?as Anselm slowly puts together the clues which will bring a murderer to justice in the final pages of this quiet, thoughtful novel? SUNDAY TELEGRAPH * ?As this labyrinthine tale unfolds, Brodrick is able to bring off a truly impressive sleight-of-hand. While we read on, agog for the next revelation, it becomes apparent that we?re being treated to character studies quite as rich as that in many a more ostensibly ?literary? novel?.DAILY EXPRESS 'Ultimately superior murder mystery? ** DAILY MIRROR Henry Sutton (*** 3 stars) ** 'The Gardens of the Dead has gravity and grace, as well as a powerful atmosphere of creeping dread' TIME OUT, John O?Connell ** ?Fast paced and well written, The Gardens

DAILY EXPRESS
'As this labyrinthine tale unfolds, Brodrick is able to bring off
a truly impressive sleight-of-hand: while we read on, agog for the next
revelation, it becomes apparent that we're being treated to character
studies quite as rich as that in many a more ostensibly "literary" novel'

TIME OUT
'THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD has gravity and grace, as well as a
powerful atmosphere of creeping dread'

Customer Reviews

Gardens of The Dead
Realising that she doesn’t have long left to live, court prosecutor Elizabeth Glendenning leaves behind the work she has accumulated on a particular case in a safe deposit box, entrusting a key with her former deputy, Anselm Duffy, who has since left the court service to become a monk. The case that has occupied the attentions of Elizabeth is an old one, a seemingly minor case that some tenants brought against their landlord, Graham Riley. Elizabeth’s defence of Riley’s case was successful, but the acquittal of her client has had some serious repercussions in the subsequent years, and Elizabeth’s conscience makes her is determined to make amends. Her death leaves the case in the hands of her son Nick and Anselm, with only a few posthumous letters and the testimony of Blind George – a homeless man with no short-term memory – the only clues to unravelling the mystery of Riley and the Pieman.

I haven’t read Brodrick’s previous novel ‘The Sixth Lamentation’ and I don’t put much stock by the ‘Richard & Judy Bookclub’ recommendation, but it appears to have attracted differing opinions on the quality of the writing. Personally, I found ‘The Gardens of the Dead’ rather well-written and certainly well-plotted, Brodrick presenting an intriguing situation with several different threads and plenty of gaps and mysteries, savouring over every little detail of characterisation and the gradual revelations. Occasionally it gets a little confusing with flashbacks to different timelines, but this is just another delightful puzzle to work through.

You could question the whole premise of Elizabeth’s leaving so many obscure clues scattered across so many unreliable witnesses (including a homeless person with no memory) rather than just simply telling Anselm what she has uncovered, but I think this is part of the enjoyment of the book and part of its whole purpose - uncovering the lives that people keep secret, and getting beneath the comfortable lies they allow themselves to believe – needing to allow people the time and strength to face up to those events in the past that have set the course of their lives and made them who they are.

‘The Gardens of the Dead’ contains many wonderful observations about people and the bonds between them, with well-defined characters and an intriguing mystery that delivers a strong resolution that has real emotional resonance. Brodrick is clearly a very talented writer and this is a fine novel.

Just didn't do it for me!
Not unexpectedly, a female QC dies due to a heart condition. She was on a mission to correct a wrong in her life having earlier successfully defended a guilty person. Despite her death, she did leave clues to those close to her to reveal the full story of the events years ago. One of those is Father Anselm, a barrister and monk, who appeared in `The Sixth Lamentation', Brodrick's debut novel.

The barrister-monk combination perhaps lifted my expectations too high but, to my mind, Father Anselm plays a very minor role in unravelling the mystery. There is no clever `lawyering' or similar either. The story is not elaborate, as the cover claims, and I found it to be full of strange characters and situations. I really struggled to move through the novel and it wasn't until after 250 pages or so that things started to happen. I clearly didn't find the writing style to be very engaging.

Others have commented that `The Sixth Lamentation' was better and I think I'll reserve further comments on Brodrick's writing skills until I've read it. This one though didn't do a great deal to excite me. 7/10

Not a great follow-up to his debut novel.
This book is a rather pale imitation of the author's first novel. While entertaining enough, I felt it was 100 pages too long. Whilst I have no problem with flashbacks or the same event being covered from several perspectives; I did not feel that this book was enhanced by this device. It felt repetitive.
I also struggle to see why there was such a convoluted puzzle that the main character had to solve. The wisdom of leaving clues with a wide range of people, particularly a man with no short term memory is a glaring plot hole for me. Towards the end of the book, I kept on thinking... oh no, not another coincidence! The temptation to put yet another plot twist in a novel such as this gives it a false, forced feel.
The plotline with Elizabeth's son and husband also felt as it was incidental or poorly developed. After reading the 6th Lamentation, I was really looking forward to this book and was a little disappointed.
Lastly there is a minor quibble with the age of one of the characters, Nancy. The novel is set in the present day but she was a teenager during the blitz, which would date her at nearly 80. Yet she is married to one of the other characters who would be in his late 50's. Her actions are more likely those of a 50 year old, so I found this a little annoying. Perhaps, if you come to this book without having read the first Anselm novel it might be more enjoyable.