Gallows Thief (2001) is a mystery novel by Bernard Cornwell set in London in the year 1817, which uses capital punishment as its backdrop.
Rider Sandman, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, is hired as an investigator as a formality to rubber-stamp the death sentence of a condemned murderer. Instead, he discovers a conspiracy to conceal the real killer. In the slang of the time, a “gallows thief,” (also a “crap prig”) is a person who prevents the hanging of an innocent person.
Though not mentioned by name, Cornwell’s earlier character Richard Sharpe is likely alluded to as a Rifle officer who Sandman encountered during the wars.
Read more about Gallows Thief: Plot Summary, Influences, Allusions To Real-life Historical Persons or Events
Famous quotes containing the words gallows and/or thief:
“For when the gallows is high
Your journey is shorter to heaven.”
—Unknown. The Night before Larry Was Stretched (l. 57–58)
“In ancient times—’twas no great loss—
They hung the thief upon the cross:
But now, alas!—I say’t with grief—
They hang the cross upon the thief.”
—Anonymous. “On a Nomination to the Legion of Honour,” from Aubrey Stewart’s English Epigrams and Epitaphs (1897)