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y separately published work icon The Lamplighter single work   novel   fantasy   horror   detective  
Issue Details: First known date: 2003... 2003 The Lamplighter
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Evelyn is a clever orphan at the Fountainbridge Institute for Destitute Girls. Enchanted by a cheerful lamplighter who fires the streetlamp outside her window each evening, she mesmerizes the other girls with flights of fancy. In a time before Freudian awareness of sexuality and the subconscious mind, such tales are forbidden by the institute's governor, who warns Evelyn to cease her nocturnal storytelling.

'Evelyn defies him - and is cast out of the orphanage and sacrificed to a shadowy figure claiming to be her long-lost father. Who is this man, and why does he lock Evelyn away in a hunting lodge?

'Years later, the mutilated body of a professor of ecclesiastical law turns up on one of Edinburgh's finest streets; the grave of a famous colonel is ravaged; a shady entrepreneur is slaughtered while dashing for a train; and a retired lighthouse keeper is ripped to shreds while walking his dog -- all this after Evelyn, now a young woman, has reappeared in the city.

'What connects the victims? And what of Evelyn, anguished and appealing, who repeatedly claims to have dreamed the murders in great detail - each time blaming a mysterious "lamplighter"?

'Leading the official investigation is Carus Groves, a conceited yet effective police inspector desperate to cap his unremarkable career with a sensational case. Heading up the unofficial investigation is a disillusioned professor of logic and metaphysics, Thomas McKnight, and his assistant, Joseph Canavan, a strapping young gravedigger. Using reason, intuition, philosophy, and luck, these men race to solve the murders and unveil the source of Evelyn's torment, and in so doing penetrate the very gates of Hell.'

Book Jacket. Scribner, 2003. (Libraries Australia record).

Notes

    • Epigraph: There is a dreadful Hell/ And everlasting pains;/ There sinners must with devils dwell/ In darkness, fire and chains. - Isaac Watts Divine Songs for Children

    • Epigraph: If God has thought proper to paint "thief", "robber", or "murderer" on certain brows, it isn't for nothing; nay it is for something - that the like of me should read the marks, and try to save the good and virtuous.' - James McLevy Edinburgh police detective, 1861

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2003 .
      image of person or book cover 6695088370708792857.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Reprinted: 2004 , 2005
      ISBN: 0755306120 (pbk), 0732268796, 0732275687, 075503326
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Scribner ,
      2003 .
      image of person or book cover 1158204213626614550.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 308p.
      ISBN: 0743464273 (pbk.), 0743243498
    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Flamingo , 2004 .
      image of person or book cover 7746590672033513502.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 361p.
      ISBN: 073227978X
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Xoum , 2017 .
      image of person or book cover 1300957337235617772.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 416p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published September 2017.

      ISBN: 9781925143782, 9781925143775
Alternative title: Il Lampionaio di Edimburgo
Language: Italian
    • Milan,
      c
      Italy,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Nord ,
      2004 .
      image of person or book cover 2790253164737369779.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 368p.
      ISBN: 884291326X
    • Milan,
      c
      Italy,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Mondolibri ,
      2005 .
      image of person or book cover 8981884094060052429.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 368p.
    • Milan,
      c
      Italy,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      TEA ,
      2006 .
      image of person or book cover 3165648579160471154.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 368p.
      ISBN: 8850210388

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

[Review] The Lamplighter Bill Congreve , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction , no. 33/34/35 2004; (p. 252-253)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Jock the Ripper Peter Pierce , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 13 May vol. 121 no. 6372 2003; (p. 84)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Shadowy Evil in the Slums Graham Williams , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18-20 April 2003; (p. 18)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Victorian Gothic Chris McLeod , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 5 April 2003; (p. 14)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Pastiche, Not a Homage Simon Caterson , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 250 2003; (p. 38)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Fantasy by Gaslight in Edinburgh Kathy Hunt , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 March 2003; (p. 10-11)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Light Shines on the Devil of a Mystery Katharine England , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 March 2003; (p. 13)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Mean Streets of Edinburgh Ian McFarlane , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 March 2003; (p. 8a)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Murder in the City of Voices Morag Fraser , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 March 2003; (p. 5)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Pastiche, Not a Homage Simon Caterson , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 250 2003; (p. 38)

— Review of The Lamplighter Anthony O'Neill , 2003 single work novel
Last amended 16 Aug 2021 16:21:00
Settings:
  • Edinburgh,
    c
    Scotland,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • ca. 1860s
  • 1886
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