100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ

Overnight NZ-wide delivery ๐Ÿš€ Thank you for supporting our 100% NZ-owned bookstore โค๏ธ

Death Has Deep Roots

A Second World War Mystery
4.03 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 686 ratings, 143 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert is a gripping and complex courtroom drama intertwined with a suspenseful mystery. The story revolves around a woman accused of murder, with the defence team working against time to uncover buried secrets and hidden truths that stretch from wartime France to the English countryside. The novel threads intrigue with legal strategy, maintaining tension as layers of deception and personal histories unravel.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

If you enjoy intricate legal dramas and mystery settings that transport you to post-war Europe, this crime and thriller novel may captivate you. With its blend of courtroom intrigue and investigation, it unravels a complex tale of murder and justice that keeps you guessing until the final reveal.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A masterful and atmospheric mystery combining high stakes courtroom drama with a search for evidence in a war-torn Europe, where the roots of the central deadly crime lie buried.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

At the Central Criminal Court, an eager crowd awaits the trial of Victoria Lamartine, an active participant in the Resistance during the war. She is now employed at the Family Hotel in Soho, where Major Eric Thoseby has been found murdered. The cause of death? A stabbing reminiscent of techniques developed by the Maquisards.

While the crime is committed in England, its roots are buried in a vividly depicted wartime France. Thoseby is believed to have fathered Lamartineโ€™s child, and the prosecution insists that his death is revenge for his abandonment of Lamartine and her arrest by the Gestapo.

A last-minute change in Lamartineโ€™s defence counsel grants solicitor Nap Rumbold just eight days to prove her innocence, with the highest of stakes should he fail. The proceedings of the courtroom are interspersed with Rumboldโ€™s perilous quest for evidence, which is aided by his old wartime comrades.

Death Has Deep Roots is a gripping legal thriller blending courtroom drama with the intrigue of a historical wartime mystery.

Series: British Library Crime Classics

View all
  • Murder in Vienna
    After all, under its gaiety and brilliance, Vienna has always been a centre of intrigue. The distinguished industrialist, the fair girl, and the aggressive young manโ€”although Superintendent McDonald tried to avoid studying his fellow-passengers, he simply couldn't help it. For him, it was difficult to adjust to being on holiday. He turned away deliberately. These people weren't his problem; he...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Antidote to Venom
    Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts delivers a captivating puzzle for all mystery enthusiasts, as praised by the Times Literary Supplement: "Mr Wills Crofts is deservedly a first favourite with all who want a real puzzle." Similarly, the Daily Mirror commends, "He always manages to give us something that really keeps us guessing." George Surridge, the director of the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Telegram from Le Touquet
    As he walked away from the phone, there was a puzzled expression on Blampignon's massive countenance. He was thinking: Le Touquet again! With some trepidation, Nigel Derry approaches the country house of his enigmatic and unpredictable aunt Gwenny for an Easter holiday visit. After a tense few days in which her guests' interactions range from awkward dinners to a knife...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Before the Fact
    Some women give birth to murderers, some go to bed with them, and some marry them. Lina Aysgarth had lived with her husband for nearly eight years before she realised that she was married to a murderer. Following the success of Malice Aforethought, novelist Anthony Berkeley Cox returned to his Francis Iles pen-name for another experiment in the inverted mystery....
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Big Ben Strikes Eleven
    The discovery of Sir Robert Boniface's body on the floor of his blue limousine was made quite accidentally on a sultry Friday evening towards the end of June. The industrial and financial tycoon, and former stalwart of the British Cabinet, had been shot in the head and left in the quiet Vale of Health alongside London's Hampstead Heath. Nearby, a...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Calamity in Kent
    In the peaceful seaside town of Broadgate, an impossible crime occurs. The operator of the cliff railway locks the empty carriage one evening; when he returns to work the next morning, a dead body is locked insideโ€”a man who has been stabbed in the back. Jimmy London, a newspaper reporter, is first on the scene. He is quick on the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Capital Crimes
    With its fascinating mix of peopleโ€”rich and poor, British and foreign, worthy and suspiciousโ€”London is a city where anything can happen. The possibilities for criminals and for the crime writer are endless. London has been home to many of fiction's finest detectives, and the setting for mystery novels and short stories of the highest quality. Capital Crimes is an eclectic...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Castle Skull
    That is the case. Alison has been murdered. His blazing body was seen running about the battlements of Castle Skull. And so a dark shadow looms over the Rhineland where Inspector Henri Bencolin and his accomplice Jeff Marle have arrived from Paris. Entreated by the Belgian financier D'Aunay to investigate the gruesome and grimly theatrical death of actor Myron Alison,...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Checkmate to Murder
    On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout. A civil servant and a government scientist are matching wits in a game of chess, while an artist paints the portrait of his characterful sitter, bedecked in Cardinal's robes at the other end of the room. In the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Cat and Mouse
    Girls Together magazine agony-aunt 'Mrs Friendly-wise', aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine's regular correspondents, 'Amista'. But reaching the addressโ€”a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all of the descriptions in the lettersโ€”nobody has even heard of 'Amista'. As Katinka begins to...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Christmas Egg
    A new award-winning author joins the Crime Classics series with one of her best novels. This is a mystery of international intrigue set in London at Christmas time, mixing the best parts of traditional mystery with thriller elements such as a climactic chase involving a helicopter! The Easter egg. I told 'im. All white an' glittering, lovely, like ice an'...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Ten Teacups
    There will be ten teacups at number 4, Berwick Terrace, W. 8, on Wednesday, July 31, at 5 p.m. precisely. The presence of the Metropolitan Police is respectfully requested. Writing as Carter Dickson, the master of the locked room mystery, John Dickson Carr, returns to the Crime Classics series. He pitches his series amateur detective, Henry Merrivale, against a seemingly...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert is highly praised for its intricate plot and masterful blend of courtroom drama and detective work. Readers commend the novel's suspenseful narrative and well-developed characters, noting Gilbert's ability to keep the audience engaged until the very end. The vivid depiction of post-war England adds depth to the gripping story, which has been hailed as a classic in the crime and thriller genre.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780712352284

Publisher: British Library Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 March 2019

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: British Library Publishing

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Martin Edwards

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 190.0mm

Weight: 250g

About the Author

Michael Gilbert (1912โ€“2006), a founding member of the Crime Writersโ€™ Association, wrote thrillers, police procedurals and espionage novels that rank among the highest and most varied achievements of British crime writing in the second half of the twentieth century. Death Has Deep Roots was first published in 1951.

Also by Michael Gilbert

View all
  • Game Without Rules
    Game Without Rules features two secret agents living in the English countryside who tryโ€”and failโ€”to live a quiet life in these hugely enjoyable crime stories. Behrens and Calder are two secret agents residing in the peaceful English countryside, desperately seeking a quiet life. However, despite their best efforts, they find themselves repeatedly obliged to confront and eliminate a host of...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Death in Captivity
    A man is found dead in an escape tunnel in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. Did he die in an accidental collapse โ€” or was this murder? Captain Henry 'Cuckoo' Goyles, master tunneller and amateur detective, takes up the case. This classic locked-room mystery with a closed circle of suspects is woven together with a thrilling story of escape from the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Sky High
    In the village of Brimberley, the worst thing on the horizon seems to be the chance of being outshone by the rival village choir of Bramshott. But that is until Brimberley's lead tenor is blown up in his home by an explosion that rocks the whole community. As an amateur coalition of the motorcycling choir leader Liz, her ex-commando son...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Elsewhere:
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Smallbone Deceased
    Horniman, Birley and Craine is a highly respected legal firm with clients reaching to the highest in the land. When a deed box in the office is opened to reveal a corpse, the threat of scandal promises to wreak havoc on the firm's reputationโ€”especially as the murder looks like an inside job. The partners and staff of the firm keep...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    It Could Have Been Her
    PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1ย Sunday Timesย and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    26 Beauties
    The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Secrets We Hide
    The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author ofย We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    The Parkwood Murders
    They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Hope Rises
    'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Slash
    A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators โ€” while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son โ€” a double-murder suspect last seen during the...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    A River Red With Blood
    The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Shadow Step
    The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Blue Lightning
    New Release
    Blue Lightning
    Blue Lightning The fourth Shetland novel A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose . . . Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancรฉe to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world. Then...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Red Bones
    New Release
    Red Bones
    Red Bones is the third Shetland novel featuring detective Jimmy Perez. Sometimes the dead won't stay buried... When a young archaeologist uncovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient findโ€”or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident in the middle of the...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Last to Drown
    New Release
    The Last to Drown
    Praise for Noelle W. Ihli: 'Hands down one of my favourite reads of the year' - FREIDA MCFADDEN 'A true classic in the genre' - LISA JEWELL 'A propulsive story that haunts and mesmerizes' - KARIN SLAUGHTER FIVE DAYS. TWENTY STRANGERS. NO PHONE SIGNAL. The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But now that Kaia's...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.