crack_van | Mithridates, He Died Old by Nineveh

Fandom: LORD PETER WIMSEY
Pairing: None
Length: 279
Author:

nineveh_uk
Author Website: See the wimseyfic tag on her LJ
Why this must be read:

I'd like to finish up this month of recs with a personal favourite. Two years ago,

tree_and_leaf's brilliant and heart-breaking "What if?" AU, Tell Beauty How She Blasteth, was recced here on

crack_van, a retelling of Strong Poison and its aftermath in which Peter fails to save Harriet from hanging. Mithridates, he died old has a similar premise, but opts for an entirely different narrative approach, distilling the story of the successful murderer, Norman Urquhart, into a tiny, exquisite ficlet that is all the more powerful for the economy with which it hints at horrors without lingering on them. I won't provide an extract, because it's so short that to give anything away would risk ruining it, but it's a painfully sharp insight into Urquhart's twisted psyche, and it has a killer of a last line.

Mithridates, he died old

Mithridates, He Died Old by Nineveh_UK (G)