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Death of Jezebel

novel by Christianna Brand

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ3863255 ↗
Source-derived summary

Death of Jezebel is a 1948 mystery crime novel by the British author Christianna Brand. It is the fourth entry in the series featuring the fictional police detective Inspector Cockerill, and sees him working alongside Inspector Charlesworth a character from Brand's debut novel Death in High Heels.

Synopsis

Isabel Drew, a beautiful and arrogant actress, has widely been known as Jezebel since she drove her best friend's fiancé to kill himself. While performing in a medieval extravaganza in London she and other cast members receive letters threatening to kill them.

References

Bibliography

Bargainnier, Earl F. & Dove George N. Cops and Constables: American and British Fictional Policemen. Popular Press, 1986.

Gaines, Janet Howe . Music in the Old Bones: Jezebel Through the Ages. SIU Press, 1999.

Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers.

Editorial summary

“Death of Jezebel” enters the record as novel by Christianna Brand. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Death, Jezebel and novel can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 1986, 1999—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1948. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Death, Jezebel and novel.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Death of Jezebel” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Death, Jezebel and novel provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3863255. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1986 and 1999.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Death of Jezebel”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Death of Jezebel primary sources, Death of Jezebel archive and Death research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Death of Jezebel”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Death of Jezebel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.