Death at Bishop's Keep (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 1)

by Robin Paige

Book Overview

Kate Adrleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not--outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon "penny-dreadfuls."Soon after her arrival in Essex, England,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425164357
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.7" x 0.8" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Spiritualists, Scarabs, and Hags-Oh My

Husband and wife team Susan and Bill Albert, writing under the pseudonym Robin Paige, launch with this book a series of Victorian mysteries. This being the first book in a series the first order of business is to introduce the readers to the main characters and this writing duo does a fine job of it. We are first introduced to Miss Kate Ardleigh, an American woman in her mid twenties who has been raised by her maternal uncle after the deaths of her English father and Irish mother. Kate works as a personal secretary for ladies in New York and secretly writes a mystery serial for a New York newspaper. She keeps it a secret and writes under a pseudonym because Victorian ladies aren't supposed to even read mystery novels, let alone write them. Kate ends up going to England to work for her father's sister, an aunt that she never knew existed and finds that this aunt is quite well off. She also finds another aunt, a vile wretch of a woman who knows something on the good aunt and holds it over her head so that she will be allowed to live at Bishop's Keep and run the household. It doesn't take the reader long to really despise Aunt Jaggers and since this is a mystery I read on vigorously in hopes that somebody would murder this hateful old hag. Soon after her arrival in England, Kate makes the acquaintance of Sir Charles Sheridan, an amateur photographer who believes that technology like the camera and fingerprinting are the wave of the future when it comes to solving crimes. When Kate first meets him he is already trying to solve the mysterious murder of a stranger whose body was found in an archeological dig. Kate becomes immediately intrigued because she wants to study real crimes in order to gain material for her so-called penny dreadful mystery series. As the story evolves there are two more murders to be solved, a cult to be infiltrated and peacock feathers to be traced. All in all, I must say that this is a very good and imaginative mystery novel with wonderful plot twists and enough clues to allow the reader to figure out the mystery if you pay close attention. The characters are very well developed and are incredibly believable and the historical detail is marvelous and adds a great deal to the story. There is also a slight thread of sexual tension running throughout the book that I assume will come to something farther along in the series. I already have found myself becoming attached to these fictional characters, especially the cook who seems like my kind of woman. Finally, all of the loose ends are wrapped up at the end of the story, which is a virtue that many books of this type do not share. Nothing irritates me more than red herrings that are just forgotten about and never explained. Thankfully that trait is gloriously absent from this book. I found that this book started off a little slowly and I wasn't at all sure that I was going to like this series, but I must admit that the story picked up in a hurry and I soon found that I wa

Death at Bishop's Keep

Death at Bishop's Keep opens the Victorian (1890s) mystery series by Robin Paige. Kate Ardleigh, an independent American woman who secretly writes "penny dreadfuls" to pay the bills, accepts an invitation by an English aunt to work as her secretary. Although she has some trepidations concerning such a major move, she is delighted when she arrives to find that her aunt is willing to buy a brand new Remington type writing machine, and that a murder has occurred in the neighboring town (she hopes she will be able to use the murder as research for her penny dreadfuls). Her aunt has joined a spiritualist cult group, and the murder victim is found wearing emblems of the cult. Sir Charles Sheridan, amateur sleuth and photography pioneer, is staying with friends in the area and decides to help the police with their murder investigation. Sir Charles is fascinated by the new field of forensic science, and he knows much more than the local country police (the police are decidedly ambivalent about Sir Charles' help) about it. He goes about applying his methods, only to find Kate asking questions and disconcertingly informed on subjects such as fingerprints. Sir Charles is torn between admiration and exasperation for Kate's intelligence and interest. Life would be so much more comfortable were Kate a "normal" Victorian young woman, but on the other hand, Sir Charles is pretty certain that it would be more dull. Kate has access to inside information on the cult, and Sir Charles has forensic evidence the police don't know how to interpret; and in this first outing of the series, they each race to find the killer, wanting to be the one to solve the case before the other. Definitely worth reading to find out who wins.

Are you looking for a great victorian mystery series?

If you are looking for a great victorian mystery series to get into, look no further. This is the one for you! Robin Paige's book Death at Bishop's Keep is the place to start! I have never ventured into victorian mysteries before and I am so thrilled to have found this series. What I really enjoyed about this book is the intricate detail. Robin Paige helps you see into the lives of not only Kate, Sir Charles, and The Marsdens, but also of the servants. You get a glimps into the whole social structure of the victorian times, both upstairs and down. Do not hesitate to read this series. I do believe once you have started you will be hooked. I know I am!

I couldn't put this down!!!

As a fervent admirer of Victoriana in general, I found this book to be a breath of fresh air. Placing an independent-minded American woman into the world of the British upper class in the 1890's creates a whole new perspective for those of us who read Victorian novels or modern novels set in the Victorian era on a regular basis. I couldn't put it down and immediately bought the second book in the series. I recommend this to anyone who loves the Victorian era, especially Yeats, Wilde and Conan Doyle (hint, hint).

Excellent Read

If you enjoy Dianne Day and her Fremont Jones series, then this series will be for you. Kate is on her own in the world and leaps at a chance for adventure. She journeys from America of the latish 1800's to England where she enters a different world entirely. I have more of this series sitting on the shelf waiting for me to have time for them. I highly recommend this series.Also go out and get the China Bayles books by Susan Albert Wittig.