Mollie Hardwick (1916–2003)
Author of The Sherlock Holmes Companion
About the Author
Series
Works by Mollie Hardwick
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Hardwick, Mollie Greenhalgh
- Other names
- Atkinson, Mary (pen name)
Drinkrow, John (pen name) - Birthdate
- 1916-03-07
- Date of death
- 2003-12-13
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- novelist
biographer
detective novelist
historical novelist
playwright
radio announcer (show all 7)
script editor - Relationships
- Hardwick, Michael (husband, co-writer)
- Short biography
- Mollie Greenhalgh Hardwick was an English author of historical novels and detective fiction. She wrote numerous works with her husband Michael Hardwick, whom she married in 1961. She's best known for producing books that accompanied the classic television series Upstairs, Downstairs, as well as for novelizations of Sherlock Holmes, Thomas & Sarah, The Duchess of Duke Street, and Juliet Bravo. However, she also was the creator of the popular Doran Fairweather series of novels, featuring an antiques dealer turned amateur sleuth, beginning with Malice Domestic (1986). She also wrote nonfiction, including a biography of Emma, Lady Hamilton (1969). Mollie Hardwick also worked as a BBC radio announcer, script editor, and director in her earlier years.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Prestwich, Lancashire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
I've always felt that Doyle physically resembled Watson rather than Holmes. He said he based Holmes' physical likeness on his university tutor, Joseph Bell, but the sketch of his grandfather, John Doyle, held at the National Portrait Gallery shows he must surely have been, in part at least, a model for Sherlock.
The book's examples of Doyle's intellectual similarities to Holmes were well known in his day, and his campaigns for justice for the wrongly convicted have been thoroughly explored show more more recently too. Where Doyle, and his biographers the Hardwick's, fall down is in their apologetics of British imperial atrocities, which somewhat soured the reading experience, and shows exactly why the rectification of "received history" is an essential modern project. That noted, 4⭐ show less
The book's examples of Doyle's intellectual similarities to Holmes were well known in his day, and his campaigns for justice for the wrongly convicted have been thoroughly explored show more more recently too. Where Doyle, and his biographers the Hardwick's, fall down is in their apologetics of British imperial atrocities, which somewhat soured the reading experience, and shows exactly why the rectification of "received history" is an essential modern project. That noted, 4⭐ show less
First Line: "Two more deaths this morning," Rhona said with relish, piling used breakfast pots onto a tray.
Time does indeed heal all wounds. After a disastrous love affair, Doran Fairweather moved to a tiny village in Kent and set up her antiques business in a neighboring town. Now her business is doing well, and her low-key romance with the vicar definitely makes Doran's heart beat faster. However, when the singularly unpleasant Mr. Mumbray moves to town, he has the tendency to make the show more collective village blood pressure skyrocket. Residents flee in the middle of the night, they sicken, and... they begin to die. Unwilling to stand idly by while her beloved village and her friends are under attack, Doran is determined to find out what exactly is going on.
If you're in the mood for a light, well-written mystery filled with wonderful characters and set in a quintessential English village, Malice Domestic may well be your cup of Earl Grey.
Doran Fairweather is a young woman who cares deeply about her friends and acquaintances. She is incapable of inaction, even when her constant forays into the village to ask questions puts her at the top of the police suspect list. Her romance with the Reverend Rodney Chelmarsh would be sheer poetry if it weren't for Rodney's evil-tempered young daughter. Confined to a wheelchair, Helena has been indulged and spoiled-- much to the dismay of all those around her.
Amongst a stellar cast of characters, Hardwick has inserted a truly evil man, Leonard Mumbray. What Mumbray intentionally does made my blood run cold, but it wasn't his crimes or the identity of the killer that made this book so enjoyable that I'd ordered the second in the series before I'd even reached the halfway mark in Malice Domestic. It was the marvelous cast of characters and their interactions. Hardwick created a village of people about whom I grew to care deeply. These characters are not static. As things happen, they grow and change, and with certain decisions being made about the obnoxious Helena at the end of the book, I'm very interested in seeing what happens in the next book.
If you're in the mood for a bit of antiques, a dash of romance, a soupçon of evil and buckets of character, Mollie Hardwick's Malice Domestic may be your recipe for an enjoyable afternoon of reading. show less
Time does indeed heal all wounds. After a disastrous love affair, Doran Fairweather moved to a tiny village in Kent and set up her antiques business in a neighboring town. Now her business is doing well, and her low-key romance with the vicar definitely makes Doran's heart beat faster. However, when the singularly unpleasant Mr. Mumbray moves to town, he has the tendency to make the show more collective village blood pressure skyrocket. Residents flee in the middle of the night, they sicken, and... they begin to die. Unwilling to stand idly by while her beloved village and her friends are under attack, Doran is determined to find out what exactly is going on.
If you're in the mood for a light, well-written mystery filled with wonderful characters and set in a quintessential English village, Malice Domestic may well be your cup of Earl Grey.
Doran Fairweather is a young woman who cares deeply about her friends and acquaintances. She is incapable of inaction, even when her constant forays into the village to ask questions puts her at the top of the police suspect list. Her romance with the Reverend Rodney Chelmarsh would be sheer poetry if it weren't for Rodney's evil-tempered young daughter. Confined to a wheelchair, Helena has been indulged and spoiled-- much to the dismay of all those around her.
Amongst a stellar cast of characters, Hardwick has inserted a truly evil man, Leonard Mumbray. What Mumbray intentionally does made my blood run cold, but it wasn't his crimes or the identity of the killer that made this book so enjoyable that I'd ordered the second in the series before I'd even reached the halfway mark in Malice Domestic. It was the marvelous cast of characters and their interactions. Hardwick created a village of people about whom I grew to care deeply. These characters are not static. As things happen, they grow and change, and with certain decisions being made about the obnoxious Helena at the end of the book, I'm very interested in seeing what happens in the next book.
If you're in the mood for a bit of antiques, a dash of romance, a soupçon of evil and buckets of character, Mollie Hardwick's Malice Domestic may be your recipe for an enjoyable afternoon of reading. show less
I'd love to hear why some people have given this book one-star; that seems preposterous. Granted, it's kind of silly to rank a book like this in the first place. It does exactly what it says on the tin; nothing more.
The Encyclopedia isn't exactly something you'll read through, or pick up often. But it's a well-written, comprehensive database of information. Every novel, short story, and play is catalogued, with simple but comprehensive plot summaries. Also, every character and place show more mentioned in the works is catalogued, with very brief summaries (They're usually one to three sentences, but will reveal endings to books in some cases.) followed by a quote or two. Therein follows a lengthy timeline of Dickens' life, and listing of principal players in his own life.
Dickens, like Shakespeare and only a few other authors in history, has an extensive oeuvre of characters who really do populate a world. There are many great storytellers - Conan Doyle, Christie, Wodehouse - who created hundreds of characters but few who remain truly memorable, instead just memorable if you enjoyed that particular work. Many others - Proust, Balzac, Melville - populate their world with fascinating characters, but it was their works, not their characters and milieus that had an effect on Western culture. In this respect, it makes perfect sense to have an encyclopedia with all 2000+ of Dickens' characters, in all their grotesque glory. The Hardwicks are wonderful people, lovers of compilations, and it's certainly a useful tool for reference while reading, remembering, quoting, or discussing one of the greatest of all English novelists. show less
The Encyclopedia isn't exactly something you'll read through, or pick up often. But it's a well-written, comprehensive database of information. Every novel, short story, and play is catalogued, with simple but comprehensive plot summaries. Also, every character and place show more mentioned in the works is catalogued, with very brief summaries (They're usually one to three sentences, but will reveal endings to books in some cases.) followed by a quote or two. Therein follows a lengthy timeline of Dickens' life, and listing of principal players in his own life.
Dickens, like Shakespeare and only a few other authors in history, has an extensive oeuvre of characters who really do populate a world. There are many great storytellers - Conan Doyle, Christie, Wodehouse - who created hundreds of characters but few who remain truly memorable, instead just memorable if you enjoyed that particular work. Many others - Proust, Balzac, Melville - populate their world with fascinating characters, but it was their works, not their characters and milieus that had an effect on Western culture. In this respect, it makes perfect sense to have an encyclopedia with all 2000+ of Dickens' characters, in all their grotesque glory. The Hardwicks are wonderful people, lovers of compilations, and it's certainly a useful tool for reference while reading, remembering, quoting, or discussing one of the greatest of all English novelists. show less
Who knows? Perhaps my lifelong interest in maritime history is due to the Navy men in my family, which is why I picked up Michael and Mollie Hardwick's The World's Greatest Sea Mysteries.
Originally published in 1967, the Hardwicks cover a wide range of maritime mysteries in twenty-eight chapters. The book's emphasis is slanted to British readers, and-- due to it being over fifty years old-- it does occasionally feel dated, but it still held my interest throughout.
The precariousness of life show more can be seen in letters returned to senders marked "Sailed for England" or the much more dire "SHIP FOUNDERED". Readers can learn about men who had similar experiences with whales as Jonah. There are pirates, lost treasures, and men disappearing in their attempts to find the Northwest Passage. Perhaps the most unsettling to me were the floating derelict ships, but the most mystifying was the racehorse found on an uninhabited island many miles from the mainland.
If you have an interest in the sea and its centuries-worth of mysteries, you should be able to find several items of interest in this book.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less
Originally published in 1967, the Hardwicks cover a wide range of maritime mysteries in twenty-eight chapters. The book's emphasis is slanted to British readers, and-- due to it being over fifty years old-- it does occasionally feel dated, but it still held my interest throughout.
The precariousness of life show more can be seen in letters returned to senders marked "Sailed for England" or the much more dire "SHIP FOUNDERED". Readers can learn about men who had similar experiences with whales as Jonah. There are pirates, lost treasures, and men disappearing in their attempts to find the Northwest Passage. Perhaps the most unsettling to me were the floating derelict ships, but the most mystifying was the racehorse found on an uninhabited island many miles from the mainland.
If you have an interest in the sea and its centuries-worth of mysteries, you should be able to find several items of interest in this book.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less
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- Works
- 61
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 1,373
- Popularity
- #18,735
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 30
- ISBNs
- 188
- Languages
- 10