On This Page
Description
Sir Rudri Hopkinson, an eccentric amateur archaeologist, is determined to recreate ancient rituals at the temple of Eleusis in Greece in the hope of summoning the goddess Demeter. He gathers together a motley collection of people to assist in the experiment, including a rival scholar, a handsome but cruel photographer and a trio of mischievous children. But when one of the group disappears, and a severed head turns up in a box of snakes, Mrs Bradley is called upon to investigate...Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Books Read in 2019
4,052 works; 108 members
Must Read Detective Stories (Nick Fuller)
278 works; 2 members
Author Information
91+ Works 5,150 Members
Author Gladys Mitchell was born in Cowley, Oxfordshire, England on April 19, 1901. She was educated at Goldsmiths' College and University College, London. After graduating, she became a teacher and taught English, history, and games at numerous schools until her retirement in 1961. She is best known for her detective novels featuring Mrs. Bradley. show more She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie. In 1976, she received the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger award. She died on July 27, 1983. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1937
- People/Characters
- Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley; Alexander Currie; Gelert Hopkinson; Sir Rudri Hopkinson
- Important places
- Greece; Eleusis; Epidaurus; Mycenae
- Epigraph
- “Just as when a man from its dark spring leads forth a stream of water along a channel amid his crops and garden, and, a mattock in his hand, clears all hindrances from its path; and, as it flows, it sweeps the pebbles b... (show all)efore it, and, murmuring, swiftly on it slides, down a sloping place, and outstrips even him who leads it; so did the river-flood overtake Achilles, make what speed he could; for the gods are mightier than men.”
HOMER, The Iliad. BOOK 21
Translated by Peter Quennell - First words
- Seated in the launch, waiting to be conveyed from the side of S.S. Medusa to the shore, Mrs. Bradley found herself chiefly aware of the smell of sewage, which seemed, like a siren-song, to emanate from everywhere, subt... (show all)le as the colours of the bay, and yet all-pervading as the sea-mist through which the ship had sailed upon leaving England.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)“Not death, but only a summing-up of life, child.”
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 143
- Popularity
- 230,202
- Rating
- (3.63)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 12
