Death at Bishop's Keep

Book 72 - Robin Paige - Death at Bishop’s Keep

Well...after three really poor free eBooks...finally one worth reading. It was like a recipe straight from one of Mrs. Beeton’s cookery books.

Take a dash of Downton Abbey
Two spoonfuls of Miss Marple
Three murders straight from a Holmesian mystery
Make sure it gets time to prove
Then stick it in the AGA for 45mins

A wonderfully light, witty Victorian mystery...in some ways the murder mystery is sidelined for huge parts of the book as we get to know the main characters. An Irish American young lady, who is asked to come to England to be a secretary to her Aunt, is the main character...brutally honest in her dealings with the stiff upper lip English aristocracy she meets...

A fully realised show more novel with secret societies...battles below stairs and just a hint...and a hint is enough...of romance.

Robin Paige I discovered is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife writing team Susan Wittig Albert and Bill Albert.

Expertly brought together so that you really feel the loss of characters. I loved it and am extremely glad to know that there are at least a dozen books in the series...woo hoo show less

Kate Ardleigh is the 1894 version of a modern American girl. When she learns that she has an aunt who lives at Bishop's Keep in England and who wants to hire her as her secretary, she is eager for the adventure. Kate has been making her living as the author of serial stories filled with mystery and sensationalism. She views the opportunity to travel to a foreign country as a perfect opportunity to research her books.

Kate hardly expects to find murders, buried family secrets and secret societies in her real life. Nonetheless, that is what she finds when she arrives at Bishop's Keep. She quickly becomes close to her Aunt Sabrina who is a free thinking woman who is interested in the spiritualism that was so popular in the 1890s but she show more doesn't at all care for her Aunt Jaggers who is the very embodiment of the poor relation come to live with her sister and very resentful of her. She is also a very harsh disciplinarian of the servants whom she feels will go bad with any sort of indulgence - like sugar for their tea or carpets and a fireplace in their lounge. Naturally, this has caused the atmosphere at Bishop's Keep to be very uncomfortable filled as it is with sullen servants. It also leads Kate to wonder what hold Aunt Jaggers has over Aunt Sabrina that Sabrina would allow her sister such free reign in the household.

Our hero is Sir Charles Sheridan. He is a man of means who is interested in science and photography. He enters the story when he takes pictures of a corpse at an archaeological site he is photographing and becomes curious about the murder. He meets Kate who is also making inquiries about the murder on her aunt's behalf. While Charles is fascinated with Kate, he doesn't quite know what to make of a woman so different than the upper class women who are the fixtures in his life. While he is more liberal than the usual Victorian male, he still holds on to some cultural views about women that Kate is constantly upsetting.

I enjoyed the mystery and the wonderful depiction of Victorian England. I can't wait to read more stories about Kate and Sir Charles. show less

Death at Bishop's Keep is the first book by Robin Paige/Susan Wittig Albert that I have read. The "Cozy" mystery has never really been my first choice for a book to read. That being said, I was a little more than pleasantly surprised to find how much I truly enjoyed this book! Kate Ardleigh receives news that not only does she have relatives she never knew existed, her Aunt Sabrina has requested that she come to England to stay with her and become her personal secretary. Kate is so NOT your every day woman of the Victorian time! She is brash, outstoken, quick-witted, doesn't give a hoot about fashion....and is the author of some very popular "penny-dreadfuls"! What a wonderfully strong female character! Once she arrives at Bishop's show more Keep, Kate finds herself at once mixed up in all sorts of situations: a secret occult society, a closet full of family skeletons, tensions abound, and a local murder!

Sir Charles Sheridan is a guest the Ardleigh's neigbors, and a bit eccentric himself. A bit of an amatuer scientist, Charles is trying to help the local police solve the murder of the unknown French man. He is at once dazzled and frustrated with Kate. What ensues is a great mystery and the development of characters that I can't wait to read about again!! show less

A nicely observed story of Victorian England, with period details such as clothing styles, modes of transport and social niceties well described. One criticism - the author's American background gives her away in the occasional use of American spelling, and the use of terms such as sidewalk for pavement, railroad for railway and autopsy for post mortem seem a little incongruous in a novel trying to be very English!

New York in the 1890s, Kathryn Ardleigh is not the expected gentlewoman of the times to be, she is a writer. Not just of nice woman fiction but of the "penny-dreadfuls" filled with violence, romance and adventure. She writes under the name of Beryl Bardwell as it is a career that is frowned upon for women. Kate has found it has paid her bills since her previous employer passed away, leaving her without a job. To go back to being a secretary-companion or governess was just too dreary.

She finds herself being shadowed by a man in a bowler one night, when she is going to collect payment for her latest story. When she confronts the man, he hands her a card and tells her to appear at the address on it - Pinkerton Detectives. This sets in show more motion events that will completely change her world.

She is given paid passage to sail to England to her father's ancestral estate. An aunt, Kate has no knowledge of, wants her to come live with her at Bishop's Keep. Kate is given the choice to accept or refuse the offer. Being a little impulsive and feeling that there could be some good material for a future story, Kate accepts.

When Kate arrives, she finds it isn't as wonderful as she expected. It seems that there is Aunt Sabina, who sent for her, and Aunt Jaggers - Sabina's older sister. Jaggers is a bitter woman with many dark secrets. Her hold over Sabina is a puzzle to Kate.

When a body is found at an archaeological dig nearby, Kate sees a chance for research for the story she is currently writing, in secret. There is also the mystery of the Order of the Golden Dawn and what its connection is to Sabina and the murdered man. It is a secret society that has wide reaching branches.

Sir Charles Sheridan, a gentleman and amateur detective, is introduced to Kate by neighbours and also develops an interest in this interesting American woman. She isn't like the Victorian women he is used to.

The characters are quite enjoyable and interesting. The house staff knows the secrets, but they are not quick to give any information. Kate's independence gets her into some close spots and the competition that evolves between her and Sheridan is good. Not a simple mystery, but to me that is a good thing! show less

This book introduces Kathryn Ardleigh, a nineteenth-century New Yorker who writes mysteries under a pseudonym. Just as she is looking for her next commission, Ardleigh finds herself summoned to England by a previously unknown aunt to serve as secretary for a mystical society, the Order of the Golden Dawn. When Kate arrives at her aunt's estate, Bishop's Keep, she finds a second aunt who spends her days terrorizing the servants. She also discovers ample material for her next murder mystery. An unidentified dead body suggest possible connections to the Order of the Golden Dawn. Throughout the story Kate must balance her interest in crime with all of the Victorian proscriptions on ladies engaging in unsavory activities.

This book was show more certainly an entertaining read. This is the book that has to send Ardleigh to England to perpetuate the series. I found Kate to be more charming than usual in this book. Her friend Charles Sheridan, on the other hand, was more simpering and pathetic than usual. I did manage to figure out who the murderer was, but there were enough twists and turns to make me doubt myself. All in all, a satisfying and entertaining mystery. show less

An American young woman, who secretly writes “penny dreadfuls” goes to England to act as a secretary to one of her aunts who belongs to a mysterious cult. The two aunts live at Bishops Keep and aunt Sabina wants Kate to catalog her collection of papers on a mysterious cult. There’s a murder at an archeological dig nearby and she meets Sir Charles who is intrigued by the independent woman. When her two aunts are poisoned, Kate investigates on her own and while Charles is working on the dig murder, the two cases overlap and they manage separately solve the cases together.