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

Robin Paige (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

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, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig--and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story...but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425164357
• ISBN-13: 978-0425164358
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > British Detectives

More About the Author

My husband Bill and I live on 31 acres in the Hill Country of Central Texas, and have longhorn cows, sheep, geese, as well as the wild things that roam the meadows and woods. Our best buddies are our three dogs (Zach, Lady, and Toro) and our cat, Shadow. I'm a passionate gardener and am concerned about issues of global warming and energy depletion. You can find out more about the way I live in my new memoir, Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place.

I've been writing professionally for nearly 25 years, after a stint in higher education as a faculty member and administrator. When I first started writing full time, I worked in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series--yep, you got it: I am both Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon! (How cool is that?) In the years I was writing young adult novels, with Bill or by myself, I wrote over sixty books. In addition, Bill and I wrote a series of Victorian/Edwardian mysteries together, as Robin Paige.

Now, I write three mystery series: the China Bayles herbal mysteries, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a new series (starting in July, 2010) called The Darling Dahlias, about a Southern garden club in the 1930s. Writing is not only my work, but my passion. Truly a right livelihood, and I'm grateful to have found it. I am also a member (and the founder) of the Story Circle Network, a nonprofit organization that supports women who want to write about their lives.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritualists, Scarabs, and Hags-Oh My, April 28, 2005

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death at Bishop's Keep (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 1) (Paperback)

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 was having trouble putting it down. I lost some sleep by reading when I should have been in bed but I think that my sleep depravation was well worth it. I highly recommend this book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death at Bishop's Keep, February 16, 2004

By 

Brenda Jo Mengeling (Davis, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death at Bishop's Keep (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 1) (Paperback)

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.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you looking for a great victorian mystery series?, February 16, 2001

By 

Diana Russell (Chapel Hill, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death at Bishop's Keep (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 1) (Paperback)

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!