To Die Like a Gentleman [Hardcover]

Bernard Bastable (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

Told through diaries and letters, a mystery, set in England in 1942, follows a young governess who is faced with a sinister manservant, a master's tyranny, and a situation fraught with bitter rivalries, intense hatreds, and murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

English author Robert Barnard ( A Fatal Attachment ), writing under any name, can be counted on for robust social satire, meticulous plotting and lively prose. In this historical mystery, set in 1842, he explores skulduggery in the manor house of Elmstead Court, where passions are overripe and death is imminent. As Sir Richard Hudson's illness progresses, his treatment of his teenage son Andrew worsens and his reliance on the odious, scheming manservant Joseph increases. His wife, Lady Hudson, has additional problems, including spats with her willful, feminist daughter Jane and a budding passion for the good doctor who administers Sir Richard's potions. Also on hand are Andrew's ambitious tutor, who has his eye on a local parish seat, and the timid governess, who has her eye on the tutor. Bastable has a rollicking time here, making sly references to Dickens and Bronte, Peel's parliament and the young Queen Victoria, seldom missing a chance to stick it to the ruling classes. The most sympathetic character is resolute Jane, the finest moment when Joseph's true nature is revealed in full Mephistophelean splendor. Diary entries and letters laced through the narrative add much dash to this playful tale.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Set in early Victorian England, Bastable's story of a wealthy family's crisis displays all the marks of contemporary society. An ingenious combination of correspondence, journal entries, book excerpts, and narrative advances the plot and offers a variety of viewpoints but saves the best twist for last. By the time it occurs, the murder of Sir Richard Hudson, an overbearing and unlovable man, seems inevitable, and the snappy denouement follows swiftly. Genteel language, careful observation, and sly wit from a new embodiment of Robert Barnard.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; First U.S. Edition edition (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312094027
• ISBN-13: 978-0312094027
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,010,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Family gothic, rather than a mystery, July 5, 2006

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Die Like a Gentleman (Hardcover)

Someone is killed in this story; the mystery is not who is the murderer, but how are the survivors going to cope.

Sir Richard Hudson, son of a self-made man, seems like a perfect Victorian gentleman with his country estate, his lovely wife and four children. Widely respected by his peers as a fair and liberal man, Hudson is in fact a domestic tyrant dominating his family with subtle, and not so subtle torments.

The story is told in a combination of narration, letters, and diary entries from multiple points of view. The family and various members of the household struggle for their futures and control over their own lives and those of others.

The murder precipitates a crisis. The resolution, given briefly in an epilogue, is sudden and startling.