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The Bishop's Secret
The Bishop's Secret
All in all, this story is so rich in the essential elements of worthy fiction--in characterization, exciting adventure, suggestions of the marvelous, wit, humor, pathos, and just enough of tragedy--that it is offered to the American public in all confidence that it will be generally and heartily welcomed.
Book Excerpt
aid; and simpering curates, put into the Church as the fools of their respective families. I don't know what men are coming to,' groaned Mrs Pansey. 'The late archdeacon was clever and pious; he honoured and obeyed me as the marriage service says a man should do. I was the light of the dear man's eyes.'
Had Mrs Pansey stated that she had been the terror of the late archdeacon's life she would have been vastly nearer the truth, but such a remark never occurred to her. Although she had bullied and badgered the wretched little man until he had seized the first opportunity of finding in the grave the peace denied him in life, she really and truly believed that she had been a model wife. The egotism of first person singular was so firmly ingrained in the woman that she could not conceive what a scourge she was to mankind in general; what a trial she had been to her poor departed husband in particular. If the late Archdeacon Pansey had not died he would doubtless have become a missionary to some cannibal tri
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Readers reviews
3.3
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Dry, boring characters. Uneventful, repetitious plot. Eventually I gave it up. The only reason I stayed with it as long as I did is because I have enjoyed other Hume novels very much.
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I like Hume. His stories are generally more satisfying (and challenging) than Christie, Le Queux or Tracy. But this one left me cold and I abandoned it - for the simple fact that NONE of the main characters aroused any empathy at all. All unpleasant and nobody to identify with. There's criminal but then there's downright nasty, and that's what Hume did with this title. Some will like it, but not me....
08/24/2013
Pretty good, lengthy and complex. Has many of the themes of Hume's Red Money—gypsies, outspoken women—but a far better story.
08/04/2013
Slow complicated read with a good ending. Glad I hung on.
07/09/2013
This was an amiable and efficient moderate crime/mystery puzzler, which throws knowing glances at Trollope. Altogether good clean fun. I'll be reading more of Mr Hume, at bedtime . . .
12/27/2010
An enjoyable "English countryside" mystery with eccentric characters and sardonic wit. I will read more books by this author.
09/28/2010