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| Death at Bishop's Keep (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robin Paige
Publisher: Berkley
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $0.07
You Save: $7.92 (99%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (24 reviews)
Sales Rank: 63782
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0425164357
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780425164358
ASIN: 0425164357
Publication Date: July 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Quaint Little Cozy November 25, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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 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!!
This is truly... August 8, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
...a Victorian mystery. I enjoyed the character development in this book and (as it is my lot to always read series out of order) had already read several of the others. It was nice to read where it all began. As this is the first in the series the style isn't as well developed as the later books which is why a star is missing in my review. One thing I really like about this series is that anyone can read them. I could give these to daughters or nieces without worrying about the need to dodge sexual content or foul language. True to the Victorian times; mature subjects are hinted at but not discussed in gruesome detail and without delicacy.
 I feel like the Lone Ranger..... April 13, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have read all of the previously recorded 17 reviews of this book and I definitely feel like the Lone Ranger. I looked at the top of the page to see that I was on page 124 (beginning Chapter 24 for goodness sakes!!) and I was about to tear my hair out wondering when this thing was going to get going. Not a good sign!
I had purposely read all the reviews before I ordered this book thinking I couldn't go wrong with this one. I should have known that a book with no reviews with less than 4 stars had to mean something, either everyone else REALLY loved it or the people with alternative views had decided to stay home. Well, I forced myself to finish it. To add insult to injury, I figured out who the murderer was and even why (which is obvious once you know who).
My theory is, both Kathryn and Sir Charles are very strong characters and in this book they are not yet working together. Because of this the book breaks up into his investigations and her investigations. Also, because the book takes place in Victorian times the female role has to be very carefully crafted. She can be slightly unconventional but not extremely so. Having effectively divided the book in half the authors cannot spend a large amount of time explaining how each detective comes up with their facts, conclusions, deductions. As a result I sometimes felt that information was just thrown at me without very much ground work so that I accepted it as a naturally drawn conclusion.
I have read hundreds of mystery stories. Some I didn't care for but most I love. Some I absolutely adore. My taste seems to tend toward those written in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. I have been trying to branch out, sort of bring myself up to speed by trying modern authors but who still write in period settings. Unhappily, the Robin Paige books will not become part of my collection. I have, however, added Ashley Gardner to the adore column, just in case you think I'm always negative!
 --Enjoyable Victorian mystery-- May 28, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
DEATH AT BISHOP'S KEEP was written by the husband and wife team of Susan Wittig Albert and Bill Albert. It's their first story in a series of Victorian mysteries. The authors are writing under the name of Robin Paige. I recently became interested in the books when Susan Albert gave a talk at my local library. Her lecture was very interesting and she touched a little bit into the history of the forensic sciences that were just starting to be developed during the Victorian age. I was intrigued and ready to read the first story.
Kate Ardleigh is the main character of DEATH AT BISHOP`S KEEP. She's a strong and independent American woman who leaves New York when summoned to England by her aunt, Sabrina Ardleigh. Kate was unaware that she even had any relatives left in England. She's actually asked to be her aunt's secretary. Sabrina's home is called Bishop's Keep where she lives with her sister. Kate loves the idea of traveling to England and because she's a secret writer of short stories for a monthly magazine, she feels that she'll acquire a lot of fascinating material for her stories. Aunt Sabrina is a kind woman who Kate admires. Surprisingly, she is a member of a clandestine group called the Order of the Golden Dawn. Kate learns a little about the organization while working on Aunt Sabrina's papers. Unfortunately, Sabrina's sister, Bernice Jaggers shows no welcome to her niece and tells her that she didn't want her to come and to address her as Aunt Jaggers.
At the beginning of Kate's visit, the body of an unknown man is found at a local archaeological dig. When some other deaths take place, Kate feels that there must be some connection to the first death. Sir Charles Sheridan is the duel character to Kate. He's a wealthy and intelligent man who is fascinated with all of the new sciences that are just emerging. He and Kate meet and find each other to be interesting, but a kind of rivalry is sparked between them when they both become involved in helping to solve the mysteries.
I liked the premise and I'm looking forward to reading the next story. From my own experience, a series like this can get even better when the characters become more seasoned and start playing off one another
Spiritualists, Scarabs, and Hags-Oh My April 28, 2005
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
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.
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