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Fledgling
novelist Anthony Trollope arrives in Barchester only to be
present when a murder is discovered. Hiram's Hospital is an
almshouse for old men and one of them has just been stabbed,
but who would want to kill him? The hospital's warden is the
kindly clergyman Septimus Harding, a widower with two daughters
who is distraught at the incident. Soon he and his family
are being grilled by a policeman and Trollope turns detective
himself, uncovering a terrible secret that could destroy everything
for the Hardings.
You don't need to have read any of Trollope's novels to enjoy
this. The author has a good storyteller style that sucks the
reader in from the first page and doesn't let go. This is
not a long novel but it is filled with detecting, as all good
mysteries ought to be, with lots of plot twists and turns.
Trollope makes for an amiable sleuth and if you haven't read
any of the books this novel is based on then reading this
might well make you want to do so. No date is given for the
tale, which is a pity, but sometime in the 1850s is a guess
and the contrasting descriptions of Newgate and Barchester
are well rendered with a good knowledge of the period. Highly
recommended for an entertaining read.
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