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Mrs. Bradley #31
Spotted Hemlock
When two male students execute a rag against the nearby Calladale women's agricultural college--a prank involving rhubarb and dead rats--the ladies decide to give the men back some of their own. They collect the litter and sneak it over to a pub which happens to be a favorite with the men. Their plans of storing the collection are not successful, however, as the ornamental horse carriage beside the pub where they were going to store the contents is already occupied--with the unrecognizable body of a woman clothed in a Calladale blazer.
Inquiries at the college reveal that one student, Norah Palliser, has been missing for several days. When Dame Beatrice enters the investigation (at the request of nephew Carey Lestrange, who is teaching pig farming at Calladale) another incident comes to light: days ago, a student returning late to the campus encountered the spectral vision of a cloaked, larger-than-life horseman galloping down the college's moonlit path. Dame Beatrice finds the story most interesting, and other facts soon emerge: Norah Palliser was secretly married to a penniless painter named Coles; she may have been connected with Carey's predecessor, a man with questionable morals nicknamed by the students as "Piggy" Basil; and petty thefts have been occuring within the college.
The coroner reports death by coniine poisoning, probably extracted from the root of spotted hemlock; there's also the puzzling fact that the victim is physically older than Norah Palliser's twenty-three years. But if the body isn't Norah Palliser-Coles, who is it? And where is Norah? Dame Beatrice travels to Northern Ireland, upper Scotland and southern Italy on her rounds of alibi-breaking, until she is ready to place her cards on the table and reveal the solution.
Inquiries at the college reveal that one student, Norah Palliser, has been missing for several days. When Dame Beatrice enters the investigation (at the request of nephew Carey Lestrange, who is teaching pig farming at Calladale) another incident comes to light: days ago, a student returning late to the campus encountered the spectral vision of a cloaked, larger-than-life horseman galloping down the college's moonlit path. Dame Beatrice finds the story most interesting, and other facts soon emerge: Norah Palliser was secretly married to a penniless painter named Coles; she may have been connected with Carey's predecessor, a man with questionable morals nicknamed by the students as "Piggy" Basil; and petty thefts have been occuring within the college.
The coroner reports death by coniine poisoning, probably extracted from the root of spotted hemlock; there's also the puzzling fact that the victim is physically older than Norah Palliser's twenty-three years. But if the body isn't Norah Palliser-Coles, who is it? And where is Norah? Dame Beatrice travels to Northern Ireland, upper Scotland and southern Italy on her rounds of alibi-breaking, until she is ready to place her cards on the table and reveal the solution.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
32 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Gladys Mitchell
93 books141 followersAka Malcolm Torrie, Stephen Hockaby.
Born in Cowley, Oxford, in 1901, Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell was the daughter of market gardener James Mitchell, and his wife, Annie.
She was educated at Rothschild School, Brentford and Green School, Isleworth, before attending Goldsmiths College and University College, London from 1919-1921.
She taught English, history and games at St Paul's School, Brentford, from 1921-26, and at St Anne's Senior Girls School, Ealing until 1939.
She earned an external diploma in European history from University College in 1926, beginning to write her novels at this point. Mitchell went on to teach at a number of other schools, including the Brentford Senior Girls School (1941-50), and the Matthew Arnold School, Staines (1953-61). She retired to Corfe Mullen, Dorset in 1961, where she lived until her death in 1983.
Although primarily remembered for her mystery novels, and for her detective creation, Mrs. Bradley, who featured in 66 of her novels, Mitchell also published ten children's books under her own name, historical fiction under the pseudonym Stephen Hockaby, and more detective fiction under the pseudonym Malcolm Torrie. She also wrote a great many short stories, all of which were first published in the Evening Standard.
She was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1976.
Born in Cowley, Oxford, in 1901, Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell was the daughter of market gardener James Mitchell, and his wife, Annie.
She was educated at Rothschild School, Brentford and Green School, Isleworth, before attending Goldsmiths College and University College, London from 1919-1921.
She taught English, history and games at St Paul's School, Brentford, from 1921-26, and at St Anne's Senior Girls School, Ealing until 1939.
She earned an external diploma in European history from University College in 1926, beginning to write her novels at this point. Mitchell went on to teach at a number of other schools, including the Brentford Senior Girls School (1941-50), and the Matthew Arnold School, Staines (1953-61). She retired to Corfe Mullen, Dorset in 1961, where she lived until her death in 1983.
Although primarily remembered for her mystery novels, and for her detective creation, Mrs. Bradley, who featured in 66 of her novels, Mitchell also published ten children's books under her own name, historical fiction under the pseudonym Stephen Hockaby, and more detective fiction under the pseudonym Malcolm Torrie. She also wrote a great many short stories, all of which were first published in the Evening Standard.
She was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1976.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 27, 2021
A good old fashioned mystery!
A lovely slow burn up to the discovery of a body that's filled with wonderful character development, ghosts, pigs and farming!
Followed by a brilliant investigation by Dame Bradley and her cohort of helpers.
Which leads us to a wonderful reveal!
A lovely slow burn up to the discovery of a body that's filled with wonderful character development, ghosts, pigs and farming!
Followed by a brilliant investigation by Dame Bradley and her cohort of helpers.
Which leads us to a wonderful reveal!
September 29, 2019
I do like a good Mrs Bradley book! She’s possibly more orthodox in the detective stakes in this book than some of her earlier ones. That said it’s an interesting tale of a missing girl and a murdered girl.
January 22, 2015
Halfway through this book my thoughts turned to Scandinavian detective fiction, as my mind turned to wrestle with the extraordinary changes in both the vernacular and in detective fiction over the fifty-six years since “Spotted Hemlock") was first published (1958). On the back cover, Maurice Richardson is quoted in the Observer as saying ”Extra marks for contemporary idiom”. I had dutifully looked for just that. In no mere uncertainty I struggled. Was he alluding to phrases such as “Shan’t be a jiffy (p.76), or “But don’t you think your scheme would bring down the price of pork until the game was hardly worth the candle?” (p.176). What about examples such as “Of course she was a pretty fast worker, I know, but she couldn’t have collected any vast number of purple patches.” (p.186). Gladys Mitchell, then in her late fifties, draws attention to the novelty of a girl’s use of the phrase, “Good Lord! It’s poor old Palliser" (p.39); relating this to “One of the many phenomena of the Atomic Age is the curious process of the osmosis which has taken place in the speech-forms of the sexes.” (p.40). Hmm.
I had picked up classic Penguin detective fiction for a good nostalgic read, expecting, from this author, the injection of a quirky humour, with nothing too gruesome. I was not disappointed; though I had not anticipated my eyes being opened to the possibilities of making an empirical study of the different uses over time by men and by women, of forms and expressions of language. What intriguing potential, I thought, before I shook myself back into the real world, choosing instead to concentrate on enjoying plain, messy, fictional untimely death.
It’s an unusual storyline. Dated? Yes. Improbable? In a number of ways, yes; and more so given that I now found myself entirely unable to get a vision of the layout of buildings at the Royal Agricultural College (now University), Cirencester (UK) out of my mind; and the sight of rabbits grazing grass at dawn! Cool as a cucumber, Dame Beatrice (never ‘Bea’, or, heaven forbid, ‘Beatty’) solves the mystery; thanks not least to her knowledge of the plant kingdom; differentiating specifically the hemlocks; Conium maculatum and those of the Cicuta genus.
How? and Why? is, of course, an entirely different matter … all of which provides such jolly conversation over the dinner table when the conversation opener is, “And what have you been reading recently?”!
I had picked up classic Penguin detective fiction for a good nostalgic read, expecting, from this author, the injection of a quirky humour, with nothing too gruesome. I was not disappointed; though I had not anticipated my eyes being opened to the possibilities of making an empirical study of the different uses over time by men and by women, of forms and expressions of language. What intriguing potential, I thought, before I shook myself back into the real world, choosing instead to concentrate on enjoying plain, messy, fictional untimely death.
It’s an unusual storyline. Dated? Yes. Improbable? In a number of ways, yes; and more so given that I now found myself entirely unable to get a vision of the layout of buildings at the Royal Agricultural College (now University), Cirencester (UK) out of my mind; and the sight of rabbits grazing grass at dawn! Cool as a cucumber, Dame Beatrice (never ‘Bea’, or, heaven forbid, ‘Beatty’) solves the mystery; thanks not least to her knowledge of the plant kingdom; differentiating specifically the hemlocks; Conium maculatum and those of the Cicuta genus.
How? and Why? is, of course, an entirely different matter … all of which provides such jolly conversation over the dinner table when the conversation opener is, “And what have you been reading recently?”!
July 19, 2013
As will happen when you have an all-male college situated near an all-female college, there is quite a bit of shenanigans going on. And not just the late night, clandestine affairs. The young men of Highpepper Hall, known for their "rags," decide to pull a prank on the ladies of Calladale College--agricultural school for women. They round up some rhubarb and some dead rats and go planting in the middle of the night.
In the meantime, one of the young women has gone missing and Dame Beatrice Bradley is called in to try and track down where Norah Palliser might have run off to. When the ladies of Calladale discover the nasty additions to their gardens, they decide to return the favor and gather up the rhubarb in preparation for their own late night escapade. They plan to stash the plants in an ornamental horse carriage which serves as a pub sign for a local establishment (which just happens to lie at the back door of the men's college)--but their plans go awry when they discover that the carriage is already occupied. Hidden inside is an unrecognizable body wearing a Calladale blazer.
Norah's mother identifies the body as that of her daughter (a girl in her twenties), but Mrs. Bradley is puzzled by the fact that the body seems to be that of an older women. Is Norah, in fact, the woman who has died of hemlock poisoning? And if so who gave it to her and how did she get into the carriage. If it's not, Norah, then whose body is it and why is she wearing Norah's blazer? There's an "evil" step-papa in the offing, a missing pig-lecturer (who lectures about pigs and their care, not to pigs), a cuckolded husband, a thieving sister, and a mother who doesn't seem terribly upset over her daughter's death. It's up to Mrs. Bradley to get to the bottom of things....and it will require a reenactment of a headless horseman's ride to do it.
This is a very solid vintage mystery by Gladys Mitchell. I, of course, loved the academic setting and thought the mystery decently plotted and strewn with plenty of red herrings. The rounds of interviews with suspects and family members and girls in the school got a tad bit tedious--but overall a good read. Three stars.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
In the meantime, one of the young women has gone missing and Dame Beatrice Bradley is called in to try and track down where Norah Palliser might have run off to. When the ladies of Calladale discover the nasty additions to their gardens, they decide to return the favor and gather up the rhubarb in preparation for their own late night escapade. They plan to stash the plants in an ornamental horse carriage which serves as a pub sign for a local establishment (which just happens to lie at the back door of the men's college)--but their plans go awry when they discover that the carriage is already occupied. Hidden inside is an unrecognizable body wearing a Calladale blazer.
Norah's mother identifies the body as that of her daughter (a girl in her twenties), but Mrs. Bradley is puzzled by the fact that the body seems to be that of an older women. Is Norah, in fact, the woman who has died of hemlock poisoning? And if so who gave it to her and how did she get into the carriage. If it's not, Norah, then whose body is it and why is she wearing Norah's blazer? There's an "evil" step-papa in the offing, a missing pig-lecturer (who lectures about pigs and their care, not to pigs), a cuckolded husband, a thieving sister, and a mother who doesn't seem terribly upset over her daughter's death. It's up to Mrs. Bradley to get to the bottom of things....and it will require a reenactment of a headless horseman's ride to do it.
This is a very solid vintage mystery by Gladys Mitchell. I, of course, loved the academic setting and thought the mystery decently plotted and strewn with plenty of red herrings. The rounds of interviews with suspects and family members and girls in the school got a tad bit tedious--but overall a good read. Three stars.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
May 7, 2014
Mrs Bradley's nephew is teaching temporarily at an agricultural college for women when one of the students disappears and Mrs Bradley is asked to investigate. Naturally she manages to get to the bottom of this complex mystery and find out just exactly what is going on even though most of the suspects do their best to thwart her efforts for their own reasons.
I think the author writes mysteries set in further education establishments extremely well as she seems to capture extremely well the politics and the petty jealousies of such enclosed institutions. Mrs Bradley herself is of course marvellous value as a character but the rest of the characters in this complex mystery are equally well drawn and interesting.
This entertaining series has stood the test of time extremely well in my opinion and can be read with enjoyment by twety first century readers. Not all the series is currently (May 2014) available in e-book editions but I look forward to the day when they will be. In the meantime the books don't need to be read in any order.
I think the author writes mysteries set in further education establishments extremely well as she seems to capture extremely well the politics and the petty jealousies of such enclosed institutions. Mrs Bradley herself is of course marvellous value as a character but the rest of the characters in this complex mystery are equally well drawn and interesting.
This entertaining series has stood the test of time extremely well in my opinion and can be read with enjoyment by twety first century readers. Not all the series is currently (May 2014) available in e-book editions but I look forward to the day when they will be. In the meantime the books don't need to be read in any order.
May 2, 2015
Very clever plotting that kept me reading even with the rather dated 1950s views.
February 20, 2024
Mrs Bradley's back in England, all's right with the world.
The previous entry in this series ("The Twenty-Third Man") had Mrs Croc solving a murder in one of the Canary Islands. Some wines don't travel well and neither does Gladys Mitchell's detective. I'm happy to see her back in England and in her natural setting, a school. A career teacher, there was nothing Mitchell didn't know about the inner workings of educational establishments.
In 1958, England still had farms of all sizes and many young people enrolled in agricultural courses. Highpepper Hall specializes in training gentlemen farmers, while nearby Calladale House caters to young women of modest means who long to be pig farmers or market gardeners. The sexes are segregated, but there's plenty of contact, including the inevitable "ragging" (pranks.)
A young woman has disappeared from Calladale and the school head is anxious to find out why, preferably without publicity. Carey Lestrange (pig farmer and temporary lecturer) suggests calling in his aunt, famous psychologist and amateur detective Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and his suggestion is gratefully accepted.
Miss McKay (Calladale House Head Mistress) is resigned to her students chasing or being chased by young men, although she draws the line at staff getting involved with students. Carey Lestrange is happily married, but the last "Piggy" (pig expert/lecturer) was a susceptible single man. Now he's in hospital with a broken leg, but does he know anything about the disappearance of the missing student?
And is the ghost that's said to haunt Calladale House on a rampage? That would explain the headless horseman seen by a student returning late at night from a date with her boyfriend. But do ghost horses trample beds of brussel sprouts?
Miss McKay dismisses the ghost as a prank by Highpepper Hall students. Much more troubling is the fact that one student is stealing from others. Soon that crisis is forgotten in the excitement caused by Miss Palliser going missing.
Norah Palliser seems an unlikely runaway. She's a quiet girl and a good student, but when the girls who know her best are questioned, Miss McKay is astonished to learn that Miss Palliser has been Mrs Coles for some months. Her art-student husband doesn't know where she is and neither does her family. Then the rat-gnawed body of a young woman is found at a nearby pub and Mrs Bradley must find a murderer.
Norah's family situation is complicated and sticky. Her father is dead and her mother remarried to a young Italian. Norah has hinted to friends that her step-father is more interested in her than he should be. Her mother is less grief-stricken than angry that Norah won't be finishing her education and supporting her parents. Mrs Biancini knows better than to expect a return on her investment in older daughter Carrie. Carrie is the black sheep, a chronic liar and unable to keep a job because of her dishonesty.
Aided by Carey Lestrange and by her secretary Laura Gavin, Mrs Bradley investigates the suspects. Norah's fellow students know part of the story and her husband knows a bit more. Her family claims to be in the dark, but may be hiding valuable information. Motive is important, of course. Norah's father left money for her education. Who gets that money now?
I find Mitchell's books charming and witty. To me, the value is in the quirky personality of Mrs Bradley herself, as well as her relationship with the young people around her. Mrs Bradley understands youthful rebellion, having always been something of a rebel herself. Who would expect an elderly professional woman to praise male students for sneaking females into their college housing? Or to muse that she's rather in favor of people (married or single) engaging in "dirty weekends" at seaside resorts?
Possibly the least judgemental detective ever created, her tolerance gains the trust of people who'd clam up if questioned by a stern authority figure. Mitchell set many of her mysteries among young people and no one is better qualified to sort out their problems than old Mrs Bradley.
Like most of the books in this series, it's too absurdly complicated to be realistic. If you read mysteries to catch out mistakes in the plotting, Mitchell's books may bore you or drive you mad. If you're content to let the details wash over you and enjoy the fun, you'll like them as much as I do.
PS Carey Lestrange claims that his aunt has been married three times, but I'm reading the series in order and only know about husbands Lestrange and Bradley. I'd be very grateful to a fellow-fan who could explain this to me.
The previous entry in this series ("The Twenty-Third Man") had Mrs Croc solving a murder in one of the Canary Islands. Some wines don't travel well and neither does Gladys Mitchell's detective. I'm happy to see her back in England and in her natural setting, a school. A career teacher, there was nothing Mitchell didn't know about the inner workings of educational establishments.
In 1958, England still had farms of all sizes and many young people enrolled in agricultural courses. Highpepper Hall specializes in training gentlemen farmers, while nearby Calladale House caters to young women of modest means who long to be pig farmers or market gardeners. The sexes are segregated, but there's plenty of contact, including the inevitable "ragging" (pranks.)
A young woman has disappeared from Calladale and the school head is anxious to find out why, preferably without publicity. Carey Lestrange (pig farmer and temporary lecturer) suggests calling in his aunt, famous psychologist and amateur detective Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and his suggestion is gratefully accepted.
Miss McKay (Calladale House Head Mistress) is resigned to her students chasing or being chased by young men, although she draws the line at staff getting involved with students. Carey Lestrange is happily married, but the last "Piggy" (pig expert/lecturer) was a susceptible single man. Now he's in hospital with a broken leg, but does he know anything about the disappearance of the missing student?
And is the ghost that's said to haunt Calladale House on a rampage? That would explain the headless horseman seen by a student returning late at night from a date with her boyfriend. But do ghost horses trample beds of brussel sprouts?
Miss McKay dismisses the ghost as a prank by Highpepper Hall students. Much more troubling is the fact that one student is stealing from others. Soon that crisis is forgotten in the excitement caused by Miss Palliser going missing.
Norah Palliser seems an unlikely runaway. She's a quiet girl and a good student, but when the girls who know her best are questioned, Miss McKay is astonished to learn that Miss Palliser has been Mrs Coles for some months. Her art-student husband doesn't know where she is and neither does her family. Then the rat-gnawed body of a young woman is found at a nearby pub and Mrs Bradley must find a murderer.
Norah's family situation is complicated and sticky. Her father is dead and her mother remarried to a young Italian. Norah has hinted to friends that her step-father is more interested in her than he should be. Her mother is less grief-stricken than angry that Norah won't be finishing her education and supporting her parents. Mrs Biancini knows better than to expect a return on her investment in older daughter Carrie. Carrie is the black sheep, a chronic liar and unable to keep a job because of her dishonesty.
Aided by Carey Lestrange and by her secretary Laura Gavin, Mrs Bradley investigates the suspects. Norah's fellow students know part of the story and her husband knows a bit more. Her family claims to be in the dark, but may be hiding valuable information. Motive is important, of course. Norah's father left money for her education. Who gets that money now?
I find Mitchell's books charming and witty. To me, the value is in the quirky personality of Mrs Bradley herself, as well as her relationship with the young people around her. Mrs Bradley understands youthful rebellion, having always been something of a rebel herself. Who would expect an elderly professional woman to praise male students for sneaking females into their college housing? Or to muse that she's rather in favor of people (married or single) engaging in "dirty weekends" at seaside resorts?
Possibly the least judgemental detective ever created, her tolerance gains the trust of people who'd clam up if questioned by a stern authority figure. Mitchell set many of her mysteries among young people and no one is better qualified to sort out their problems than old Mrs Bradley.
Like most of the books in this series, it's too absurdly complicated to be realistic. If you read mysteries to catch out mistakes in the plotting, Mitchell's books may bore you or drive you mad. If you're content to let the details wash over you and enjoy the fun, you'll like them as much as I do.
PS Carey Lestrange claims that his aunt has been married three times, but I'm reading the series in order and only know about husbands Lestrange and Bradley. I'd be very grateful to a fellow-fan who could explain this to me.
February 29, 2020
If you can read this as a piece of detective fiction of its time then it’s a rollicking read with some interesting female characters. The obvious Dame Beatrice with her insight and intelligence - not to mention the money to set off for Italy on what is a mere whim! That’s after she’s covered most of England.
But the female students at the agricultural college are an interesting lot - smuggling in men , covering for each other and subverting the rules! They formed an enjoyable counterpoint to the married Amazonian niece , Laura. I did enjoy the clothes references but was often appalled by the casual racism and classism... I can’t bring myself to quote the different terms for Italian men but the phrase that DB ‘ knew better than to question the memories of the semi- literate ‘ pretty much sums up the class distinctions . In fact rather similar to Doyle’s detective fifty years earlier!
Still it was an interesting read - I shall look out for more and it’s given me an impetus to see how women depict women in other detective fiction! I did enjoy an apparently effete and artistic villain being hoist with his own petard.
But the female students at the agricultural college are an interesting lot - smuggling in men , covering for each other and subverting the rules! They formed an enjoyable counterpoint to the married Amazonian niece , Laura. I did enjoy the clothes references but was often appalled by the casual racism and classism... I can’t bring myself to quote the different terms for Italian men but the phrase that DB ‘ knew better than to question the memories of the semi- literate ‘ pretty much sums up the class distinctions . In fact rather similar to Doyle’s detective fifty years earlier!
Still it was an interesting read - I shall look out for more and it’s given me an impetus to see how women depict women in other detective fiction! I did enjoy an apparently effete and artistic villain being hoist with his own petard.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2022
Typical Racism if the time in a period detective novel
Ethnic slurs against Italians abound. One use of the N word.
It would be an easy job to eliminate the ethnic slurs and would not affect the storyline at all. Or, an apology and explanation of the use of the slurs would be a good addition. Young people need to be aware of the casual and pervasive prejudice against other nationalities and people of colour that was commonplace in the British Isles.
The story itself was mildly amusing and interesting. It was also interesting to have a young mother character who seemed totally uninterested in her baby or at least glad to have someone else care for him for weeks at a time, as the gentry were supposed to be at that time.
Ethnic slurs against Italians abound. One use of the N word.
It would be an easy job to eliminate the ethnic slurs and would not affect the storyline at all. Or, an apology and explanation of the use of the slurs would be a good addition. Young people need to be aware of the casual and pervasive prejudice against other nationalities and people of colour that was commonplace in the British Isles.
The story itself was mildly amusing and interesting. It was also interesting to have a young mother character who seemed totally uninterested in her baby or at least glad to have someone else care for him for weeks at a time, as the gentry were supposed to be at that time.
February 20, 2019
Dame Bradley comes to the help of her nephew Carey Lestrange . He teaches at an agricultural college and a body has been discovered of a young woman . Thefts have been happening at the college and strange events are coming to light .
June 5, 2022
Pathetic
Convoluted and ridiculous ending which strongly indicates that the author simply gave up on logic and cast ethics to the wind in order to finish the book.
Convoluted and ridiculous ending which strongly indicates that the author simply gave up on logic and cast ethics to the wind in order to finish the book.
November 13, 2025
This is a really good example of Gladys Mitchell at her best; I believe, anyway.
Mrs Bradley is in cracking form in a yarn about a ladies agricultural college. Plenty of ragging going on. Red herrings abound. Slightly disappointing ending but a good page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mrs Bradley is in cracking form in a yarn about a ladies agricultural college. Plenty of ragging going on. Red herrings abound. Slightly disappointing ending but a good page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
September 28, 2014
Another really tight plot with a mystery that kept me guessing although I got there in the end!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews