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The Bishop's Secret
A man is murdered: shot through the heart. In the quiet cathedral city of Beorminster, so unusual an event can only bring on dizzying excitement. People gather by the dozen on street corners and in public-houses, where they attempt to thrash out the problem - and develop their most intricate theories over their beer. But then there appears in Beorminster the strangest figure: an elderly, weather-beaten man with the quick, alert eye of a fowl. For all he looks and speaks like a sailor, he calls himself a missionary. His name is Ben Baltic - and he is a detective...
552 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
About the author
Fergus Hume
984 books56 followersFergusson Wright Hume (1859–1932), New Zealand lawyer and prolific author particularly renowned for his debut novel, the international best-seller The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886).
Hume was born at Powick, Worcestershire, England, son of Glaswegian Dr. James Collin Hume, a steward at the Worcestershire Pauper Lunatic Asylum and his wife Mary Ferguson.
While Fergus was a very young child, in 1863 the Humes emigrated to New Zealand where James founded the first private mental hospital and Dunedin College. Young Fergus attended the Otago Boys' High School then went on to study law at Otago University. He followed up with articling in the attorney-general's office, called to the New Zealand bar in 1885.
In 1885 Hume moved to Melbourne. While he worked as a solicitors clerk he was bent on becoming a dramatist; but having only written a few short stories he was a virtual unknown. So as to gain the attentions of the theatre directors he asked a local bookseller what style of book he sold most. Emile Gaboriau's detective works were very popular and so Hume bought them all and studied them intently, thus turning his pen to writing his own style of crime novel and mystery.
Hume spent much time in Little Bourke Street to gather material and his first effort was The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), a worthy contibution to the genre. It is full of literary references and quotations; finely crafted complex characters and their sometimes ambiguous seeming interrelationships with the other suspects, deepening the whodunit angle. It is somewhat of an exposé of the then extremes in Melbourne society, which caused some controversy for a time. Hume had it published privately after it had been downright rudely rejected by a number of publishers. "Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but everyone to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the grounds that no Colonial could write anything worth reading." He had sold the publishing rights for £50, but still retained the dramatic rights which he soon profited from by the long Australian and London theatre runs.
Except for short trips to France, Switzerland and Italy, in 1888 Hume settled and stayed in Essex, England where he would remain for the rest of his life. Although he was born, and lived the latter part of his life, in England, he thought of himself as 'a colonial' and identified as a New Zealander, having spent all of his formative years from preschool through to adulthood there. Hume died of cardiac failure at his home on 11 July 1932.
Hume was born at Powick, Worcestershire, England, son of Glaswegian Dr. James Collin Hume, a steward at the Worcestershire Pauper Lunatic Asylum and his wife Mary Ferguson.
While Fergus was a very young child, in 1863 the Humes emigrated to New Zealand where James founded the first private mental hospital and Dunedin College. Young Fergus attended the Otago Boys' High School then went on to study law at Otago University. He followed up with articling in the attorney-general's office, called to the New Zealand bar in 1885.
In 1885 Hume moved to Melbourne. While he worked as a solicitors clerk he was bent on becoming a dramatist; but having only written a few short stories he was a virtual unknown. So as to gain the attentions of the theatre directors he asked a local bookseller what style of book he sold most. Emile Gaboriau's detective works were very popular and so Hume bought them all and studied them intently, thus turning his pen to writing his own style of crime novel and mystery.
Hume spent much time in Little Bourke Street to gather material and his first effort was The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), a worthy contibution to the genre. It is full of literary references and quotations; finely crafted complex characters and their sometimes ambiguous seeming interrelationships with the other suspects, deepening the whodunit angle. It is somewhat of an exposé of the then extremes in Melbourne society, which caused some controversy for a time. Hume had it published privately after it had been downright rudely rejected by a number of publishers. "Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but everyone to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the grounds that no Colonial could write anything worth reading." He had sold the publishing rights for £50, but still retained the dramatic rights which he soon profited from by the long Australian and London theatre runs.
Except for short trips to France, Switzerland and Italy, in 1888 Hume settled and stayed in Essex, England where he would remain for the rest of his life. Although he was born, and lived the latter part of his life, in England, he thought of himself as 'a colonial' and identified as a New Zealander, having spent all of his formative years from preschool through to adulthood there. Hume died of cardiac failure at his home on 11 July 1932.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 25, 2010
The best Hume book I've read to date. It deals with the impact the appearance of one man can have on an entire village for a variety of reasons. Multi-layered mystery really begins with a murder and slowly the revelation of many secrets, all leading back to the murdered man. The characters are portrayed realistically so that you have good reason to like/dislike each one-everyone has their own agenda in this mystery, and all characters have good reason to be the murderer. Hume wraps up everyone's life nicely and leaves the reader satisfied at the end.
January 29, 2024
A turn-of-the-century mystery with an interesting cast of ecclesiastical characters - the bishop with a mysterious secret, the sons with scandalous romantic interests, the interfering busybody, the ambitious chaplain and, most interesting of all, a religiously-motivated detective. Ben Baltic describes himself as a missionary, whose mission is to catch criminals and then, when all hope is lost, lead them to repentance. The actual plot is average, but there is still much to enjoy in the writing and the people.
January 1, 2023
My favourite of Hume's books (thus far)
It's a classic turn of the century tale and you can really see the evolving tastes in literature as we have left the fussy, prudish, moralistic mid-victorian ideals of novels far behind. though the 'protagonist' (putting that in quotes because there are so many pov's in this novel, but I nominate Bishop Pendle himself to be the main one) is a devoutly religious man (he's literally the Bishop of Beorminster) but he's not overbearing and actually quite open-minded in a religious sort of way. There's an atheist character, and a (for the year 1900) good range of women from 'normal' to 'victorian delicate' to 'bold and brash and knows what she wants' to 'miserable shrew'. I really enjoyed the female characters, and the amount of time spent dunking on Mrs Pansy (the aforementioned shrew).
It's a murder mystery, technically, but the mystery doesn't focus on the actual murder as much as you'd expect. The relationships of the characters is what Hume really has under his microscope and while there were a few twists I saw coming, there were a few really satisfying realisations that fell into place after connecting the dots. I really prefer having an 'aha!' moment to being totally blindsided by a twist so this was my type of mystery.
Of course all roads lead to rome and in this case rome is the murdered man, and a proper lying scoundrel he is, too. he's a 'gypsy' so if you're not one for tired, racist depictions of the Rroma then this book may be a skip for you (though I have to admit, Hume is more objective in his descriptions of minorities then other victorian authors I could mention).
I quite enjoyed the way Hume wrapped everything up, though he did fall victim to the classic 'find an excuse to keep class disparity alive and prevent someone from marrying out of their proper sphere', which is very tired to my 2023 eyes.
It actually takes a LONG time to get anywhere close to anything resembling the plot, but the entire first chunk of the book is dedicated to really thoroughly introducing the characters and we get a really great illustration of the characters, motivations and opinions of the antagonists (Mrs Pansy and Mr Cargrim. I could mention our murdered man as an antagonist, and he is, but he's kind of a passive villain, being dead for most of the book) and then the book actually ends like five separate times because there's a huge cast of characters and since they're all involved in the mystery and have something to gain/lose, they all need to be wrapped up individually, so imo the ending drags once the mystery is solved, but overall, I really enjoyed this book
It's a classic turn of the century tale and you can really see the evolving tastes in literature as we have left the fussy, prudish, moralistic mid-victorian ideals of novels far behind. though the 'protagonist' (putting that in quotes because there are so many pov's in this novel, but I nominate Bishop Pendle himself to be the main one) is a devoutly religious man (he's literally the Bishop of Beorminster) but he's not overbearing and actually quite open-minded in a religious sort of way. There's an atheist character, and a (for the year 1900) good range of women from 'normal' to 'victorian delicate' to 'bold and brash and knows what she wants' to 'miserable shrew'. I really enjoyed the female characters, and the amount of time spent dunking on Mrs Pansy (the aforementioned shrew).
It's a murder mystery, technically, but the mystery doesn't focus on the actual murder as much as you'd expect. The relationships of the characters is what Hume really has under his microscope and while there were a few twists I saw coming, there were a few really satisfying realisations that fell into place after connecting the dots. I really prefer having an 'aha!' moment to being totally blindsided by a twist so this was my type of mystery.
Of course all roads lead to rome and in this case rome is the murdered man, and a proper lying scoundrel he is, too. he's a 'gypsy' so if you're not one for tired, racist depictions of the Rroma then this book may be a skip for you (though I have to admit, Hume is more objective in his descriptions of minorities then other victorian authors I could mention).
I quite enjoyed the way Hume wrapped everything up, though he did fall victim to the classic 'find an excuse to keep class disparity alive and prevent someone from marrying out of their proper sphere', which is very tired to my 2023 eyes.
It actually takes a LONG time to get anywhere close to anything resembling the plot, but the entire first chunk of the book is dedicated to really thoroughly introducing the characters and we get a really great illustration of the characters, motivations and opinions of the antagonists (Mrs Pansy and Mr Cargrim. I could mention our murdered man as an antagonist, and he is, but he's kind of a passive villain, being dead for most of the book) and then the book actually ends like five separate times because there's a huge cast of characters and since they're all involved in the mystery and have something to gain/lose, they all need to be wrapped up individually, so imo the ending drags once the mystery is solved, but overall, I really enjoyed this book
January 25, 2021
We listened to this book on LibriVox. The reader was exceptional. I found the story very gripping. Even though the story embraces Victorian sensibilities, and is somewhat slow starting, the multi-layered plot is totally engrossing. What I particularly liked was the character development and the unity of the story. It begins and ends with Mrs. Pansy who is a horrible gossip and does a great job in complicating the plot. If you enjoy Victorian mysteries, you will like this one. We have not read Hume’s most popular novel, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, but look forward to reading it.
March 3, 2014
Free Kindle download like several other of Hume's books. Can't get better value than that!
This is not a detective story although there is a detective of sorts in it. It is a mystery and a good one at that. Not just a murder mystery although there is murder in it.
Difficult to review without giving the game away but there is a clue in the title.
Very different and thoroughly enjoyable.
This is not a detective story although there is a detective of sorts in it. It is a mystery and a good one at that. Not just a murder mystery although there is murder in it.
Difficult to review without giving the game away but there is a clue in the title.
Very different and thoroughly enjoyable.
September 3, 2015
The plot stretches the limits of plausibility, but hey, it's a Victorian novel, designed to engross and entertain - and it does both. Excellent reading by a single Librivox volunteer, David Wales. Great listening during a hike!
October 17, 2024
Aside from the slow pace of the tale, this novel is quite interesting. The characters, plot and intrigues are interesting and a bit off of the beaten path.
January 4, 2026
I wanted to like it more than I did. It was tedious in parts. It took me awhile to care how it would end. Baltic, the strange detective, was somewhat interesting.
Part of my problem was no doubt due to the book itself. It is a print on demand book, without the usual title pages. The book was hard to hold. It is 7.5" x 10" and floppy. The font is easy to read unlike the first one I got from another print on demand place with print so small, it would have been a great effort to read. I asked three others what they thought and they agreed that it wouldn't be worth reading due to the effort it would take. I donated it and bought the floppy book.
Part of my problem was no doubt due to the book itself. It is a print on demand book, without the usual title pages. The book was hard to hold. It is 7.5" x 10" and floppy. The font is easy to read unlike the first one I got from another print on demand place with print so small, it would have been a great effort to read. I asked three others what they thought and they agreed that it wouldn't be worth reading due to the effort it would take. I donated it and bought the floppy book.
April 9, 2026
This was a fun Victorian-era lite mystery with a bit of the ecclesiastical vibe of a Trollope Barchester novel. The characters are drawn in broad strokes, the Victorian respectability borders on the painful, and times, it was slightly lame and repetitive, but the Burminster community is lovable, and the mystery is undeniably tantalizing.
It was great for getting through after supper dishes.
Despite lacking the desirable British accent for such a read, the Librivox reader did a very good job. - https://librivox.org/the-bishops-secr...
It was great for getting through after supper dishes.
Despite lacking the desirable British accent for such a read, the Librivox reader did a very good job. - https://librivox.org/the-bishops-secr...
Read
January 17, 2024Quite a nicely written character story, like a snippet out of life. That's partly why I liked this particular work. The book end with a bit of tragedy among the triumph and resolution, and one need not suspend disbelief at all over plot or characters.
I listened to the LibriVox recording walking home from work. The reader did well with only a couple of mispronunciations, but good diction and clarity.
I listened to the LibriVox recording walking home from work. The reader did well with only a couple of mispronunciations, but good diction and clarity.
March 14, 2025
Une bonne histoire, avec de bons personnages et un suspense qui parvient à se maintenir dans une certaine mesure jusqu'à la fin.
J'ai trouvé très originale l'idée de l'enquête menée par le prêtre ennemi de l'évêque, pour des raisons d'ambition personnelle. Cette idée n'est pas, je trouve, exploitée jusqu'au bout et aurait pu être au coeur du roman. Habituellement, surtout dans les romans de cette époque, ce sont les "gentils" qui mènent l'enquête !
Un bon roman toutefois, que je recommande.
J'ai trouvé très originale l'idée de l'enquête menée par le prêtre ennemi de l'évêque, pour des raisons d'ambition personnelle. Cette idée n'est pas, je trouve, exploitée jusqu'au bout et aurait pu être au coeur du roman. Habituellement, surtout dans les romans de cette époque, ce sont les "gentils" qui mènent l'enquête !
Un bon roman toutefois, que je recommande.
July 28, 2020
I think I wasn't in the right mood for this Victorian mystery. The unpleasant Uriah Heep character was too unpleasant to handle, and the eponymous bishop's secret is of no interest to me. Or it could be the affectations of the narrator. At any rate, I only got in a few chapters and abandoned it for worthier prey. It is a classic, so I may give it an other shot. Another time.
December 21, 2025
An erudite tale of secrets, blackmail and murder. The characters are Dickensian, the human observations are worthy of Austen, and the resolution is satisfying. The allusions to the Bible, literature, poetry and mythology fascinate and engage the reader!
February 18, 2018
Very interesting Christian mystery. Nicely narrated (LibriVox). Recommended.
January 28, 2022
I love 19th century authors! If you haven't discovered Fergus Hume, you don't know what you're missing. He is a master of character and plot development. Enjoy!
May 29, 2020
This book had an interesting plot and interesting characters. In most party's I could really feel for the characters. It's a mystery/who dunnit type book. I enjoyed it for the most part. It was a suggested book on my Free books app. It was published in 1899.
Want to Read
March 6, 2014Thankee dear Wanda - I think I have this downloaded onto my nutty NUUT already. Glad you liked it, which means I am bound to. Saying that, I don't much fancy that one you are reading at the moment.
Blank space left on purpose to show you the blankness of my mind in trying to think of the title of your book I don't like the look of.
hahahahahaha
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Blank space left on purpose to show you the blankness of my mind in trying to think of the title of your book I don't like the look of.
hahahahahaha
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July 16, 2015
I was so disappointed with this. I enjoyed 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab' and congratulated myself on finding a new author with lots of books on Project Gutenberg for some light summer reading. I chose this one because it was first in the list....but really, the secret is laughable, the plot in plain sight from the beginning, the characterization cardboard.....so no more Hume for me I'm afraid.
November 13, 2014
Interesting plot.
May 1, 2017
This one dragged even for Hume. The ending came around about three times. But, then again, that's Hume for you.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews