Arrest the Bishop?

by Winifred Peck, Martin Edwards (Foreword)

He caught the back of a chair, staggered and groaned. There was a heavy crash and fall, and the parson lay motionless and livid, while lilies from a vase fell, like a wreath, across his chest. The Rev. Ulder, everyone agreed, was the parish priest from hell. In addition to tales of drunkenness and embezzlement, the repellent cleric had recently added blackmail to his list of depravities. There was scandal in the district, plenty of it, and Ulder had the facts. Until, that is, a liberal helping of morphia, served to him in the Bishop’s Palace, silenced the insufferable priest – for good. Was it the Bishop himself who delivered the fatal dose? Was it Soames, the less-than-model butler? Or one of a host of other inmates and guests in the house that night, with motives of their own to put Ulder out of the way? Young Dick Marlin, ex-military intelligence and now a Church deacon, finds himself assisting Chief Constable Mack investigate murder most irreverent. Arrest the Bishop? was first published in 1949. This new edition, the first in many decades, includes a new introduction by crime fiction historian Martin Edwards.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature, Crime, Fiction, Amateur Sleuth, Golden Age Mystery, Religion

301 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Lady Winifred Peck (née Knox), born 1882, was a member of a remarkable family. Her father was Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, the fourth Bishop of Manchester, and her siblings were E. V. Knox, editor of Punch magazine, Ronald Knox, theologian and writer, Dilly Knox, cryptographer, Wilfred Lawrence Knox, clergyman, and Ethel Knox. Peck’s niece was the Booker Prize-winning author Penelope Fitzgerald who wrote a biography of her father, E. V. Knox, and her uncles, entitled The Knox Brothers.

She read Modern History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her first book was a biography of Louis IX in 1909.

In 1911 she married James Peck, a British civil servant, who was awarded a knighthood in 1938. They had three children.

In 1919 she began her novel-writing career which saw twenty-five books over a period of forty years, including House-Bound (1942) which was reprinted in 2007 by Persephone Books. She also wrote two books about her own childhood, A Little Learning (1952) and Home for the Holidays (1955).

Reviews

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

I wish Ms Peck had written more than two detective stories because other than the beginning and the end, this one was very readable.

I know these are very big quibbles! 😀

The beginning was a confused mess which meant it took me a long time to get into this story, but I would have still given this title 4★ if it wasn't for the long, boring post-mortem at the end. Several pages of tedium.

In the middle there were a few lulls but this was still a fascinating look at ecclesiastical life. A blackmailing, evil, drunken man of God - now there is a twist!

Ulder certainly knew how to make an entrance!

...Ulder brushed him aside. For a minute he stood looking around him in malevolent triumph, holding out his hand Then suddenly he caught the back of a chair, staggered and groaned. Next moment there was a heavy crash and fall, and before that motionless circle of spectators the parson lay motionless and livid, while lilies from a vase fell, like a grotesque wreath,across his chest as the water dripped on his unconscious head.

Hmmm... a good copy editor should have caught the double use of "motionless."

Now the story (for the most part) took off. Peck is very good at characterisation with my personal favourite being the Bishop's flighty daughter, Judith. Very good plot and an engaging amateur detective.

A wonderful period piece!

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dean Street Press continues to rediscover an amazing wealth of classic detective stories. This one is a well-written mystery - perhaps a little late for the 'Golden Age' label, since it was published in 1949, but it is set in 1920, in the immediate aftermath of the First World War.

The story takes place in a clerical environment. It's a world author Winifred Peck knew well, since she was the daughter of a bishop and her brother was a celebrated detective story writer, Monsignor Ronald Knox. Peck and her fascinating family are discussed in the introduction by Martin Edwards.

Edwards describes this as a Christmas mystery, but, although there is snow on the ground throughout, the season only gets an occasional mention, with no carols or feasting. The action unfolds within the bishop's palace, where a disgraced visiting clergyman dies in mysterious circumstances. Soon it seems as if everyone in sight has a motive for killing him, and Dick, a young ex-soldier turned prospective priest, has to try to find the culprit before a grumpy local policeman pins the crime on the wrong man.

In all honesty, I'd have to say this isn't a great detective story - it's rather slow and I also found the killer a bit too easy to guess, even though I didn't disentangle the whole plot! However, I thoroughly enjoyed Peck's humorous dialogue, and in particular the character of Judith, the bishop's highly amusing daughter.

A non-mystery book by the same author has just been republished by DSP's Furrowed Middlebrow imprint, Bewildering Cares, and is compared to Angela Thirkell in the blurb on the back - I'm tempted to give that one a try soon. DSP has also brought out another Peck mystery, The Warrielaw Jewel.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1949, but set in 1920, this is one of two mysteries written by Winifred Peck – the other being, “The Warrielaw Jewel” – as well as a number of other works. I first came across Winifred Peck while reading, “The Knox Brothers,” by Penelope Fitzgerald, about her uncle’s; one of whom was Ronald Knox, a founder member of the Detection Club. That family also had two sisters, of which Winifred was one – but she has been over-shadowed by her brother’s crime novels.

Although I liked, “The Warrielaw Jewel,” I enjoyed this mystery much more. Winifred Peck’s father was a Bishop and so she is very much at home with this setting. The novel begins at the Bishop of Evelakes Palace, where there is a house party for an Ordination ceremony. However, as lovers of Golden Age crime know, all too well, house parties can be dangerous things. Before long, the poor Bishop – a somewhat anxious and indecisive man – not only his eldest daughter, Judith, arriving home, ‘in dreadful trouble,’ but also Mr Ulder, who has been a thorn in the Bishop’s drive for some time.

Mr Ulder is a dishonest drunk and, what is more, a blackmailer. With a desire to leave his poor parish for America, he arrives hoping to clean up from among the prestigious guests. However, no sooner does he arrive than he has a heart attack and has to be put to bed. By the morning he is dead and it seems his death is suspicious. With the Chief Constable, Major Mack, a Scotsman, entirely unsympathetic to the Church, it is down to one of the guests, Dick Marlin – who is love with the Bishop’s youngest daughter, Sue, to save the Bishop from suspicion and unravel the mystery. Good fun, and an interesting setting, with Judith adding lots of humour. I would certainly read more by Winifred Peck and am glad her novels are back in print.

[Squeak2017 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first chapter is a rather untidy exposition with lots of details of episcopal palace life which lends authority to the background but feels a little like Peck is showboating her ecclesiastical credentials. The novel settles down in the second chapter when the action moves along briskly. Literary references underline the tension. The reading at dinner causes further embarrassment at an already awkward gathering, while the references to Trollope suggest the Bishop is cowed and less significant than his wife. Other characters are well observed, with one in particular who is larger than life and entertainingly indiscreet, but one or two are a little one dimensional. The investigating police officer, resentful of the social slights he feels the Palace has inflicted on him, is credited with enjoying his “wholly untenable criticism of the Anglican church” and little else. Yet given the character of the victim, the suggestion that the clergy lead “consistent lives of piety and upright principles” is not entirely justified.



The plot is sufficiently well worked out to point the finger of guilt plausibly at many characters, for many reasons. They don’t always help their own cause by acting guiltily, usually for the act which generated the blackmail rather than for the sin of murder. The stock character of the brisk but blundering police officer is a foil to his fellow investigator, a much cleverer man who is a candidate for ordination and has the trust of the clergymen. He is presented as tolerant and a gentleman, but Peck is honest enough to give him prejudices of his own as he goes off on the track of the wrong person. He is ultimately the one who unravels the hidden motives, but the police officer is given the best line in the book: “I must arrest the Bishop”!



An enjoyable read, particularly if you subscribe to the author’s pro-Christian view.

[Mary Ronan Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history mystery written in 1949 but taking place in the Golden Age, 1920. Our hero, a former intelligence officer in the war, helps the deeply anti-clerical Scotsman detective figure out who killed the badly behaved, blackmailing priest. We are at the bishop's palace and the suspects are a canon of the cathedral, the diocese solicitor, and (Heaven forfend) the bishop. Great fun, mostly at the expense of the church. The author is the granddaughter of the Bishop of Manchester, and daughter and niece of the famous Knox Brothers.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, I had a hard time with the beginning of this book - it wasn't that the book was difficult but my attention kept drifting off. Once the murder happened, it went much more smoothly for me. The culprit was quite a surprise!

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became familiar with Winifred Peck through Persephone books and her 1942 novel House-Bound – which I thoroughly enjoyed. Since then, I can’t say I had thought any more about this writer – who wrote twenty-six books, more than twenty of them novels. I wonder now, where all those other titles went to – and why they dropped out of print? Her other mystery novel The Warrielaw Jewel is also re-issued by Dean Street Press – and I am keen to read it too, and I also have another of her novels Bewildering Cares on my kindle to look forward to.

In his introduction to this new Furrowed Middlebrow edition, crime fiction expert Martin Edwards acknowledges how her two mystery novels show real accomplishment, but she was overshadowed by her talented family – namely her brother Ronald Knox a leading light of the ‘Golden Age of Murder.’ Peck’s two mystery novels were published a decade apart and don’t share a detective or form part of a series, and so has been discounted as a mystery writer since. A writer who began publishing before the First World War, Winifred Peck came from a fascinating family; who included writers, a bishop, and the editor of Punch among them. Winifred (later Lady) Peck was also the aunt of author Penelope Fitzgerald.

Arrest the Bishop? – first published in 1949 is set in 1920 – the unlikely scene of a murder a bishop’s palace. Winifred Peck; the daughter of a bishop – no doubt had great fun playing around with this idea. Set around Christmas it is another book to add to the list of Christmas books we all like to compile in December – however the season is very much a backdrop – and there is nothing remotely Christmassy about this particular story.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty slow for a mystery, though the last fourth picked up very satisfactorily. The first couple chapters took a lot of orientation to the scene setting of the Bishop’s Palace and the characters. (And I’ve read a lot of British novels!) When the main sleuth Dick Marlin came on the scene, I got more interested because he’s a fascinating character. I love how he was in military intelligence in WWI and is also devoted to being a High Church priest in poor areas. He and Chief Constable Mack had quite a tense relationship—not a bad relationship exactly but a head-butting one. Mack is quite a fiery old Presbyterian Scot with a strong anti-clerical bent. And it does prejudice him in interesting ways with regard to the murder investigation.

I guessed the murderer once Dick found out certain information. I can see how there would still be some question about who actually did it but it seemed abundantly clear to me. It was still interesting to read how it all fell out because I was totally unsure until that point. I also really enjoyed the characters of Judith, Sue, Mrs Broome, and Soames. I think this would be better on a re-read since I wouldn’t need the scene setting. The writing was really good.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Ulder is a shamed cleric, a drunk and a blackmailer, who turns up at the Bishop's Palace on the eve of the ordination ceremony with the intention of extorting enough money to flee the country. He collapses and is put to bed in one of the rooms, but the next morning is found dead from morphine poisoning. Dick Marlin, a trainee priest, finds himself helping with the investigation and trying to prove the Bishop's innocence. Meanwhile the investigation is being led by Major Mack, who is determined to see the Bishop arrested.

This is a sweet Golden Age novel, set in 1920. Peck knew the ecclesiastical world well, and she skilfully creates the closed and rather unworldly setting of the Bishop's Palace. The tensions between the characters are cleverly drawn out, and Peck doesn't shy away from unpleasant and even scandalous topics. The main issue for me was that the plot moves very slowly and it was only towards the end that I really became engaged in the story.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I liked this one a little more than The Warrielaw Jewel, her other detective story. So I gave it 3 1/2-4 stars.

Not as much trouble getting going as the Jewel but it is written a number of years later. She is from a religious family - father was an archbishop, at least one brother a theologian and writer.

So she has the background to use the Anglican priesthood as a basis. Priests are gathered for an ordination at the bishop's Palace, I think about 4-5 of them. And one very unpleasant priest arrives, allegedly on his way to America. He seems to know secrets about a number of the priests and the bishop and his family. Object: blackmail. He takes ill almost as soon as he crosses the threshold (perhaps he was even ill on the journey there) and takes to bed. A doctor arrives to tend to a dying governess (who also knows a lot of secrets and even has one or two of her own) and they ask him to take a gander at the priest. He leaves instructions that the ill man should have no spirits.

On the morrow, the bishop's butler takes him his tea/coffee and the unpleasant priest is dead. Who did it? Several people were in and out of his room all night despite instructions to leave him be. Including the bishop, the bishop's wife, at least one of the bishop's daughters, and several priests.

One of the priests (actually I don't know that we know his ranking) had been in the intelligence service in the war and he kind of takes charge - calling the police, doctor, sealing the room, etc.

I don't have much knowledge of the Anglican church, although I did grow up across the street from a high Episcopalian church and my father was a Presbyterian minister. They don't have bishops. And my recollection of the once or twice I attended a service at St. Luke's is that they swung a lot of incense and ate breakfast AFTER church. Presbyterians eat before church. I know because all of that incense made me sick once when I was about 12 or so. And there aren't bishops - there is a presbytery that covers a large region - maybe like the region a bishop covers?

The police detective who shows up is Mack, a scottish copper who is down on the Anglicans and there is discussion of Anglican vs. Presbyterian.

Anyway once we got into the investigation this book picked up, although she did take a while winding it down. That has been my biggest complaint lately. The story is told, the case is solved, and still the author goes on and on and on. it happens with non-fiction, too. Authors don't know when to end their books, seemingly.

Rant over!

[Roddy Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lost classic this. Quite wonderful.
At a snowbound Anglican Bishop's Palace just before Christmas in 1920 the good Bishop and his second wife are preparing for an ordination. Out of the blue the odious and unctuous Rev. Ulder arrives with carefully worded blackmail ultimatums for the Bishop, his daughter and several other clerics.
Upon arrival however, the blackmailing priest suffers a suspected heart attack and is placed in a secluded room until an ambulance can get through the snow. By the next morning Ulder is dead.
Dick Marlin, who has taken to the cloth as a deacon following a career in Military Intelligence is enlisted to assist the anti-Anglican Chief Constable in investigating the death, now proven to be murder. It's not surprising to see that the scandalous acts for which the victims were being blackmailed seem very tame to a modern audience, although within today's Anglican Church eyebrows may be raised at the news that a Bishop's married daughter was expecting a child by another man.
It's a well balanced mixture of humour and drama packed with eccentric characters and featuring an ending that was for me quite unexpected, despite the fact that all the clues had been hidden in plain sight within the narrative.

[Briar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but not great either; a moderately enjoyable read. I guessed who did it pretty much as soon as it happened it was simply the solution that tied up all the loose ends in the happiest possible way and I turned out to be right, but that never ruins a mystery for me! Mack definitely goes on my 'worst policemen ever' list; what a twerp. The only character I really liked much was Juliet; Sue was all right too, but everyone else was very shadowy and seemed to have no character traits apart from cowardice, a trait shared by pretty much everybody. Fine for a quick and easy read.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

I'm with the majority here, this is an enjoyable ecclesiastical mystery, with all the requisite characters, including good intelligent hero, adorable love interest, and the well meaning, yet misguided policeman. Julia, the Bishop's daughter, is hilarious, and our murderer the perfect choice for the crime. 49 is a bit late for the 'golden age' but the story feels right for all of that. Almost worthy of five stars. I'm looking for more of Peck's stuff, she is an interesting and a good writer.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.

Very complex plot with plenty of suspects having a good motive to get rid of a nasty blackmailing parson (not many of them around) who wants to leave the country. He decides to try a mass blackmail blitz on pretty well everyone associated with the bishop's palace. I found it hard going and although well written not particularly engaging. Rather disappointing.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've liked every book in the Furrowed Middlebrow range that I've read so far. I'm amused by the idea that arresting a bishop is unthinkable. It's happened a few times lately, although not for murder.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Above-par example of the mid-century British whodunit.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is set in renovated palace, which is a church. It is the residence of the bishop and his family, along with their servants and would-be priests waiting to be ordained. A disgraced member of the church, turns up before the ordination, but is very drunk and has a heart attack on arrival. He is cared for by the bishop and family according to doctor's orders, but unfortunately dies before the next morning. The unexpected death means that the doctor has to call in the local police, and it is found that murder has been committed. The main policeman is very much against the church, and is anxious but find the murderer, but having known one of the young would-be priests, Dick, he enlists his help.
I think the main character for me in the book, has to be Judith, the bishop's elder daughter. It is her humour throughout the book, that is very entertaining, plus a vague stepmother, who make this book a bit different from a lot of books written at this time.
It seems Winifred Peck only wrote two mystery books, which I think is a shame as she did seem to have flare for it. I intend to read one of her non-mystery books to see what they are like, as I have enjoyed both the mysteries.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very enjoyable mystery IF you can get through the first chapter. I had to read it twice to really understand the house and who all the players were. But, the rest of the book was well worth it.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weak mystery but an interesting cast of characters

[Shatterlings · Rating 2 out of 5]

This doesn’t really work as a whodunnit, it’s very repetitive at the beginning and is only solved because the characters are so bigoted against the servants. The religious aspects became a bit tiresome.

[Susan Kavanagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Dean Street Press has introduced me to a writer—this time through its reprint series of Golden Age Mysteries. As a daughter and granddaughter of bishops, Winifred Peck had the perfect background for setting this mystery in a Bishop’s Palace and casting three high-ranking church officials as suspects. When she added an intelligent, good looking church deacon, a bumbling policeman and the requisite romance, Peck created a thoroughly enjoyable book. I look forward to reading more by Peck. Unfortunately, she only wrote one other mystery but she published quite a few novels.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most enjoyable!

[Theunis Snyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice book among a lot of pastors with a little bit of romance thrown in. The author comes from a family of pastors in the Anglican church, so she knows what she is talking about.

My only criticism is that some paragraphs and chapters are too long. For example, one of the chapters combine three separate incidents. Each incident warranted a chapter of its own.

And too long paragraphs discourage a reader especially in this age where the attentions span is so short. But then, the author comes from another age and another time when things were different.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2, but rounding up because I liked it slightly more than the other mediocre mystery I just read. But this was way too long and meandering. And very difficult to follow and makes sense of initially. Beyond that, I sussed out the culprit and some of the other "revealed secrets" pretty early on, and I kind of hated at least one of the characters and was pretty indifferent towards most of the other ones. That said, there was a germ of something good and interesting here - just wish it had been a little better.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed the two mysteries I've read by this author and I'm afraid that is all the mysteries she wrote. Good plot, well-drawn characters, interesting setting, amusing asides and a love story on the side.

[Gowri N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read and a solid mystery from the GAD period. You can find an excellent and more detailed review by armchairreviewer here: https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

This is one of the few books in which I spotted the murderer and their motive within the first 30% of the book although that didn't ruin the rest of the read for me. The amateur sleuth protagonist Richard Marlin is a wonderfully likeable character, especially for his delightfully honest asides and his stance on choosing to be a clergyman rather than work in military intelligence. My only gripe with the writing is the relentless dialogues. Everyone's talking all the bloody time. That leaves you feeling that you're sitting through a very loud and noisy movie.

[Lisa T. Ungerer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good yarn

Nice plot twists, IF you are not too creeped out by a church suppressing financial and sexual scandals (adults apparently). Blackmail and scandal form the motive for murder. I did guess the killer, though not the precise means.

[Jessica]

Recommended as a favorite on Slightly Foxed podcast, Episode 33: The Golden Age of Crime Writing

[Busirane · Rating 5 out of 5]

surprisingly good read

Peck can write. I’ve always assumed she was a distinctly second-tier mystery writer. You get a good bit of Trollope-esque humor about clerical life. The bishop’s misbehaving elder daughter is a comic masterpiece. Well worth the read.