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Mr Cadmus
Two apparently harmless women reside in cottages one building apart in the idyllic English village of Little Camborne. Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, cousins, have put their pasts behind them and settled into conventional country life. But when a mysterious foreigner, Theodore Cadmus – from a Mediterranean island nobody has heard of – moves into the middle cottage, the safe monotony of their lives is shattered.Soon, long-hidden secrets and long-held grudges threaten to surface, drawing all into a vortex of subterfuge, theft, violence, mayhem . . . and murder.
191 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2020
About the author
Peter Ackroyd
184 books1,494 followersPeter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.
Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The title, a playful echo of T. S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), was an early indication of Ackroyd's penchant for creatively exploring and reexamining the works of other London-based writers.
Ackroyd's literary career began with poetry, including such works as London Lickpenny (1973) and The Diversions of Purley (1987). He later moved into fiction and has become an acclaimed author, winning the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the biography Thomas More and being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987.
Ackroyd worked at The Spectator magazine between 1973 and 1977 and became joint managing editor in 1978. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. This novel deals with one of Ackroyd's great heroes, Charles Dickens, and is a reworking of Little Dorrit. The novel set the stage for the long sequence of novels Ackroyd has produced since, all of which deal in some way with the complex interaction of time and space, and what Ackroyd calls "the spirit of place". It is also the first in a sequence of novels of London, through which he traces the changing, but curiously consistent nature of the city. Often this theme is explored through the city's artists, and especially its writers.
Ackroyd has always shown a great interest in the city of London, and one of his best known works, London: The Biography, is an extensive and thorough discussion of London through the ages.
His fascination with London literary and artistic figures is also displayed in the sequence of biographies he has produced of Ezra Pound (1980), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), Chaucer (2004), William Shakespeare (2005), and J. M. W. Turner. The city itself stands astride all these works, as it does in the fiction.
From 2003 to 2005, Ackroyd wrote a six-book non-fiction series (Voyages Through Time), intended for readers as young as eight. This was his first work for children. The critically acclaimed series is an extensive narrative of key periods in world history.
Early in his career, Ackroyd was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and, as well as producing fiction, biography and other literary works, is also a regular radio and television broadcaster and book critic.
In the New Year's honours list of 2003, Ackroyd was awarded the CBE.
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.
Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The title, a playful echo of T. S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), was an early indication of Ackroyd's penchant for creatively exploring and reexamining the works of other London-based writers.
Ackroyd's literary career began with poetry, including such works as London Lickpenny (1973) and The Diversions of Purley (1987). He later moved into fiction and has become an acclaimed author, winning the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the biography Thomas More and being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987.
Ackroyd worked at The Spectator magazine between 1973 and 1977 and became joint managing editor in 1978. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. This novel deals with one of Ackroyd's great heroes, Charles Dickens, and is a reworking of Little Dorrit. The novel set the stage for the long sequence of novels Ackroyd has produced since, all of which deal in some way with the complex interaction of time and space, and what Ackroyd calls "the spirit of place". It is also the first in a sequence of novels of London, through which he traces the changing, but curiously consistent nature of the city. Often this theme is explored through the city's artists, and especially its writers.
Ackroyd has always shown a great interest in the city of London, and one of his best known works, London: The Biography, is an extensive and thorough discussion of London through the ages.
His fascination with London literary and artistic figures is also displayed in the sequence of biographies he has produced of Ezra Pound (1980), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), Chaucer (2004), William Shakespeare (2005), and J. M. W. Turner. The city itself stands astride all these works, as it does in the fiction.
From 2003 to 2005, Ackroyd wrote a six-book non-fiction series (Voyages Through Time), intended for readers as young as eight. This was his first work for children. The critically acclaimed series is an extensive narrative of key periods in world history.
Early in his career, Ackroyd was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and, as well as producing fiction, biography and other literary works, is also a regular radio and television broadcaster and book critic.
In the New Year's honours list of 2003, Ackroyd was awarded the CBE.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 203 reviews
September 5, 2020
Peter Ackroyd writes a short offbeat novella, full of black humour, a satirical and amusing comedy that ventures into weird and bonkers territory. It is a parody of the old classic crime traditional English village where on the surface little seems to happen. Cousins Maud Finch and Millicent Swift, women with a dark history, now live in Little Camborne, an empty house between them, a fact that makes them rather apprehensive as they wonder who might come to reside there. A foreign born gentleman, Theodore Cadmus, from the little known Mediterranean island, Caldera, moves into the vacant property, a man who may not be all that he appears to be. His arrival triggers intrigue, a series of strange events, and a rising body count. A later shift in location to Caldera is, I must warn, the point where everything really go off the rails. This is a highly entertaining, fun, dark and humorous atmospheric mystery, of secrets, revenge, greed, death, greed and jealousy, although a little uneven in its delivery. Many thanks to Canongate for an ARC.
April 5, 2021
2.5 stars
This is a bit of a confused concoction for such a short novel. It looks like an English village crime pastiche, but isn’t. It is set in the early 1980s in a small English village (Little Camborne). Two late middle aged spinsters and cousins (Millicent and Maud) live in either end of a set of three adjoined cottages. Into the middle one moves the slightly younger Mr Cadmus, he is suave and sophisticated and from the Mediterranean island of Caldera (a very small island). He also has a parrot. All three have memories and secrets from the war.
There are elements of the gothic, a bit of magic realism, village folklore, crime, revenge and some “romance”. The plot is rather confused and involves elements such as treasure hunts with X marks the spot), a swearing parrot, misdeeds in the war by soldiers from Little Camborne, an unwanted baby smothered and thrown into the Thames, a vicar who runs off with Church funds/treasures, amethysts appearing in odd places (and orifices) around a Mediterranean island, a volcanic eruption like Pompeii but with molten crystal (??), mysterious deaths of aged ex-servicemen, poisonings, nasty accidents with machinery, ghosts, odd purple birds and probably a good deal more.
The whole lot is rather odd with many loose ends, lots of pastiche, satire and an ending which doesn’t really end the book. Well, if you like that sort of thing ….
This is a bit of a confused concoction for such a short novel. It looks like an English village crime pastiche, but isn’t. It is set in the early 1980s in a small English village (Little Camborne). Two late middle aged spinsters and cousins (Millicent and Maud) live in either end of a set of three adjoined cottages. Into the middle one moves the slightly younger Mr Cadmus, he is suave and sophisticated and from the Mediterranean island of Caldera (a very small island). He also has a parrot. All three have memories and secrets from the war.
There are elements of the gothic, a bit of magic realism, village folklore, crime, revenge and some “romance”. The plot is rather confused and involves elements such as treasure hunts with X marks the spot), a swearing parrot, misdeeds in the war by soldiers from Little Camborne, an unwanted baby smothered and thrown into the Thames, a vicar who runs off with Church funds/treasures, amethysts appearing in odd places (and orifices) around a Mediterranean island, a volcanic eruption like Pompeii but with molten crystal (??), mysterious deaths of aged ex-servicemen, poisonings, nasty accidents with machinery, ghosts, odd purple birds and probably a good deal more.
The whole lot is rather odd with many loose ends, lots of pastiche, satire and an ending which doesn’t really end the book. Well, if you like that sort of thing ….
September 3, 2021
A book that doesn’t know what it’s trying to be. I really enjoyed the first half or so which is laugh out loud black humour and very entertaining though with a serious side. The storyline then becomes disjointed and we end up in some sort of magical mysticism. It seems to me that Ackroyd had a great idea for a book that could be turned into an entertaining English comedy film but halfway through ran out of ideas.
PS The typesetter and the proofreader of this edition should be hung, drawn and quartered. Maud Finch noted that her friend HAD DRANK freely and Mr Cadmus had been forced to avoid a fox that HAD RAN out of an adjacent field. Hang your heads in shame, Canongate!!
PS The typesetter and the proofreader of this edition should be hung, drawn and quartered. Maud Finch noted that her friend HAD DRANK freely and Mr Cadmus had been forced to avoid a fox that HAD RAN out of an adjacent field. Hang your heads in shame, Canongate!!
August 7, 2021
Well that was a strange story. Small English village, two weird old spinsters, mysterious stranger then really dark back stories for these three characters are revealed. I kept reading this all the way through but I’m not quite sure why, trying to figure it all out I guess. It’s quirky, and intriguing but the tone is weird, it’s cosy for a bit then takes a black turn and then goes back to strange. Interesting but unsatisfying, for me anyway.
December 30, 2020
Peter Ackroyd concocted a Christmas story à la anglaise: both creepy and funny, both disturbing and entertaining. Like most stories of the kind, a quaint English village is disturbed by the arrival of a Stranger. He is tall and dark, gesticulates a great deal, speaks a formal, mangled English, and is prone to exaggerations and garrulous expression of feelings. He is Mr Cadmus, compelling yet sinister, charming yet cruel.
The novel successfully balances horror and mystery, all wrapped up in a satire of Middle England. The atmosphere is just right and the main characters are often hilarious. Definitely recommended as an uncomfortably cosy Christmas reading.
The novel successfully balances horror and mystery, all wrapped up in a satire of Middle England. The atmosphere is just right and the main characters are often hilarious. Definitely recommended as an uncomfortably cosy Christmas reading.
September 16, 2020
I'm really not sure what to make of this... it's certainly got a wicked sense of humour and mashes up a twee English village complete with xenophobic and homophobic spinsters who regard large families with children as 'common' with something much darker and more wayward. For, almost immediately, we realise that there's far more to Maud Finch and Millicent Swallow (does it matter that they're both named after birds?) than might at first appear as the first of many dark deeds is uncovered in their shared past...
With murders galore, an enigmatic stranger from a Mediterranean island, disappearances, a mysterious death by amethysts, earthquakes and is that a human sacrifice towards the end?! I kept expecting Mr Cadmus (note his mythological name) to be revealed as a supernatural being but nope. I'm not quite sure what this is about - it's a fun but odd, eccentric read: 2.5 stars rounded down.
With murders galore, an enigmatic stranger from a Mediterranean island, disappearances, a mysterious death by amethysts, earthquakes and is that a human sacrifice towards the end?! I kept expecting Mr Cadmus (note his mythological name) to be revealed as a supernatural being but nope. I'm not quite sure what this is about - it's a fun but odd, eccentric read: 2.5 stars rounded down.
January 4, 2022
2.5 stars. The best parts of the book are in the first half of the book; the writing, dialogue, setting description, characters, as well as some of the incidents narrated in the first 70 pages reminded me of Agatha Christie but with a Dickensian flavour; sadly, the witty dialogue and vivid descriptions decrease in quality as the story advances; and, in the second half of the book, the writing style and the narrative decline steadily, by the time we reach page 120, the story loses charm.
This book could have been captivating , after all, I cannot resist a book whose main setting is a picturesque English village; however, the story felt overly fabricated. The mystic element, the Caldera scheme and the treasure hunting gave me headaches; the volcano explosion and all the mayhem that followed almost sent me to bed. The Caldera chapters, were, in my opinion, superfluous to the story; they lacked cohesion and cheapened the narrative. Since the latest chapters radically changed the direction of the book, I lost all interest in them, yet, I still managed to finish this short novel.
Peter Ackroyd could have delivered a better and more believable story if he had a narrower focus. Mr Cadmus is a good example of a storyline with a solid and clever opening, but which due to excesses results in mediocre and contrived storytelling. Ackroyd tried to do too much; yet the great potential of this book is undeniably there.
I do not regret reading Mr Cadmus, despite the aforementioned issues, the book is moderately enjoyable; however, I do not intend to read this book again.
This book could have been captivating , after all, I cannot resist a book whose main setting is a picturesque English village; however, the story felt overly fabricated. The mystic element, the Caldera scheme and the treasure hunting gave me headaches; the volcano explosion and all the mayhem that followed almost sent me to bed. The Caldera chapters, were, in my opinion, superfluous to the story; they lacked cohesion and cheapened the narrative. Since the latest chapters radically changed the direction of the book, I lost all interest in them, yet, I still managed to finish this short novel.
Peter Ackroyd could have delivered a better and more believable story if he had a narrower focus. Mr Cadmus is a good example of a storyline with a solid and clever opening, but which due to excesses results in mediocre and contrived storytelling. Ackroyd tried to do too much; yet the great potential of this book is undeniably there.
I do not regret reading Mr Cadmus, despite the aforementioned issues, the book is moderately enjoyable; however, I do not intend to read this book again.
March 18, 2021
Peter Ackroyd is a bestselling author of both fiction and non fiction books and “Mr Cadmus” is a short novel that is unique and certainly an unusual read.
Meet Mr. Cadmus. He’s foreign, charming, mysterious and enigmatic and owns a foul mouthed pet parrot. Wherever he goes, the shadow of death follows. When he moves into a cottage in the idyllic English village of Little Camborne, beside neighbours and cousins, Maud Finch and Millicent Swallow, the safe monotony of their lives is shattered. As long hidden secrets and long held grudges threaten exposure, the residents are drawn into subterfuge, theft and even murder.
When I first started Mr. Cadmus I thought I was going to be reading a cosy English mystery of the likes of ‘Midsomer Murders’ however, not very far into the story I realised that it was getting very dark and at times quite graphic and began to suspect this wasn’t going to be quite the gentle read I had anticipated. Satirical, darkly humorous and sinister, the author has taken a unique but classic crime thriller and made it completely twisted.
In all honestly, I’m not sure I followed a lot of the story towards the end but I did enjoy most of it and if strange, bizarre and oddly amusing tales are your ‘thing’, then there’s no doubt that the mysterious Mr Cadmus is for you.
Meet Mr. Cadmus. He’s foreign, charming, mysterious and enigmatic and owns a foul mouthed pet parrot. Wherever he goes, the shadow of death follows. When he moves into a cottage in the idyllic English village of Little Camborne, beside neighbours and cousins, Maud Finch and Millicent Swallow, the safe monotony of their lives is shattered. As long hidden secrets and long held grudges threaten exposure, the residents are drawn into subterfuge, theft and even murder.
When I first started Mr. Cadmus I thought I was going to be reading a cosy English mystery of the likes of ‘Midsomer Murders’ however, not very far into the story I realised that it was getting very dark and at times quite graphic and began to suspect this wasn’t going to be quite the gentle read I had anticipated. Satirical, darkly humorous and sinister, the author has taken a unique but classic crime thriller and made it completely twisted.
In all honestly, I’m not sure I followed a lot of the story towards the end but I did enjoy most of it and if strange, bizarre and oddly amusing tales are your ‘thing’, then there’s no doubt that the mysterious Mr Cadmus is for you.
August 17, 2022
Ackroyd's short book is a tale of treasure and murder. And the murders come at you pretty quickly.
It seems that Ackroyd is gently mocking those mysteries like Midsumer or the adaptions of Christie. There is a tongue in check feeling to the story, and it is a great romp.
It seems that Ackroyd is gently mocking those mysteries like Midsumer or the adaptions of Christie. There is a tongue in check feeling to the story, and it is a great romp.
October 7, 2020
Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, two cousins live in the village of Camborne in the West Country. They lived in a terrace of three houses and had the end ones with a neighbour in between. The middle house was currently vacant, the previous occupant a retired schoolmaster, Mr Herrick, had died suddenly of a heart attack three months ago. Various people had visited with the aim of moving in, but they disapproved of them, until the arrival of a gentleman in his mid-forties.
Two weeks later a removals van pulled up followed soon after by a small yellow car. A man wearing green trousers and a scarlet sweater jumped out and let the removals men in. He notices the two women watching him, and blows a kiss and holds his heart in admiration. He appeared at their door later with the gift of chocolates.
Mr Cadmus had arrived.
Cadmus swiftly moves from being an outsider to fully embedded in village life. The comfortable life and daily routine and they had enjoyed in Camborne disappeared as Mr Cadmus wreaked havoc on the day to day life of the village. There is an armed robbery, unheard of in this village and in Barnstaple one day there is an earthquake. Not everything is as it seems with Mr Cadmus though and the two ladies have their suspicions about him. Then the deaths began…
I have read several of Ackroyd’s non-fiction books, but up until now none of his fiction, so I was delighted to receive this. I thought it was quite captivating at first, the plot line was intriguing and he manages to frame the village as being a nice place to live on the surface, but if you scratch the surface there are lots of things going on. I felt that the characters of the two cousins were not fully formed, they both had a back story of mutual secrets that they had no desire to see revealed, but the arrival of Mr Cadmus adds another level of tension to their relationship. I liked this, it is full of surreal moments and dark humour. However, even though the first half of this was really good, but it lost me a little in the second part.
Two weeks later a removals van pulled up followed soon after by a small yellow car. A man wearing green trousers and a scarlet sweater jumped out and let the removals men in. He notices the two women watching him, and blows a kiss and holds his heart in admiration. He appeared at their door later with the gift of chocolates.
Mr Cadmus had arrived.
Cadmus swiftly moves from being an outsider to fully embedded in village life. The comfortable life and daily routine and they had enjoyed in Camborne disappeared as Mr Cadmus wreaked havoc on the day to day life of the village. There is an armed robbery, unheard of in this village and in Barnstaple one day there is an earthquake. Not everything is as it seems with Mr Cadmus though and the two ladies have their suspicions about him. Then the deaths began…
I have read several of Ackroyd’s non-fiction books, but up until now none of his fiction, so I was delighted to receive this. I thought it was quite captivating at first, the plot line was intriguing and he manages to frame the village as being a nice place to live on the surface, but if you scratch the surface there are lots of things going on. I felt that the characters of the two cousins were not fully formed, they both had a back story of mutual secrets that they had no desire to see revealed, but the arrival of Mr Cadmus adds another level of tension to their relationship. I liked this, it is full of surreal moments and dark humour. However, even though the first half of this was really good, but it lost me a little in the second part.
May 17, 2020
I would like to thank Netgalley and Canongate Books for an advance copy of Mr Cadmus, a stand alone set in the Devon village of Little Camborne in the early 80s.
Millicent Swallow and Maud Finch have retired to the village of Little Camborne where they live two doors away from each other. The arrival of the mysterious Mr Cadmus, a foreigner from the Mediterranean island of Caldera, to live in the house between them upsets the balance between them and reveals long hidden secrets.
Mr Cadmus is in my opinion a novel that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. At first it is an arch parody of life in a middle class village where nothing is quite as it seems. This is funny and well done as all three characters are revealed to be rather more than their appearance and the reader is never quite sure who is responsible for what. I really enjoyed this part of the novel, especially as it is short enough not to get wearing.
At the end of the novel the action moves to the island of Caldera. I read this twice and I’m not even going to pretend that I understood it or could really connect it to the rest of the novel. It seems to hint at the supernatural but what do I know?
This is a strange novel and obviously too smart for me as I was clueless by the end. All I can say is that I liked the beginning and the middle.
Millicent Swallow and Maud Finch have retired to the village of Little Camborne where they live two doors away from each other. The arrival of the mysterious Mr Cadmus, a foreigner from the Mediterranean island of Caldera, to live in the house between them upsets the balance between them and reveals long hidden secrets.
Mr Cadmus is in my opinion a novel that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. At first it is an arch parody of life in a middle class village where nothing is quite as it seems. This is funny and well done as all three characters are revealed to be rather more than their appearance and the reader is never quite sure who is responsible for what. I really enjoyed this part of the novel, especially as it is short enough not to get wearing.
At the end of the novel the action moves to the island of Caldera. I read this twice and I’m not even going to pretend that I understood it or could really connect it to the rest of the novel. It seems to hint at the supernatural but what do I know?
This is a strange novel and obviously too smart for me as I was clueless by the end. All I can say is that I liked the beginning and the middle.
December 4, 2020
3.5⭐
Some parts of this odd little story were a deliciously wicked 4⭐ read whilst other parts were more of a 3 so I shall settle on 3.5⭐ overall.
Some parts of this odd little story were a deliciously wicked 4⭐ read whilst other parts were more of a 3 so I shall settle on 3.5⭐ overall.
February 8, 2021
"Can I be indelicate? Well, believe it or not, she's dead."
This little book is stranger than it seems. I came to it thinking: Poirot vs two Miss Marples. I was mistaken. There are many murders (or are they death by natural causes), a wedding, an ancient curse and revenge. Everything a reader could want in not too many words.
So why does it have an average rating of 2.67??? Most books on GR average out to a rating of 3-4. Not many GR readers have happened upon this little gem, so everyone please read and enjoy.
If you don't like oddities or open endings, you won't like this. Go find something else to read that won't be affected by your low rating.
You're welcome.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 203 reviews