What do you think?
Rate this book
The Trail of the Serpent
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837–1915), Victorian England’s bestselling woman writer, blends Dickensian humor with chilling suspense in this “exuberantly campy” (Kirkus Reviews) mystery. The novel features Jabez North, a manipulative orphan who becomes a ruthless killer; Valerie de Cevennes, a stunning heiress who falls into North’s diabolical trap; and Mr. Peters, a mute detective who communicates his brilliant reasoning through sign language.
This edition includes a critical Afterword and endnotes by Victorian scholar Dr. Chris Willis.
This edition includes a critical Afterword and endnotes by Victorian scholar Dr. Chris Willis.
Audiobook
First published January 1, 1860
50 people are currently reading
1989 people want to read
About the author
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
1,046 books384 followersMary Elizabeth Braddon was a British Victorian era popular novelist. She was an extremely prolific writer, producing some 75 novels with very inventive plots. The most famous one is her first novel, Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and fortune as well. The novel has been in print ever since, and has been dramatised and filmed several times.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
March 20, 2018
Think of the worst of the villains, like Simon Legree or Bill Sikes, and multiply their evil, add in cunning and calculation, and you will have a pretty good portrait of Jabez North. Even his name sort of makes you want to shrink backward, does it not? Written in 1860, The Trail of the Serpent is credited with being the first British detective fiction ever published. She predates Wilkie Collins’ Moonstone by eight years. She is known to have influenced both Collins and Conan Doyle, and this alone makes Elizabeth Braddon worth reading, but she was one of the most popular writers of her time for a reason, this book is just pure fun.
She is not only clever and able to weave intricate plots, but she has a marvelous sense of humor, very sly and subtle. In describing a lunatic at the asylum, she writes ”this gentleman also sighed for an introduction to poor Dick, for Maria Martin had come to him in a vision all the way from the Red Barn, to tell him that the prisoner was his first cousin, through the marriage of his uncle with the third daughter of Henry the Eighth’s seventh wife, and he considered it only natural and proper that such near relations should become intimately acquainted with each other. Such bits of humor are sprinkled throughout the novel and often turn a serious event into a bit of a chuckle.
There is everything present in this novel to make a good detective novel work. There is an innocent man framed for a crime; a heartless villain who will stop at nothing and has no regard for anyone other than himself, including his own flesh-and-blood; an undervalued detective, whose handicap of being dumb is turned to his advantage; and a set of believable coincidences that make all the characters come together within a world that spans the continent. This is not a who-dunnit. We know who our villain is from the first chapter. The fun here is in seeing how he manages both his crimes and his victims and how our detective pulls together the evidence to bring him to justice.
My only complaint (and it is a very small one) would be that Braddon felt it necessary to tie up all the characters in a final chapter that seemed very anticlimactic to me. If she had left this out, I would have felt a greater sense of satisfaction. Others might disagree, however, and want to know what happens to everyone after the end has come.
I picked this book to fill a slot on my Quest for Women Authors challenge. I needed an entry for
1860 and this filled the bill. I had read Lady Audley’s Secret, so I knew Braddon was an author I might enjoy, to my surprise, I liked this much more than Lady Audley, which is her most famous work. I suspect she will become much more widely read now that Modern Library has undertaken to republish some of her novels. If you like Victorian literature or detective fiction, this novel is one you won’t want to miss.
She is not only clever and able to weave intricate plots, but she has a marvelous sense of humor, very sly and subtle. In describing a lunatic at the asylum, she writes ”this gentleman also sighed for an introduction to poor Dick, for Maria Martin had come to him in a vision all the way from the Red Barn, to tell him that the prisoner was his first cousin, through the marriage of his uncle with the third daughter of Henry the Eighth’s seventh wife, and he considered it only natural and proper that such near relations should become intimately acquainted with each other. Such bits of humor are sprinkled throughout the novel and often turn a serious event into a bit of a chuckle.
There is everything present in this novel to make a good detective novel work. There is an innocent man framed for a crime; a heartless villain who will stop at nothing and has no regard for anyone other than himself, including his own flesh-and-blood; an undervalued detective, whose handicap of being dumb is turned to his advantage; and a set of believable coincidences that make all the characters come together within a world that spans the continent. This is not a who-dunnit. We know who our villain is from the first chapter. The fun here is in seeing how he manages both his crimes and his victims and how our detective pulls together the evidence to bring him to justice.
My only complaint (and it is a very small one) would be that Braddon felt it necessary to tie up all the characters in a final chapter that seemed very anticlimactic to me. If she had left this out, I would have felt a greater sense of satisfaction. Others might disagree, however, and want to know what happens to everyone after the end has come.
I picked this book to fill a slot on my Quest for Women Authors challenge. I needed an entry for
1860 and this filled the bill. I had read Lady Audley’s Secret, so I knew Braddon was an author I might enjoy, to my surprise, I liked this much more than Lady Audley, which is her most famous work. I suspect she will become much more widely read now that Modern Library has undertaken to republish some of her novels. If you like Victorian literature or detective fiction, this novel is one you won’t want to miss.
February 7, 2025
Who is the star of The Trail of the Serpent?
Perhaps it's Richard Marwood, aka Daredevil Dick, who seeks to reconcile with his family and turn his life of misadventures around. His aunt and uncle offer him a chance at redemption with the promise of a decent job and some seed money. But calamity follows fortune, and Richard is soon suspected of murdering the very uncle who appeared his salvation. Richard will struggle to evade the gallows, clear his name, and gain justice for his family! A classic setup in the vein of The Count of Monte Cristo... yet Richard Marwood is not this novel's principle character.
Perhaps our main man is Detective Joseph Peters, who believes in Richard's innocence and is determined to save him. Peters is credited as the original classic British detective, twenty-five years before the first published Sherlock Holmes story. And Peters proves quite a distinctive sleuth. He's a mute who communicates by tracing letters in the air, and he's the primary reason people still read The Trail of the Serpent today. Yet you might be disappointed by how little page time our good detective earns, even as he puts all the clues together.
For the big star is Jabez North, a mustache-twirling villain and our titular serpent! He gets the most page-time, has the most memorable lines, and devises some truly wicked schemes He even matches Peters in detective work as he puzzles out a wealthy heiress's secret and blackmails her to obtain his ill-gotten fortune! (It's difficult to discuss Jabez without exclamation points!)
Despite all this drama, The Trail of the Serpent is as much a comedy as it is a mystery. In the very first chapter, written in 2nd person, we're introduced to the fictional English town of “Slopperton,” and Mary Elizabeth Braddon rarely misses a chance to satirize 19th century Britain. All the murder and scheming finds counterbalance in silly characters (including a well-meaning old boxer who goes by “The Left-handed Smasher”), class humor, and over-the-top coincidences.
What I'm trying to say is, this novel is weird. Braddon, just finding her feet as an author, was clearly having fun experimenting with form, tone, style, and plot. The Trail of the Serpent is as peculiar and winding as its namesake.
Edited 2-6-2025
Perhaps it's Richard Marwood, aka Daredevil Dick, who seeks to reconcile with his family and turn his life of misadventures around. His aunt and uncle offer him a chance at redemption with the promise of a decent job and some seed money. But calamity follows fortune, and Richard is soon suspected of murdering the very uncle who appeared his salvation. Richard will struggle to evade the gallows, clear his name, and gain justice for his family! A classic setup in the vein of The Count of Monte Cristo... yet Richard Marwood is not this novel's principle character.
Perhaps our main man is Detective Joseph Peters, who believes in Richard's innocence and is determined to save him. Peters is credited as the original classic British detective, twenty-five years before the first published Sherlock Holmes story. And Peters proves quite a distinctive sleuth. He's a mute who communicates by tracing letters in the air, and he's the primary reason people still read The Trail of the Serpent today. Yet you might be disappointed by how little page time our good detective earns, even as he puts all the clues together.
For the big star is Jabez North, a mustache-twirling villain and our titular serpent! He gets the most page-time, has the most memorable lines, and devises some truly wicked schemes He even matches Peters in detective work as he puzzles out a wealthy heiress's secret and blackmails her to obtain his ill-gotten fortune! (It's difficult to discuss Jabez without exclamation points!)
Despite all this drama, The Trail of the Serpent is as much a comedy as it is a mystery. In the very first chapter, written in 2nd person, we're introduced to the fictional English town of “Slopperton,” and Mary Elizabeth Braddon rarely misses a chance to satirize 19th century Britain. All the murder and scheming finds counterbalance in silly characters (including a well-meaning old boxer who goes by “The Left-handed Smasher”), class humor, and over-the-top coincidences.
What I'm trying to say is, this novel is weird. Braddon, just finding her feet as an author, was clearly having fun experimenting with form, tone, style, and plot. The Trail of the Serpent is as peculiar and winding as its namesake.
Edited 2-6-2025
May 17, 2015
It’s the Humour That Does It
That does what?
That lets her get away with it. Imagine a novelist whose characters are basically one-dimensional, larger-than-life Punch-and-Judy stock and have their actions thrust upon them not so much by inner motives than by the requirements of a penny dreadful plot – in German, we would call it a Räuberpistole. Imagine a novelist who heaps crime upon crime, not caring a fig about his credibility but pandering to the reader’s lust for sensation, gore and a happy-ending and listening all the while to the cash register jingling. In the worst of cases, you would have a hack like Eugène Sue and his Les Mystères de Paris, and in the second-worst of cases this might give you Wilkie Collins as in Armadale or The Woman in White, although one might say that his characters are usually better fleshed out. In short, this kind of writing produces the dime-and-dozen earthenware of the sensational novel, which can be entertaining but which proves a burden on the reader’s patience if the style is as wordy, contrived and melodramatic as is the case with Sue and Collins.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s first novel The Trail of the Serpent (1860) could just have been one of those novels, were it not for her rather wry sense of humour, which gives her style a faintly Dickens-like tinge – there are, however, worlds between the Inimitable’s masterful style and M.E. Braddon’s prose, let there be no misunderstanding – and which seems to whisper to us not to take the events in the story too seriously, thus offering some necessary distance where Sue, and often Collins, put on grim and serious faces over their ridiculous plots and their bad self-important writing. Even the opening chapter, with its description of the rain-haunted fictitious town Slopperton-on-the-Sloshy, is somewhat redolent of the marvelous beginning of Dickens’s masterpiece Bleak House. Braddon also loves to interrupt her plot for what is known as the author tract, and this can sometimes be very tiring and annoying – especially towards the end of the plot – but at other times, she uses her meditations to voice severe social criticism.
The story itself is about a young wild rover named Daredevil Dick, who is wrongly accused of the murder of his rich uncle and whose only friend is a mute detective trying to prove the young man’s innocence. All the time the reader knows that the real scoundrel is the scheming school usher Jabez North, a villain who commits murder as callously as other people would empty a bag of crisps. The plot abounds in secret family relations, crime, sensational escapes from madhouses, jealousy, blackmail and whatever else you can come up with. As a rule, Braddon is not unnecessarily wordy but she avoids sentimentality and has a sense for pacing, which more and more leaves her towards the end of the novel when you feel tempted to skim over several paragraphs in which people just drink, smoke, and read the newspaper.
Braddon’s major flaw is her over-faithful reliance on coincidences and chance encounters to tie up loose ends of her plot. If this is what puts you off great writers like Dickens or Victor Hugo, you would be well-advised to steer clear of The Trail of the Serpent because here the whole plot would not work without those unlikely coincidences, and if there were even the shadow of a hint of a trace of the author’s taking her story seriously, I could not have read it without feeling like a sucker. As matters stand, though, the overall tone of the novel is quite ironic, and so I could enjoy the whole Räuberpistole and I will definitely pick up another Braddon novel whenever I have a chance.
That does what?
That lets her get away with it. Imagine a novelist whose characters are basically one-dimensional, larger-than-life Punch-and-Judy stock and have their actions thrust upon them not so much by inner motives than by the requirements of a penny dreadful plot – in German, we would call it a Räuberpistole. Imagine a novelist who heaps crime upon crime, not caring a fig about his credibility but pandering to the reader’s lust for sensation, gore and a happy-ending and listening all the while to the cash register jingling. In the worst of cases, you would have a hack like Eugène Sue and his Les Mystères de Paris, and in the second-worst of cases this might give you Wilkie Collins as in Armadale or The Woman in White, although one might say that his characters are usually better fleshed out. In short, this kind of writing produces the dime-and-dozen earthenware of the sensational novel, which can be entertaining but which proves a burden on the reader’s patience if the style is as wordy, contrived and melodramatic as is the case with Sue and Collins.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s first novel The Trail of the Serpent (1860) could just have been one of those novels, were it not for her rather wry sense of humour, which gives her style a faintly Dickens-like tinge – there are, however, worlds between the Inimitable’s masterful style and M.E. Braddon’s prose, let there be no misunderstanding – and which seems to whisper to us not to take the events in the story too seriously, thus offering some necessary distance where Sue, and often Collins, put on grim and serious faces over their ridiculous plots and their bad self-important writing. Even the opening chapter, with its description of the rain-haunted fictitious town Slopperton-on-the-Sloshy, is somewhat redolent of the marvelous beginning of Dickens’s masterpiece Bleak House. Braddon also loves to interrupt her plot for what is known as the author tract, and this can sometimes be very tiring and annoying – especially towards the end of the plot – but at other times, she uses her meditations to voice severe social criticism.
The story itself is about a young wild rover named Daredevil Dick, who is wrongly accused of the murder of his rich uncle and whose only friend is a mute detective trying to prove the young man’s innocence. All the time the reader knows that the real scoundrel is the scheming school usher Jabez North, a villain who commits murder as callously as other people would empty a bag of crisps. The plot abounds in secret family relations, crime, sensational escapes from madhouses, jealousy, blackmail and whatever else you can come up with. As a rule, Braddon is not unnecessarily wordy but she avoids sentimentality and has a sense for pacing, which more and more leaves her towards the end of the novel when you feel tempted to skim over several paragraphs in which people just drink, smoke, and read the newspaper.
Braddon’s major flaw is her over-faithful reliance on coincidences and chance encounters to tie up loose ends of her plot. If this is what puts you off great writers like Dickens or Victor Hugo, you would be well-advised to steer clear of The Trail of the Serpent because here the whole plot would not work without those unlikely coincidences, and if there were even the shadow of a hint of a trace of the author’s taking her story seriously, I could not have read it without feeling like a sucker. As matters stand, though, the overall tone of the novel is quite ironic, and so I could enjoy the whole Räuberpistole and I will definitely pick up another Braddon novel whenever I have a chance.
December 19, 2024
The Trail of the Serpent is the debut novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, first published in 1860 as Three Times Dead; or, The Secret of the Heath. She certainly seemed to have a tough time coming up with a name for the book that she liked. I'm not sure how The Trail of the Serpent ended up being the winner. I learned something about myself reading this book and that is, "I don't care." People have told me they don't like the book because it is too unbelievable. I don't care, I love the book, it isn't a true story, anyone would know that in a few pages, and we aren't supposed to believe that it is a true story, so it isn't believable and I don't care, I still love it. Then there are all the coincidences, and there are many, and they couldn't have happened in real life and they didn't happen in real life, so I don't care I still loved the book. So many dumb things happen, for example the nephew Richard, who spent all his mother's money on things you aren't supposed to spend all your money on, wine, women, gambling, all that stuff, one day when he was through doing all the fun things in town just left never to be seen again. At least not for seven years, everyone thought he was dead, everyone except his poor mother, she kept hoping and praying he would come back some day, and guess what, he did. But what a day to pick to come back. He arrives there and finds not only his poor abandoned mother, but her wealthy brother finally returned from I forget where, ready to settle down nearby, bringing lots of money with him. And because he is there he offers to set Richard up in a fine position in London, and gives him a pocketbook full of money to get started with. However, he wants Richard to leave very early the next morning before anyone is awake and not stay to say goodbye to his mother and her servants, to make something of himself and then return a better person, something like that. But, oh Richard, why did you happen to pick the night your wealthy uncle is murdered? Oh Richard, you never listened to your mother or uncle before, why did you pick that night to obey your uncle and leave before anyone was awake? Couldn't you at least have forgotten the pocketbook filled with money at home? Didn't you know that when the maid went in the room the next morning and found your uncle dead and all his money and you gone that the police would think you were the murderer? No, I guess he didn't know all that, we did but he didn't. It was all a bit of a coincidence though, luckily the author didn't expect me to believe it all, she wasn't writing a biography, she was writing something fun to read and that's all that mattered to me.
It was also incredibly lucky for Richard that one of the detectives who arrested him didn't think he was guilty. It was lucky Richard, and at least half the people in the book knew sign language because our nice detective can't speak and if Richard hadn't known sign language he wouldn't have known what Peters (the detective) was telling him during the trial. But he did know it - of course - and he did what Peters wanted him to do, he acted crazy and ended up in a lunatic asylum instead of being hung the next day, or however they executed criminals. I guess it was better, it didn't seem much like it. While in it he was Napoleon, he said he was anyway, all the other famous people were taken, one guy was Lord Castlereagh (whoever that is), then there was the Prince Regent, George the Fourth, Queen Victoria, Lady Jane Grey, and Lord Brougham. I was wondering why there weren't any people there who weren't famous. Why is it, when you have lost your mind you don't think you are a common, good old baker, or a chimney sweep, I don't know, perhaps a bar tender or even an author. No, Cicero was there and William the Conqueror, but no grocer in the place.
Since I don't believe Richard killed anyone, you shouldn't either, there is still someone out there murdering people. We know who it is almost from the beginning, the murderer is the mild, meek, kind, wonderful Jabez North. No one is ever going to believe Jabez is the killer though, especially since the real bad guy is already locked up. And it seems Jabez is perfect. He was found in the muddy waters of the Sloshy, a lovely name for a river, when he was just a baby. The board of the workhouse that Jabez grew up in picked his name, Jabez just because, and North because he was found on the north bank of the Sloshy. It could have been worse, he could be Jabez Sloshy. But even though he grew up in the workhouse, even though many raised in the same way turn out soured and embittered, not Jabez. He was meek, he was mild, cruel words were powerless to wound him. He would smile at an insult from another boy, he was a good young man; a benevolent young man; giving in secret, and generally getting his reward openly. Every citizen in the town praised him, and loved him, and expected wonderful things of him. They didn't expect him to kill anyone. I did but they didn't. But now he has been found dead with a bottle of some sort of poison next to him and a suicide note, saying he can't live without the love of the professor's daughter, something like that. I didn't even know the professor had a daughter. So if Jabez is dead than who is it running around killing people?
I thought it was a small, little coincidence that the one person who saw Jabez laying dead on the heath is the one person who sees him alive again many chapters later. The one person who can identify the guy is the one person who happens to be standing on the city street when he comes out of a building, thousand, millions of people are in the city, but the right guy happens to be there. If it's him that is. I don't care, I'm having fun. I feel like I've been talking and talking about this book and I didn't even get to the Valerie part of it. Valerie who can be talked into committing a murder on very little evidence. I once saw a man who looked almost exactly like my husband from the back walking into a house I didn't know with a lady I didn't know. I never bothered to mention it to him because I knew it couldn't have been him, if I had been Valerie I would have poisoned him. Another thing about Valerie and Raymond, while at the theater, Raymond notices Valerie pays no attention to any of the gentlemen that try to talk to her but remains giving her entire attention to what is happening on stage, which seems like a logical thing to do considering where you are, but Raymond can see that she only has eyes for the new tenor singer. She even throws flowers on the stage when he is done singing, and Raymond can see there is a note attached to the flowers. My husband is once again going to find himself in this review for he is also a tenor singer, not an opera singer, but he sings at weddings and churches and such places. He is singing at a wedding in June and I am now a little tempted to throw a bouquet of flowers at him when he is singing. Luckily I can't act on that temptation because I will be the one playing the piano at the wedding. Anyway, the Valerie/Gaston/Raymond Marolles story you are going to have to read for yourself. Raymond does look awfully familiar though. There is just so much in this book that couldn't have really happened. I don't care, it was fun. I could read it again just thinking of it now. You should read it just to see if we ever get poor Richard away from all the kings and queens he is now surrounded by. I had fun. Happy reading.
It was also incredibly lucky for Richard that one of the detectives who arrested him didn't think he was guilty. It was lucky Richard, and at least half the people in the book knew sign language because our nice detective can't speak and if Richard hadn't known sign language he wouldn't have known what Peters (the detective) was telling him during the trial. But he did know it - of course - and he did what Peters wanted him to do, he acted crazy and ended up in a lunatic asylum instead of being hung the next day, or however they executed criminals. I guess it was better, it didn't seem much like it. While in it he was Napoleon, he said he was anyway, all the other famous people were taken, one guy was Lord Castlereagh (whoever that is), then there was the Prince Regent, George the Fourth, Queen Victoria, Lady Jane Grey, and Lord Brougham. I was wondering why there weren't any people there who weren't famous. Why is it, when you have lost your mind you don't think you are a common, good old baker, or a chimney sweep, I don't know, perhaps a bar tender or even an author. No, Cicero was there and William the Conqueror, but no grocer in the place.
Since I don't believe Richard killed anyone, you shouldn't either, there is still someone out there murdering people. We know who it is almost from the beginning, the murderer is the mild, meek, kind, wonderful Jabez North. No one is ever going to believe Jabez is the killer though, especially since the real bad guy is already locked up. And it seems Jabez is perfect. He was found in the muddy waters of the Sloshy, a lovely name for a river, when he was just a baby. The board of the workhouse that Jabez grew up in picked his name, Jabez just because, and North because he was found on the north bank of the Sloshy. It could have been worse, he could be Jabez Sloshy. But even though he grew up in the workhouse, even though many raised in the same way turn out soured and embittered, not Jabez. He was meek, he was mild, cruel words were powerless to wound him. He would smile at an insult from another boy, he was a good young man; a benevolent young man; giving in secret, and generally getting his reward openly. Every citizen in the town praised him, and loved him, and expected wonderful things of him. They didn't expect him to kill anyone. I did but they didn't. But now he has been found dead with a bottle of some sort of poison next to him and a suicide note, saying he can't live without the love of the professor's daughter, something like that. I didn't even know the professor had a daughter. So if Jabez is dead than who is it running around killing people?
I thought it was a small, little coincidence that the one person who saw Jabez laying dead on the heath is the one person who sees him alive again many chapters later. The one person who can identify the guy is the one person who happens to be standing on the city street when he comes out of a building, thousand, millions of people are in the city, but the right guy happens to be there. If it's him that is. I don't care, I'm having fun. I feel like I've been talking and talking about this book and I didn't even get to the Valerie part of it. Valerie who can be talked into committing a murder on very little evidence. I once saw a man who looked almost exactly like my husband from the back walking into a house I didn't know with a lady I didn't know. I never bothered to mention it to him because I knew it couldn't have been him, if I had been Valerie I would have poisoned him. Another thing about Valerie and Raymond, while at the theater, Raymond notices Valerie pays no attention to any of the gentlemen that try to talk to her but remains giving her entire attention to what is happening on stage, which seems like a logical thing to do considering where you are, but Raymond can see that she only has eyes for the new tenor singer. She even throws flowers on the stage when he is done singing, and Raymond can see there is a note attached to the flowers. My husband is once again going to find himself in this review for he is also a tenor singer, not an opera singer, but he sings at weddings and churches and such places. He is singing at a wedding in June and I am now a little tempted to throw a bouquet of flowers at him when he is singing. Luckily I can't act on that temptation because I will be the one playing the piano at the wedding. Anyway, the Valerie/Gaston/Raymond Marolles story you are going to have to read for yourself. Raymond does look awfully familiar though. There is just so much in this book that couldn't have really happened. I don't care, it was fun. I could read it again just thinking of it now. You should read it just to see if we ever get poor Richard away from all the kings and queens he is now surrounded by. I had fun. Happy reading.
January 8, 2012
This book was, dare I say it, cute... in a Victorian sensationalist way, of course. All those larger-than-life characters! And the random heinous villains with dominant villainy genetics1 And pretty noblewomen sacrificing everything for love! And the 'I am your father!' moments!
It's the sort of read you enjoy because you indulge it, not indulge it because you enjoy it. The maverick coincidences of the whole story -"Yup, here I am, walking down the street and whom do I see if not our main villain?" - are something special. For me, though, the story's best moments are when the author, who apparently is capable of better, leaves the rote sensationalism and deviates into the unexpected. She does this several times, to fair effect, and these moments of unconventionality - watch that Marquis de Cevennes, people! - I genuinely enjoyed.
It's also a very quick read, though the writing can't be called gripping. You take the book, you sit down, you read through it in a few gulps, you don't feel too guilty if, at one point or another, you skim a bit. It's a fun little book, entertaining in an old-fashioned way without being any sort of literary landmark in one's life, and setting up the scene for the more elaborate detective novels of the 1920's.
Read if you have the time.
It's the sort of read you enjoy because you indulge it, not indulge it because you enjoy it. The maverick coincidences of the whole story -"Yup, here I am, walking down the street and whom do I see if not our main villain?" - are something special. For me, though, the story's best moments are when the author, who apparently is capable of better, leaves the rote sensationalism and deviates into the unexpected. She does this several times, to fair effect, and these moments of unconventionality - watch that Marquis de Cevennes, people! - I genuinely enjoyed.
It's also a very quick read, though the writing can't be called gripping. You take the book, you sit down, you read through it in a few gulps, you don't feel too guilty if, at one point or another, you skim a bit. It's a fun little book, entertaining in an old-fashioned way without being any sort of literary landmark in one's life, and setting up the scene for the more elaborate detective novels of the 1920's.
Read if you have the time.
July 3, 2019
“The wind this night seems to howl with a peculiar significance, but nobody has the key to its strange language; and if, in every shrill dissonant shriek, it tries to tell a ghastly secret or to give a timely warning, it tries in vain, for no one heeds or understands.”
I really need to read more of Braddon. And, I was reminded of this recently following reading her work, The Trail of the Serpent. This is my third read by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (I also read both Lady Audley’s Secret, her most famous work, as well as lesser known Wyllard’s Weird. Both were quite entertaining). So far, it’s three for three.
The Trail of the Serpent concerns a man who is wrongly convicted of a vicious and shocking murder, his trial, and the subsequent pursuit for the real killer. To be clear, though, the “whos” of this novel are known fairly early on: we know who the killer is, we know who has been framed, and we also know who the detective is who wants to bring the real killer to justice. To me, this is fairly inconsequential, and does not detract from a highly enjoyable novel. The pursuit and the “hows” of what will happen are of far more significance.
Braddon’s style is quite similar to Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In The Trail of the Serpent, the way she creates the town of Slopperton, its citizens, and its descriptions is very Dickenseque. Many key characters are quite eccentric as well. The plot of The Trail of the Serpent is very much like a detective or “sensationalist” work of Wilkie Collins: shocking crime, a detective on the hunt, mistaken identities and doppelgangers, dramatic shifts and developments, the pursuit for justice, the chess match between villains and heroes. And much like Collins, she manages to create a very strong plot-driven suspense, interconnecting various conflicts, puzzles, and characters seamlessly and weaving them into the plot as it heads towards its finale.
As far as our key characters, we have Richard “Daredevil Dick” Marwood, a ne’er do well gambler who returns home to beg forgiveness from his mother seven years after leaving only to be wrongly accused of a crime, Jabez North, a cunning and manipulative conman, shyster and killer, and Joseph Peters, a mute, observant, and clever detective who is in pursuit of the real killer. Caught within the web of North’s shenanigans and diabolical plot is Valerie de Cevennes, a beautiful heiress whose role is central to one of the key plot developments.
According to the afterward, one of the things Braddon hoped to achieve was to take the elements of melodrama on stage and blend this with aspects and elements of detective fiction to create The Trail of the Serpent. To this point, she succeeds admirably. I think the modern reader might be put off a tad by this, and, at points, it does need some patience, but to me it was all in good fun and there is so much cleverness and suspense as we find out how things unfold. Another interesting idea is that this novel is noted as being one of the first (if not the first) of the British detective novels.
If there is one knock, the bow that Braddon ties to the conclusion and finale feels a bit too neat and tidy.
That aside, I think if you are a fan of Wilkie Collins, or enjoy sensationalist fiction, then The Trail of the Serpent is well worth a look. The Modern Library Classics version of the novel has an impressive introduction to the novel by Sarah Waters as well as an amazing afterward by editor Chris Willis, both shedding light on the novel, the writer, this genre and other impressive information.
I really need to read more of Braddon. And, I was reminded of this recently following reading her work, The Trail of the Serpent. This is my third read by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (I also read both Lady Audley’s Secret, her most famous work, as well as lesser known Wyllard’s Weird. Both were quite entertaining). So far, it’s three for three.
The Trail of the Serpent concerns a man who is wrongly convicted of a vicious and shocking murder, his trial, and the subsequent pursuit for the real killer. To be clear, though, the “whos” of this novel are known fairly early on: we know who the killer is, we know who has been framed, and we also know who the detective is who wants to bring the real killer to justice. To me, this is fairly inconsequential, and does not detract from a highly enjoyable novel. The pursuit and the “hows” of what will happen are of far more significance.
Braddon’s style is quite similar to Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In The Trail of the Serpent, the way she creates the town of Slopperton, its citizens, and its descriptions is very Dickenseque. Many key characters are quite eccentric as well. The plot of The Trail of the Serpent is very much like a detective or “sensationalist” work of Wilkie Collins: shocking crime, a detective on the hunt, mistaken identities and doppelgangers, dramatic shifts and developments, the pursuit for justice, the chess match between villains and heroes. And much like Collins, she manages to create a very strong plot-driven suspense, interconnecting various conflicts, puzzles, and characters seamlessly and weaving them into the plot as it heads towards its finale.
As far as our key characters, we have Richard “Daredevil Dick” Marwood, a ne’er do well gambler who returns home to beg forgiveness from his mother seven years after leaving only to be wrongly accused of a crime, Jabez North, a cunning and manipulative conman, shyster and killer, and Joseph Peters, a mute, observant, and clever detective who is in pursuit of the real killer. Caught within the web of North’s shenanigans and diabolical plot is Valerie de Cevennes, a beautiful heiress whose role is central to one of the key plot developments.
According to the afterward, one of the things Braddon hoped to achieve was to take the elements of melodrama on stage and blend this with aspects and elements of detective fiction to create The Trail of the Serpent. To this point, she succeeds admirably. I think the modern reader might be put off a tad by this, and, at points, it does need some patience, but to me it was all in good fun and there is so much cleverness and suspense as we find out how things unfold. Another interesting idea is that this novel is noted as being one of the first (if not the first) of the British detective novels.
If there is one knock, the bow that Braddon ties to the conclusion and finale feels a bit too neat and tidy.
That aside, I think if you are a fan of Wilkie Collins, or enjoy sensationalist fiction, then The Trail of the Serpent is well worth a look. The Modern Library Classics version of the novel has an impressive introduction to the novel by Sarah Waters as well as an amazing afterward by editor Chris Willis, both shedding light on the novel, the writer, this genre and other impressive information.
January 2, 2015
Good news: the characters. The mute detective Peters, and the alchemist Blurosset are particularly wonderful, but there are a host of other memorable ones. Nice job, Braddon.
Bad news: the plot. Do the contrivances and coincidences of Dumas, Dickens and Hugo irritate you? For heaven's sake, then, do not read this book. Right from minute one, the dumbest shit happens. The three authors I just mentioned are not being lazy when unlikely things happen; they're communicating something about their worldview. Braddon, though, is being lazy. Sorry, but it's totally true.
So, y'know, I had fun. I'm glad I read it. I'd check out more of her stuff.
Is it sexist to say I feel like Braddon writes like a dude? I don't even know what I mean by that. I guess it just feels like...kindof a dude book. Women don't play a very important role in the story.
Bad news: the plot. Do the contrivances and coincidences of Dumas, Dickens and Hugo irritate you? For heaven's sake, then, do not read this book. Right from minute one, the dumbest shit happens. The three authors I just mentioned are not being lazy when unlikely things happen; they're communicating something about their worldview. Braddon, though, is being lazy. Sorry, but it's totally true.
So, y'know, I had fun. I'm glad I read it. I'd check out more of her stuff.
Is it sexist to say I feel like Braddon writes like a dude? I don't even know what I mean by that. I guess it just feels like...kindof a dude book. Women don't play a very important role in the story.
June 7, 2021
I am a huge fan of MEB, this being her first novel, I was not disappointed but enjoyed every page. What I found interesting was she uses humor in her other books but far less than this story and also less romance. She was able to bring mystery & suspense to the very last page, many times I was surprised at finding something out I never thought about. One reason I love her is she is a romantic at heart which reads in her other books I have read but I can't classify this as a romantic read, though it has romance present but to a smaller degree. I would say this is purely a detective story. I will definitely try to read all her books at some point because I enjoy them immensely.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Slopperton is the setting of the story, a child is found 19 years before looking to be drowned. He was cleaned up and became part of life in Slopperton, worked himself up from workhouse to assistant of Dr. Tappenden's academy. His nature cannot be stirred to passions and his outer looks are favorable but uncertainty about his inner thoughts. He has a rope he keeps locked up in his case. I enjoyed this story which had twist, which I was most surprised by the marquis being Jabez's son. They both had such haughty cold dispensation but Jabez was evil and looking to kill, even a little child. I was happy that Gaston survived for Valerie. Jabez is up to no good. He is beloved by all the boys but one boy who is sick in his bed delirious with fever & Jabez thinks he can still get away with his plan. He uses a disguise and rope to escape the school in the middle of the night and is gone for over three hours. The boy sees blood on his hands and is afraid of taking medication from him and is going to scream. Jabez holds his mouth and changes the drought to poison and he forces it down his throat. He is found dead. He is told to tell the little boys brother of his death. Dick leaves his home and goes on the train. He sees at the stop a man looking at all the passengers. Mr. Jinks and his partner pinion Dick and keep him from leaving their guard. Dick is not sure why & he is told his uncle has been murdered and money stolen. Dick is amazed and tells him about his uncle's plan. The dumb helper of Mr. Jinks spells out that he is not guilty but Jinks disagrees. Dick lights their cigar and accidentally uses his uncle's letter, but saving this is too late. Jabez goes to the poor district to see a worn woman with a baby in her arms. The woman who was a country girl was deceived by him and she is a ruined woman. He cares less for her and cares nothing for his baby. He gives her some coins and exclaims that is all and she must leave. A dumb man enters and hears some of their conversation. She takes his money and throws it at him hitting his head with a deep bleed. The inn keeper dresses the site. The woman walks by the river and is thinking of taking her life. An inquest is done with all looking at Richard in killing his uncle & his Indian help who most likely die of wounds to the head. Joe Peters the mute policeman is there watching Richard. His mother proclaims his innocence. A woman is found drown and nothing is known about her and less even care. Richard is awaiting assizes. Jabez goes back to teach and so do all the boys unknowingly of little Allecompain minor. Peters changes districts to Slopperrton and takes a room. He tells the land lady of a baby he is bringing up and the young girl working there loves babies and will help Peters. The baby is probably the dead mother's child & Jabez. The detective is able to talk sign with the young 16 year old Mullins. The Trial has began and all think Richard is guilty. Richard is disheartened but Joe Peters in the audience spells out 2 words _ seven letters? Friends from London tell of Richard's delirium tremors and of his fever before leaving the night of the murder on foot. It is declared he killed his uncle but due to insanity. Richard's words seem to deem himself Napoleon but I think he is jesting in irony. Jabez goes to Blind Peter Alley, a poor section, a woman calls him Jim. It seems he looks just like her grandson Jim who has been away trying to make some money. The grandmother says she will make him rich with her secret given to him in the right time. Then she sees her grandson Jim and can't believe her eyes in the resemblance. She then mumbles that she was sure she took care of the other one, could this mean Jabez is a twin that was to be left for dead. Jabez thinks the lady is crazy but the sound of money intrigues him. Sillikins, Jim's girl has been working at the factory and she loves Jim dearly. They are afraid Jim is really sick and Jabez, a stranger,goes for the doctor that tells Jabez after they leave together, Jim has no hope and our you his brother. He looks so much alike but it seems their personality is quite different. Jane changes his hair color. Up to evil again. The grandmother tells Jabez that he is her grandson & so is Jim. She knows the secret of their father and the golden secret that in time will be revealed but for a price. The grandmother is crazy, a drunk and without principles. Jim is very ill & Sillikins is at his bedside trying to cheer her lover up. He wants to see his twin brother and comments he looks like a gentleman but I don't think I like his face, he is planning something, little did he know that Jabez has paid of the grandmother to an unknown deed. He has the doctor send the girl away for a much needed medicine that Jabez told the doctor the girl should leave the bedside, and when she leaves the doctor tells Jane's that Jim has a slim chance, on hearing that Jabez devises a plan. He has paid a young man to tell the doctor is needed for a poisoning case. So that leaves Jabez who has been cruel to his grandmother but shuts her out and let's Jim die after he awakes for his medicine. What evil there is in this one monster, Jabez . Sillikins returns and find the grandmother by his bedside much improved & asking questions. Jabez is Jim, he must have done away with him before she returned and he placed himself in bed pretending to be Jim. The girl notices something odd but is happy. Jabez tells her to get some whiskey and while walking back she notices somebody familiar walking by her. She returns home and Jim is gone. The grandmother is jabbering nonsense which in reality tells the truth that her mother daughter died & woes the end of her grandson. It is unclear. Peters takes Kuppins and the baby to the city where he has business and also to treat her to Rosebush gardens. They have needed each other she for want of someone to care for and he for all the help she gives. The baby is a handful and when older be his voice when needed. They return home via a route not widely travelled & find a body on the road. The body is said to be Jabez but in reality Jim's and with a bottle of poison in his hands. They declare that he commits suicide because of rejection of the school master's daughter which is all false. The schoolmaster & his daughter return from their holiday and are told Jabez never came back. The doctor looks at his desk and sees it has been ransacked. He thinks Jabez stole and ran but found out that someone was cashing his checks around town & that Jabez body has been found. He feels badly that he blamed Jabez. In actuality Jabez body was Jim's body. Poison bought by Jabez to put the suicide in their minds and hair dye bought puzzled. Jabez changed Jim to look more like him. He had many people cash the checks. Looks to be Jabez is in Paris, scheming at an opera. What he did was canceled both Jim & himself as dead. He has done this so he can roam. He hears about the niece of Marquis dead Cevennes, Valerie who is wealthy and young. He watches a note exchanged by her & the opera singer, Elvino to meet later. Jabez goes to the Marquis de Cevennes and is given simple information for a price by the porter. He wants a note given to Mademoiselle Finette, Valerie's lady in waiting. He uses guess when she goes to a secret meeting in a park that Valerie wants to marry the opera singer. He acts aristocratic and she is in awe of this stranger who says he can get her fired unless she helps him by opening the gate to him when he signals instead of the singer. He is cold and has no heart. Such an evil fair character that makes me shutter and makes Dickens' Uriah Heep look like an angel. Valerie expects her husband but find out it is not his heavy foot steps but someone else. She is worried but stays haughty and tells him what he is doing there and he tells her that her husband is at a cast party. She is confused and wonders who betrayed her. He tells her that neither the priest or her maid did but her husband did after bragging a bit. Everything this man says is a falsehood and she is fooled and upset. He mentions revenge which she says she will be a party to this. I feel so sick from this man who is pure evil in everything and makes Uriah Heep look like an angel. Jabez calls himself Raymond Marolles, he goes to the theater and enlist a poor man of there who can imitate or mimic another, so he pays him to mimic de Laney, Valerie's husband. She is fooled that he is in love with another girl and only married her for her money. She wants to kill him but Raymond takes her away. Raymond takes Valerie to a fortune teller a friend of his, which I think to be the mimic. He tells her all about her husband's deeds. She is more like an automation but smiles when talking of revenge. The fortune teller briefly tried to tell her that Raymond was the one to beware but she did not hear this. She will poison her husband. This book has really gotten to me in upsetting me to extremes with the evil person who continually brings horribly evil to people who are innocent and is able to fool people to believe what they should not. Valerie has poisoned her husband who now goes to act in his play unknown to him. He was roused into going to see his mother after finding out she was sick but finds out someone deceived him but poor Valerie does not believe him. And evil Raymond watches what she does. Valerie and her uncle go to the Opera. It is a poison Lucretia play and it seems Gaston de Lancy is ill but he is actually dead. Hysterics come to Valerie who is in a brain fever. Valerie is wanting to see nobody and thinks of all over and over again. Her uncle tells of a man Raymond from Paris wants to see her and how impertinent but she demands to see him. He tells her his reward wanted is marriage and he tells her since he saw her and known of her wealth he was thinking of marriage and watched her and deduced it all about her. Valerie and Raymond are married. Valerie tells her uncle that he must approve of this marriage unless he wants dishonor to his house. He approves but doesn't understand. All Paris is amazed and uncertain who this man is but his haughtneess he must be somebody important. Valerie tells him he can have her fortune but not her. He says okay, coolly that he cares for no woman. Valerie returns to Monsieur Blurosset and asks for poison. He refuses to give it to her. There is a person drugged in the next room but uncertain who is there, when Valerie asks if he believes in animal magnetism he states he is unaware but states a dead man is within her. She leaves and thinks of returning. I am thinking that her husband is not dead but the mime is and acted the part while Valerie did not poison her husband but why would they want to keep him drugged? A mystery. Richard has been in the asylum in solitary confinement for eight years and finally develops despair and his appetite is poor and he is wasting away. Then his boy attendant is charged to an eight year old boy from Slopperton named Sloshy. This is the boy Peters saved from the mud as an infant. He tells him a message from Peter to keep his spirits up, Richard has lost hope of this man who gave him hope years ago but it is slowly regained by thus thought and of the boy who is very wise for his age. The doctor comes and the boy gets him to order a small amount of brandy and ability to mingle with the others. Mr. Augustus Darley was at Richard's trial too and is also a doctor that likes the racetracks. He is a goodhearted. He has a boat builder build him a boat with a secret compartment that can hold a man. When they are about to set sail, Mr. Peters join him. Richard is, able to walk the grounds with other inmates of the asylum. Sloshy is at his heels & when they approached the river which is blocked, he whistles a tune which is taken up by somebody on the river side. Then a rope comes over and he escapes. The inmates are going to tell the guards but Sloshy beats them to it. They look and see no signs of Richard and the boat with two eel fisherman is too far away. They say they did not see anything but some garbage thrown into the river with a splash. They think he has drowned but will get help to search the river. Peters goes back home and tells Kuppins how Sloshy helped with the escape. Gus and Richard are traveling on the train away. Richard vows to find out who murdered his uncle. Richard & Gus see their old friends who know Richard to be innocent & they will help in his search for his uncle's murderer. Richard's mother sees him and is happy but Richard is not until he finds the murderer. Peters & Richard go to see Gus and his young sister, Bell who has heard about him when she was young but being only eleven at the trial. Peters tell them all about how he knew Richard was innocent and this other man guilty, the usher who ends up dead or at least they think he is but in actually it was his twin brother. How Sloshy's mother committed suicide and tried to drown Sloshy who was saved by a boat man but adopted by Peters. Raymond de Marolles is now a banker and millionaire, they have moved to Park Lane, England. Valerie is rarely seen with him and her son who is de Laney's, the opera singer who she poisoned and regrets. Peters takes Sloshy to see a Punch and Judy show. He has retired from police work and lives with Sloshy and Kuppins who takes care of their home. While seeing the sites at a bank they see a man come out to his horse. Peters is taken back because this man is the man who he saw dead. He thinks it might be him and waits till Raymond tilts his hat for so ladies and his scar is seen. He tells Sloshy that this man is his father and he wants to know if he will stand by Peters to uncover this man in spite of him being so & Sloshy agrees. All the Cherokees go to the Opera to see the murderer so they can know what he looks like. Peters points him out. Unknown to Raymond they are looking at him. Valerie hears the opera singer who sounded like de Laney and who was the mimic, Paul Moucee who played his part of her husband. The Indian of Hardings is now in serve with another Captain of French origins. He tells what little he knows of his former masters murder. After he recovered he was sent back home with Richard's mothers help. Laurent Blurosset who is a chemist as well as a soothsayer, is a friend of the captain and also the one who helped Raymond to give Valerie poison and a reading. He is in London now. Richard disguised as , a milk man delivers milk to Raymond's home and gets familiar with the kitchen help who are enamored by him. He finds out a boy is needed there. Valerie is at a dinner party when she hears Mosquetti tell of the story where he mimic death Laney. Raymond sees Silikens and she recognized him and tells him about his grandmother and the secret. She finally tells him that the secret is that her daughter's husband was a marquis and he left her to go back to France after the king was changed. The grandmother kept the secret from her daughter and her daughter thinking he left her started to drink and died which the grandmother refused to disclose. Dr Cevennes, is this Valerie's father or her uncle. Richard & Isabella become friends and his mother likes her. When things are looking up for his finding the murderer, he asks her if she would marry him & she says yes, Gus approves. Peters brings the school master, Dr. Tappenden on board to take a gander at Raymond and see if that is not Usher. Peters is upset he did not see the "put on" with the suicide which in looking back did not make sense in appearances. Valerie goes to see the soothsayer Laurent Blurosett. She accuses him of being an accomplice in the murder of Gaston de Laney. She tells him that if he does not declare Raymond a murderer then she will oust him. The captain Indian helper hears this conversation and is upset but unseen. Then Blurosett throws a powder in the fire which cause Valerie to faint. Valerie has sent for her uncle and Raymond is surprised. He tries to say Valerie is a insane but the uncle sees through his charade. Raymond is off balance especially when Valerie is present totally altered and with a beaming radiance. She says she has friends now which come in soon after. Dr. Tapperton calls him Jabez North and the charges are forgery and more. Jabez says he would like to talk to the uncle who says he rather not but after Jabez intimates his time as a tutor in Slopperton, he finally says he will. Raymond tells his story to his father who really could care less. The Marquise tells that he could not stay with his wife because he was summoned to France. He was poor and needed to marry rich so his wife was left. Jabez tells him that he is to make his get away with his help. He shots the policeman in the knee and falls so he escapes the front door with a hat. The father tells him he left via the garden without a hat. Smasher, one of Richard's friends, is leaving an event for him with his boxer friend. His friend is too drunk to move and he tries to enlist help from a gentleman who refuses and happens to be Raymond./Jabez. Jabez insults him and Smasher hits and knocks him out. When the stranger's hat is removed, Smasher sees his scar and goes to telegraph Richard. Peters and Gus go to the Tavern in Slopperton and ask the inn keeper if he remembers an incident that happened 8 years ago with a man and a woman fighting and money being tossed. He was told if he had a coin that was not found he would get a reward. He gave the Indian coin of no use to him to them. They then went to the black mill home where Martha is caretaker now and look in the room. Peters was not allowed to look in the room then but finds evidence that the blood on Richard's shirt was dripped on him from the rotten floor board above & a bag that had a coin stuck in it that Jabez did not get. Peters tells Gus and Smasher to go to Liverpool where a boat to America is to leave.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Slopperton is the setting of the story, a child is found 19 years before looking to be drowned. He was cleaned up and became part of life in Slopperton, worked himself up from workhouse to assistant of Dr. Tappenden's academy. His nature cannot be stirred to passions and his outer looks are favorable but uncertainty about his inner thoughts. He has a rope he keeps locked up in his case. I enjoyed this story which had twist, which I was most surprised by the marquis being Jabez's son. They both had such haughty cold dispensation but Jabez was evil and looking to kill, even a little child. I was happy that Gaston survived for Valerie. Jabez is up to no good. He is beloved by all the boys but one boy who is sick in his bed delirious with fever & Jabez thinks he can still get away with his plan. He uses a disguise and rope to escape the school in the middle of the night and is gone for over three hours. The boy sees blood on his hands and is afraid of taking medication from him and is going to scream. Jabez holds his mouth and changes the drought to poison and he forces it down his throat. He is found dead. He is told to tell the little boys brother of his death. Dick leaves his home and goes on the train. He sees at the stop a man looking at all the passengers. Mr. Jinks and his partner pinion Dick and keep him from leaving their guard. Dick is not sure why & he is told his uncle has been murdered and money stolen. Dick is amazed and tells him about his uncle's plan. The dumb helper of Mr. Jinks spells out that he is not guilty but Jinks disagrees. Dick lights their cigar and accidentally uses his uncle's letter, but saving this is too late. Jabez goes to the poor district to see a worn woman with a baby in her arms. The woman who was a country girl was deceived by him and she is a ruined woman. He cares less for her and cares nothing for his baby. He gives her some coins and exclaims that is all and she must leave. A dumb man enters and hears some of their conversation. She takes his money and throws it at him hitting his head with a deep bleed. The inn keeper dresses the site. The woman walks by the river and is thinking of taking her life. An inquest is done with all looking at Richard in killing his uncle & his Indian help who most likely die of wounds to the head. Joe Peters the mute policeman is there watching Richard. His mother proclaims his innocence. A woman is found drown and nothing is known about her and less even care. Richard is awaiting assizes. Jabez goes back to teach and so do all the boys unknowingly of little Allecompain minor. Peters changes districts to Slopperrton and takes a room. He tells the land lady of a baby he is bringing up and the young girl working there loves babies and will help Peters. The baby is probably the dead mother's child & Jabez. The detective is able to talk sign with the young 16 year old Mullins. The Trial has began and all think Richard is guilty. Richard is disheartened but Joe Peters in the audience spells out 2 words _ seven letters? Friends from London tell of Richard's delirium tremors and of his fever before leaving the night of the murder on foot. It is declared he killed his uncle but due to insanity. Richard's words seem to deem himself Napoleon but I think he is jesting in irony. Jabez goes to Blind Peter Alley, a poor section, a woman calls him Jim. It seems he looks just like her grandson Jim who has been away trying to make some money. The grandmother says she will make him rich with her secret given to him in the right time. Then she sees her grandson Jim and can't believe her eyes in the resemblance. She then mumbles that she was sure she took care of the other one, could this mean Jabez is a twin that was to be left for dead. Jabez thinks the lady is crazy but the sound of money intrigues him. Sillikins, Jim's girl has been working at the factory and she loves Jim dearly. They are afraid Jim is really sick and Jabez, a stranger,goes for the doctor that tells Jabez after they leave together, Jim has no hope and our you his brother. He looks so much alike but it seems their personality is quite different. Jane changes his hair color. Up to evil again. The grandmother tells Jabez that he is her grandson & so is Jim. She knows the secret of their father and the golden secret that in time will be revealed but for a price. The grandmother is crazy, a drunk and without principles. Jim is very ill & Sillikins is at his bedside trying to cheer her lover up. He wants to see his twin brother and comments he looks like a gentleman but I don't think I like his face, he is planning something, little did he know that Jabez has paid of the grandmother to an unknown deed. He has the doctor send the girl away for a much needed medicine that Jabez told the doctor the girl should leave the bedside, and when she leaves the doctor tells Jane's that Jim has a slim chance, on hearing that Jabez devises a plan. He has paid a young man to tell the doctor is needed for a poisoning case. So that leaves Jabez who has been cruel to his grandmother but shuts her out and let's Jim die after he awakes for his medicine. What evil there is in this one monster, Jabez . Sillikins returns and find the grandmother by his bedside much improved & asking questions. Jabez is Jim, he must have done away with him before she returned and he placed himself in bed pretending to be Jim. The girl notices something odd but is happy. Jabez tells her to get some whiskey and while walking back she notices somebody familiar walking by her. She returns home and Jim is gone. The grandmother is jabbering nonsense which in reality tells the truth that her mother daughter died & woes the end of her grandson. It is unclear. Peters takes Kuppins and the baby to the city where he has business and also to treat her to Rosebush gardens. They have needed each other she for want of someone to care for and he for all the help she gives. The baby is a handful and when older be his voice when needed. They return home via a route not widely travelled & find a body on the road. The body is said to be Jabez but in reality Jim's and with a bottle of poison in his hands. They declare that he commits suicide because of rejection of the school master's daughter which is all false. The schoolmaster & his daughter return from their holiday and are told Jabez never came back. The doctor looks at his desk and sees it has been ransacked. He thinks Jabez stole and ran but found out that someone was cashing his checks around town & that Jabez body has been found. He feels badly that he blamed Jabez. In actuality Jabez body was Jim's body. Poison bought by Jabez to put the suicide in their minds and hair dye bought puzzled. Jabez changed Jim to look more like him. He had many people cash the checks. Looks to be Jabez is in Paris, scheming at an opera. What he did was canceled both Jim & himself as dead. He has done this so he can roam. He hears about the niece of Marquis dead Cevennes, Valerie who is wealthy and young. He watches a note exchanged by her & the opera singer, Elvino to meet later. Jabez goes to the Marquis de Cevennes and is given simple information for a price by the porter. He wants a note given to Mademoiselle Finette, Valerie's lady in waiting. He uses guess when she goes to a secret meeting in a park that Valerie wants to marry the opera singer. He acts aristocratic and she is in awe of this stranger who says he can get her fired unless she helps him by opening the gate to him when he signals instead of the singer. He is cold and has no heart. Such an evil fair character that makes me shutter and makes Dickens' Uriah Heep look like an angel. Valerie expects her husband but find out it is not his heavy foot steps but someone else. She is worried but stays haughty and tells him what he is doing there and he tells her that her husband is at a cast party. She is confused and wonders who betrayed her. He tells her that neither the priest or her maid did but her husband did after bragging a bit. Everything this man says is a falsehood and she is fooled and upset. He mentions revenge which she says she will be a party to this. I feel so sick from this man who is pure evil in everything and makes Uriah Heep look like an angel. Jabez calls himself Raymond Marolles, he goes to the theater and enlist a poor man of there who can imitate or mimic another, so he pays him to mimic de Laney, Valerie's husband. She is fooled that he is in love with another girl and only married her for her money. She wants to kill him but Raymond takes her away. Raymond takes Valerie to a fortune teller a friend of his, which I think to be the mimic. He tells her all about her husband's deeds. She is more like an automation but smiles when talking of revenge. The fortune teller briefly tried to tell her that Raymond was the one to beware but she did not hear this. She will poison her husband. This book has really gotten to me in upsetting me to extremes with the evil person who continually brings horribly evil to people who are innocent and is able to fool people to believe what they should not. Valerie has poisoned her husband who now goes to act in his play unknown to him. He was roused into going to see his mother after finding out she was sick but finds out someone deceived him but poor Valerie does not believe him. And evil Raymond watches what she does. Valerie and her uncle go to the Opera. It is a poison Lucretia play and it seems Gaston de Lancy is ill but he is actually dead. Hysterics come to Valerie who is in a brain fever. Valerie is wanting to see nobody and thinks of all over and over again. Her uncle tells of a man Raymond from Paris wants to see her and how impertinent but she demands to see him. He tells her his reward wanted is marriage and he tells her since he saw her and known of her wealth he was thinking of marriage and watched her and deduced it all about her. Valerie and Raymond are married. Valerie tells her uncle that he must approve of this marriage unless he wants dishonor to his house. He approves but doesn't understand. All Paris is amazed and uncertain who this man is but his haughtneess he must be somebody important. Valerie tells him he can have her fortune but not her. He says okay, coolly that he cares for no woman. Valerie returns to Monsieur Blurosset and asks for poison. He refuses to give it to her. There is a person drugged in the next room but uncertain who is there, when Valerie asks if he believes in animal magnetism he states he is unaware but states a dead man is within her. She leaves and thinks of returning. I am thinking that her husband is not dead but the mime is and acted the part while Valerie did not poison her husband but why would they want to keep him drugged? A mystery. Richard has been in the asylum in solitary confinement for eight years and finally develops despair and his appetite is poor and he is wasting away. Then his boy attendant is charged to an eight year old boy from Slopperton named Sloshy. This is the boy Peters saved from the mud as an infant. He tells him a message from Peter to keep his spirits up, Richard has lost hope of this man who gave him hope years ago but it is slowly regained by thus thought and of the boy who is very wise for his age. The doctor comes and the boy gets him to order a small amount of brandy and ability to mingle with the others. Mr. Augustus Darley was at Richard's trial too and is also a doctor that likes the racetracks. He is a goodhearted. He has a boat builder build him a boat with a secret compartment that can hold a man. When they are about to set sail, Mr. Peters join him. Richard is, able to walk the grounds with other inmates of the asylum. Sloshy is at his heels & when they approached the river which is blocked, he whistles a tune which is taken up by somebody on the river side. Then a rope comes over and he escapes. The inmates are going to tell the guards but Sloshy beats them to it. They look and see no signs of Richard and the boat with two eel fisherman is too far away. They say they did not see anything but some garbage thrown into the river with a splash. They think he has drowned but will get help to search the river. Peters goes back home and tells Kuppins how Sloshy helped with the escape. Gus and Richard are traveling on the train away. Richard vows to find out who murdered his uncle. Richard & Gus see their old friends who know Richard to be innocent & they will help in his search for his uncle's murderer. Richard's mother sees him and is happy but Richard is not until he finds the murderer. Peters & Richard go to see Gus and his young sister, Bell who has heard about him when she was young but being only eleven at the trial. Peters tell them all about how he knew Richard was innocent and this other man guilty, the usher who ends up dead or at least they think he is but in actually it was his twin brother. How Sloshy's mother committed suicide and tried to drown Sloshy who was saved by a boat man but adopted by Peters. Raymond de Marolles is now a banker and millionaire, they have moved to Park Lane, England. Valerie is rarely seen with him and her son who is de Laney's, the opera singer who she poisoned and regrets. Peters takes Sloshy to see a Punch and Judy show. He has retired from police work and lives with Sloshy and Kuppins who takes care of their home. While seeing the sites at a bank they see a man come out to his horse. Peters is taken back because this man is the man who he saw dead. He thinks it might be him and waits till Raymond tilts his hat for so ladies and his scar is seen. He tells Sloshy that this man is his father and he wants to know if he will stand by Peters to uncover this man in spite of him being so & Sloshy agrees. All the Cherokees go to the Opera to see the murderer so they can know what he looks like. Peters points him out. Unknown to Raymond they are looking at him. Valerie hears the opera singer who sounded like de Laney and who was the mimic, Paul Moucee who played his part of her husband. The Indian of Hardings is now in serve with another Captain of French origins. He tells what little he knows of his former masters murder. After he recovered he was sent back home with Richard's mothers help. Laurent Blurosset who is a chemist as well as a soothsayer, is a friend of the captain and also the one who helped Raymond to give Valerie poison and a reading. He is in London now. Richard disguised as , a milk man delivers milk to Raymond's home and gets familiar with the kitchen help who are enamored by him. He finds out a boy is needed there. Valerie is at a dinner party when she hears Mosquetti tell of the story where he mimic death Laney. Raymond sees Silikens and she recognized him and tells him about his grandmother and the secret. She finally tells him that the secret is that her daughter's husband was a marquis and he left her to go back to France after the king was changed. The grandmother kept the secret from her daughter and her daughter thinking he left her started to drink and died which the grandmother refused to disclose. Dr Cevennes, is this Valerie's father or her uncle. Richard & Isabella become friends and his mother likes her. When things are looking up for his finding the murderer, he asks her if she would marry him & she says yes, Gus approves. Peters brings the school master, Dr. Tappenden on board to take a gander at Raymond and see if that is not Usher. Peters is upset he did not see the "put on" with the suicide which in looking back did not make sense in appearances. Valerie goes to see the soothsayer Laurent Blurosett. She accuses him of being an accomplice in the murder of Gaston de Laney. She tells him that if he does not declare Raymond a murderer then she will oust him. The captain Indian helper hears this conversation and is upset but unseen. Then Blurosett throws a powder in the fire which cause Valerie to faint. Valerie has sent for her uncle and Raymond is surprised. He tries to say Valerie is a insane but the uncle sees through his charade. Raymond is off balance especially when Valerie is present totally altered and with a beaming radiance. She says she has friends now which come in soon after. Dr. Tapperton calls him Jabez North and the charges are forgery and more. Jabez says he would like to talk to the uncle who says he rather not but after Jabez intimates his time as a tutor in Slopperton, he finally says he will. Raymond tells his story to his father who really could care less. The Marquise tells that he could not stay with his wife because he was summoned to France. He was poor and needed to marry rich so his wife was left. Jabez tells him that he is to make his get away with his help. He shots the policeman in the knee and falls so he escapes the front door with a hat. The father tells him he left via the garden without a hat. Smasher, one of Richard's friends, is leaving an event for him with his boxer friend. His friend is too drunk to move and he tries to enlist help from a gentleman who refuses and happens to be Raymond./Jabez. Jabez insults him and Smasher hits and knocks him out. When the stranger's hat is removed, Smasher sees his scar and goes to telegraph Richard. Peters and Gus go to the Tavern in Slopperton and ask the inn keeper if he remembers an incident that happened 8 years ago with a man and a woman fighting and money being tossed. He was told if he had a coin that was not found he would get a reward. He gave the Indian coin of no use to him to them. They then went to the black mill home where Martha is caretaker now and look in the room. Peters was not allowed to look in the room then but finds evidence that the blood on Richard's shirt was dripped on him from the rotten floor board above & a bag that had a coin stuck in it that Jabez did not get. Peters tells Gus and Smasher to go to Liverpool where a boat to America is to leave.
October 9, 2018
Filled with a sharp gothic atmosphere, theatrical melodrama, dastardly villains (for which there are many) and a dogged detective - sounds like a fun read. For some parts, it was hilarious at the outrageous twists and turns the plot would take, but mostly it left me bored and wanting. The mystery is not refined like those of the golden era and onwards, as it takes a greater stride with the multiple acts of depravity committed by the villain rather than the investigative acts of the detective - if any. The only saving grace for this novel was the few glimpses of brilliant writing or sentence work, which would later inspire Braddon's audacious mystery 'Lady Audley's Secret', which I thoroughly recommend over this early novel.
September 30, 2017
The plot must be the most unbelievable one I have ever seen. But the irony and self-irony of an occasional observation persuades me that the author is capable of better things, and the prose is decent if not in any way remarkable. Will have a look at another of her books, at any rate.
Read
February 25, 2024Lost this book for about a year & had to start over. A fun book. If you like Wilkie Collins (and I do) you’ll likely enjoy this.
October 10, 2014
Foundlings, doppelgängers, murders, poisonings, mistaken identities, disguises and aliases, nabobs, bastard children, infanticide, lunatic asylums. A pathologically evil, socially climbing, golddigging killer commits murders. We know who he is; the only question is will he be caught, and how. Plotwise, this is one of the more ridiculous novels I've ever read. Probably never have so many absurd coincidences propelled a narrative forward. It should have been edited down by 45%. In terms of the sensation novel, this is a notch or two or three below Wilkie Collins and the early efforts of Thomas Hardy.
It should be noted that an early version of the novel, serialized, did not sell well and Braddon substantially rewrote it with her publisher. This is the rewritten novel. (Maybe the third time would have been the charm?)
July 20, 2025
From Wiki;
It was first published in 1861 as Three Times Dead; or, The Secret of the Heath. The story concerns the schemes of the orphan Jabez North to acquire an aristocratic fortune, and the efforts of Richard Marwood, aided by his friends, to prove his innocence in the murder of his uncle.
I made the post-processing this book for DistributedProofreaders and Project Gutenberg will publish it pretty soon.
It was first published in 1861 as Three Times Dead; or, The Secret of the Heath. The story concerns the schemes of the orphan Jabez North to acquire an aristocratic fortune, and the efforts of Richard Marwood, aided by his friends, to prove his innocence in the murder of his uncle.
I made the post-processing this book for DistributedProofreaders and Project Gutenberg will publish it pretty soon.
September 25, 2012
I love a book that makes fun of itself.
On many occasions, characters say that events that are unfolding are like a melodrama or a “lady’s novel” while the story presents us with separated twins, impossible coincidences, a false murder conviction, secret marriages, overheard conversations, poisoned wine, an insane asylum, suicide, bastards, scars, long-kept secrets, great fortunes, and a rag-tag gang of half-drunken crime-solvers. I often laughed out loud at the book’s whimsy and humor. Are you listening Anne Bronte, you sanctimonious prude?
When you read fantasy or sci-fi books you have to have a “willing suspension of disbelief,” but these old British novels require it too. Because if you’re spending the span of the book incredulously scoffing at all the coincidences then you’ll miss out on the fun. Braddon and the other writers of the time KNEW that in a city of millions, a detective walking RIGHT INTO the villain he was looking for is a long shot. But it’s a literary tradition! Like magic swords or prophecies that can be interpreted two ways or Genii in Arabian writing or sleep spells in old fairy tales or vampires in modern YA. It’s FUN and there’s not more to it than that. Besides, isn’t it human nature to yearn for an audience to observe the invisible injustices that happen every day? A girl with a baby and no husband is rejected and insulted by her lover in the town’s trashiest pub. She thinks she’s all alone in her suffering, but ONE MAN is watching her and taking an interest in her. And in the end, he avenges her. Lucky that he happened to walk into that particular pub, isn’t it? Lucky he missed his train and returned to find the baby. Lucky he happened to drive by the “suicide” many months later. Lucky there was one coin left in the pouch that had luckily been left untouched for eight years. Lucky the barman found the lost coin and lucky he didn’t spend it. If one link in the chain of evidence were missing, they might fail to get North. It's an unlikely series of events... but it's a novel. And this style of plot was fashionable at the time. Suspend disbelief.
I noticed a similar style of ending in this book as Armadale by Wilkie Collins: Just as the action is picking up and getting exciting and the villain is about to be caught, it all FALLS DEAD. I think this agonizing stretching out of the suspense must have been in vogue also. We're on the edge of our seats with excitement-- and then suddenly we’re transported to another location where nothing at all interesting is happening and the writer tortures us with meandering sentences and plenty of mundane activities meticulously documented. The Cheerfuls have relocated to a hotel in London and are all living together, comically getting in one another’s way, waiting for something to happen (LIKE THE READER). The Smasher is getting at least as impatient as I am for some progress to be made in the investigation. Oh look, now they’re playing cards. Now looking idly out of the window at people passing by. Now going in to dinner. (SCREAM) Now receiving a telegram with instructions. Let’s hurry out and obey them, by all means!
And as for the dramatic business on board the Washington… Yes. We get it. He’s in the coffin.
I was displeased that Jabez North was only found guilty of the crime of murdering Richard’s uncle, not the elaborate plot against Valerie. I understand that no one profits from that matter being made public (scandals are anathema to that class), but I wish she had stood in front of him, looked him in his soulless eyes and told him that she KNEW what he did—instead of fainting like a gothic heroine. I also wish he hadn’t died without knowing that Gaston de Lancy was alive. He should have KNOWN that he hadn’t succeeded in ruining Valerie’s happiness. He should have died knowing that everyone else was going to live on happily despite him.
There was a little moment I was very grateful to Braddon for: the part when the Marquis refuses to believe that his niece is mad. I’m certainly not saying he’s a terrific man. He’s really, really awful. Still, this was a time period when mental illness was wildly misunderstood and female madness was a blanket term covering such a wide variety of behaviors, moods and activities that only a narrow sliver of feminine experience was considered sane. If a woman was unfulfilled with her domestic life, she was considered an “hysteric”. In a time when women had very few rights, it was the simplest thing in the world for a man (an abusive man perhaps) to declare “my wife is mad.” Then anything she says will duly be considered the ravings of a madwoman. How fortunate that the poor creature has a husband who will look after her interests.
When the Marquis throws this assertion aside, as vile as he is, he sheds light on the subject of madness and allegations of madness. Perhaps we nineteenth-century husbands and doctors shouldn’t throw that word around so much. Perhaps we should search for alternate answers or—-better yet—-TALK to our women and LISTEN when they answer.
The one thing that bothers me the most in this novel: how did the Smasher let North get away from him??? He was knocked unconscious on the street. All the Smasher had to do was get help from someone to carry him to the nearest police station, but instead he, what? left him lying there to regain consciousness and crawl away? It’s a pretty blatant and unexplained hole in the plot. I think Braddon really wanted to do that coffin bit, but wrote herself into a corner. Maybe the Smasher’s inebriation is her excuse.
On many occasions, characters say that events that are unfolding are like a melodrama or a “lady’s novel” while the story presents us with separated twins, impossible coincidences, a false murder conviction, secret marriages, overheard conversations, poisoned wine, an insane asylum, suicide, bastards, scars, long-kept secrets, great fortunes, and a rag-tag gang of half-drunken crime-solvers. I often laughed out loud at the book’s whimsy and humor. Are you listening Anne Bronte, you sanctimonious prude?
When you read fantasy or sci-fi books you have to have a “willing suspension of disbelief,” but these old British novels require it too. Because if you’re spending the span of the book incredulously scoffing at all the coincidences then you’ll miss out on the fun. Braddon and the other writers of the time KNEW that in a city of millions, a detective walking RIGHT INTO the villain he was looking for is a long shot. But it’s a literary tradition! Like magic swords or prophecies that can be interpreted two ways or Genii in Arabian writing or sleep spells in old fairy tales or vampires in modern YA. It’s FUN and there’s not more to it than that. Besides, isn’t it human nature to yearn for an audience to observe the invisible injustices that happen every day? A girl with a baby and no husband is rejected and insulted by her lover in the town’s trashiest pub. She thinks she’s all alone in her suffering, but ONE MAN is watching her and taking an interest in her. And in the end, he avenges her. Lucky that he happened to walk into that particular pub, isn’t it? Lucky he missed his train and returned to find the baby. Lucky he happened to drive by the “suicide” many months later. Lucky there was one coin left in the pouch that had luckily been left untouched for eight years. Lucky the barman found the lost coin and lucky he didn’t spend it. If one link in the chain of evidence were missing, they might fail to get North. It's an unlikely series of events... but it's a novel. And this style of plot was fashionable at the time. Suspend disbelief.
I noticed a similar style of ending in this book as Armadale by Wilkie Collins: Just as the action is picking up and getting exciting and the villain is about to be caught, it all FALLS DEAD. I think this agonizing stretching out of the suspense must have been in vogue also. We're on the edge of our seats with excitement-- and then suddenly we’re transported to another location where nothing at all interesting is happening and the writer tortures us with meandering sentences and plenty of mundane activities meticulously documented. The Cheerfuls have relocated to a hotel in London and are all living together, comically getting in one another’s way, waiting for something to happen (LIKE THE READER). The Smasher is getting at least as impatient as I am for some progress to be made in the investigation. Oh look, now they’re playing cards. Now looking idly out of the window at people passing by. Now going in to dinner. (SCREAM) Now receiving a telegram with instructions. Let’s hurry out and obey them, by all means!
And as for the dramatic business on board the Washington… Yes. We get it. He’s in the coffin.
I was displeased that Jabez North was only found guilty of the crime of murdering Richard’s uncle, not the elaborate plot against Valerie. I understand that no one profits from that matter being made public (scandals are anathema to that class), but I wish she had stood in front of him, looked him in his soulless eyes and told him that she KNEW what he did—instead of fainting like a gothic heroine. I also wish he hadn’t died without knowing that Gaston de Lancy was alive. He should have KNOWN that he hadn’t succeeded in ruining Valerie’s happiness. He should have died knowing that everyone else was going to live on happily despite him.
There was a little moment I was very grateful to Braddon for: the part when the Marquis refuses to believe that his niece is mad. I’m certainly not saying he’s a terrific man. He’s really, really awful. Still, this was a time period when mental illness was wildly misunderstood and female madness was a blanket term covering such a wide variety of behaviors, moods and activities that only a narrow sliver of feminine experience was considered sane. If a woman was unfulfilled with her domestic life, she was considered an “hysteric”. In a time when women had very few rights, it was the simplest thing in the world for a man (an abusive man perhaps) to declare “my wife is mad.” Then anything she says will duly be considered the ravings of a madwoman. How fortunate that the poor creature has a husband who will look after her interests.
When the Marquis throws this assertion aside, as vile as he is, he sheds light on the subject of madness and allegations of madness. Perhaps we nineteenth-century husbands and doctors shouldn’t throw that word around so much. Perhaps we should search for alternate answers or—-better yet—-TALK to our women and LISTEN when they answer.
The one thing that bothers me the most in this novel: how did the Smasher let North get away from him??? He was knocked unconscious on the street. All the Smasher had to do was get help from someone to carry him to the nearest police station, but instead he, what? left him lying there to regain consciousness and crawl away? It’s a pretty blatant and unexplained hole in the plot. I think Braddon really wanted to do that coffin bit, but wrote herself into a corner. Maybe the Smasher’s inebriation is her excuse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2016
One of the joys in my Life is having a book come seemingly from out of nowhere, and then I absolutely fall in love with it. This was one of those books. On a slow Sunday afternoon, I began browsing an online lending library under the category of "Suspense" and this gem was uncovered.
From what I've been able to learn, this book which was written in 1860 was the first British detective novel. It had appeared in serialized form under a different title and was a massive failure. A publisher saw potential and asked that it be revised ... under a new title .... with more sensationalist elements and more of a Dickensian feel. So, at age 24, the writer presented this incarnation, and it was a tremendous success. Through the years, she would write many more.
The book is not a WhoDunIt as much as it is a HowWasItDun? We learn the identity of the criminal early in the proceedings, and are rewarded with a truly nefarious villain. The story is steeped in melodrama with cliffhangers galore and dastardly acts aplenty. Always there is a play for the emotions of the Reader which, when combined with a usually breathless pace, makes for a compelling read.
The writer was also an actress. She understands the importance of building up the story to an engaging mini-climax, and then racing ahead with an unexpected turn of events. Her characters are beautifully developed and, although they are large in number, she makes them so distinctive that they are easy to recall. Many times, not unlike a great Dickens story, I could imagine the cheers and hisses from the audience if this would ever be translated to the stage.
Many elements that will be commonplace in later detective fiction can be found here. There are gimmicks galore, although they aren't there merely for novelty. The detective uses special talents to discover important clues and communicate plans. There is an energetic and resourceful young boy who is indispensable in aiding the forces of Good. And there are tragic victims, locked into silence by terrible secrets.
So, why not five stars? There are a few issues. The foremost for me is the inclusion of a scene in which a vital piece of the puzzle is about to be exposed, and the writer tells us that the time has not come yet to inform the Reader of what was revealed. (If you heard an inhuman wailing when no ill-winds were present, that was me!) There is another instance when a minor character's name changes. (So much for developing an outline.) And for those who are unfamiliar with the culture and locales, you'll be doing a lot of flipping back and forth from narrative to footnotes if you are fortunate to have such an edition with explanations provided.
Over all, though, this was a remarkable "first book," thoroughly engaging and a great deal of fun. I will be adding more of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's books to my reading list.
For confounding disguises, desperate chases and murder most foul, I highly recommend this one.
From what I've been able to learn, this book which was written in 1860 was the first British detective novel. It had appeared in serialized form under a different title and was a massive failure. A publisher saw potential and asked that it be revised ... under a new title .... with more sensationalist elements and more of a Dickensian feel. So, at age 24, the writer presented this incarnation, and it was a tremendous success. Through the years, she would write many more.
The book is not a WhoDunIt as much as it is a HowWasItDun? We learn the identity of the criminal early in the proceedings, and are rewarded with a truly nefarious villain. The story is steeped in melodrama with cliffhangers galore and dastardly acts aplenty. Always there is a play for the emotions of the Reader which, when combined with a usually breathless pace, makes for a compelling read.
The writer was also an actress. She understands the importance of building up the story to an engaging mini-climax, and then racing ahead with an unexpected turn of events. Her characters are beautifully developed and, although they are large in number, she makes them so distinctive that they are easy to recall. Many times, not unlike a great Dickens story, I could imagine the cheers and hisses from the audience if this would ever be translated to the stage.
Many elements that will be commonplace in later detective fiction can be found here. There are gimmicks galore, although they aren't there merely for novelty. The detective uses special talents to discover important clues and communicate plans. There is an energetic and resourceful young boy who is indispensable in aiding the forces of Good. And there are tragic victims, locked into silence by terrible secrets.
So, why not five stars? There are a few issues. The foremost for me is the inclusion of a scene in which a vital piece of the puzzle is about to be exposed, and the writer tells us that the time has not come yet to inform the Reader of what was revealed. (If you heard an inhuman wailing when no ill-winds were present, that was me!) There is another instance when a minor character's name changes. (So much for developing an outline.) And for those who are unfamiliar with the culture and locales, you'll be doing a lot of flipping back and forth from narrative to footnotes if you are fortunate to have such an edition with explanations provided.
Over all, though, this was a remarkable "first book," thoroughly engaging and a great deal of fun. I will be adding more of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's books to my reading list.
For confounding disguises, desperate chases and murder most foul, I highly recommend this one.
January 18, 2010
Braddon's style is not as polished as in later books, and the coincidences come not single spies but in battalions, but Braddon's first novel is a campy and enjoyable melodrama, as well as one of the first detective novels. I didn't like it as much as Lady Audley's Secret or The Doctor's Wife, but it was more fun to read than John Marchmont's Legacy.
May 8, 2009
I love the late Victorian Sensationalist genre. The best known author from that school is Wilkie Collins but it also includes Margaret Oliphant, Ellen Woods, & Mary Bradden. I've read other of Braddon's books and enjoyed them but this former actress turned writer left me a bit lost with her first book.....and this was supposedly a re-working from her original book. She threw in every plot device she could think of which made for confusion. There were some fun parts but also dull, rambling passages that seemed to go on and on. Serpent was my least favorite books of '09.
October 6, 2018
I’m so bummed that I didn’t love this. I’m such a mystery lover but I think that those mysteries at the beginning of the genre are not going to be as much of a hit with me. I wanted to love this since I adore Lady Audley’s Secret so much. This was all over the place with a villain that had no nuance that I simply wasn’t intrigued by. I did really really love the mute detective Joseph Peters! He was such a dynamic character that I wish I had had a book with very little villain and a ton of Peters. Towards the last 100 pages I skimmed.
February 12, 2020
The dramatis personae of this wild ride of a novel includes but is not limited to-
-Richard Marwood, aka Daredevil Dick, a once dashing man-about-town who is imprisoned in an asylum for a gruesome murder he did not commit;
-Jabez North, an evil schoolmaster whose ruthlessness is only surpassed by his talent at gymnastics
-Mr. Peters, a brilliant detective rendered mute by a childhood illness, who communicates using sign language that somehow still has a cockney accent;
-His sidekick, a plucky teenage tomboy called Kuppins;
-Valerie de Cevennes, a beautiful but tempestuous heiress;
-Gaston de Lancy, a noble and virtuous opera singer;
-Laurent Blurosset, a sinister chemist in blue spectacles who is also a psychic;
and
-a wisecracking 8-year-old boy detective named Sloshy.
How do they all meet and what happens to them? Which of them has a long-lost identical twin? Will Mr. Peters unravel the mysteries? Will Jabez get away with his heinous crimes? Is Valerie really a murderess? Does Richard know the Muffin Man? (He lives on Drury Lane.) Part farce, part thriller, all good wacky fun, this book arguably predates The Moonstone as the first real detective novel, and the plot (don't tell T.S. Eliot I said this) is a lot better constructed. And it has a lot more puns.
-Richard Marwood, aka Daredevil Dick, a once dashing man-about-town who is imprisoned in an asylum for a gruesome murder he did not commit;
-Jabez North, an evil schoolmaster whose ruthlessness is only surpassed by his talent at gymnastics
-Mr. Peters, a brilliant detective rendered mute by a childhood illness, who communicates using sign language that somehow still has a cockney accent;
-His sidekick, a plucky teenage tomboy called Kuppins;
-Valerie de Cevennes, a beautiful but tempestuous heiress;
-Gaston de Lancy, a noble and virtuous opera singer;
-Laurent Blurosset, a sinister chemist in blue spectacles who is also a psychic;
and
-a wisecracking 8-year-old boy detective named Sloshy.
How do they all meet and what happens to them? Which of them has a long-lost identical twin? Will Mr. Peters unravel the mysteries? Will Jabez get away with his heinous crimes? Is Valerie really a murderess? Does Richard know the Muffin Man? (He lives on Drury Lane.) Part farce, part thriller, all good wacky fun, this book arguably predates The Moonstone as the first real detective novel, and the plot (don't tell T.S. Eliot I said this) is a lot better constructed. And it has a lot more puns.
April 2, 2022
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it got a little drawn out in the middle and the amount of characters to keep track of was a bit much. The windy trail from beginning to end was fun and there was a lot of reveals over the course about who was who and what they were doing, which made it interesting. I liked the first half to two-thirds better than the last. It got a little dense in there... but the ending was good.
March 9, 2023
With chapter names like “the left handed smasher leaves his mark” how could you go wrong? I listened to this book while driving. There was such a good dry sense of humour. The tail was twisted, filled with twins, surprise sons and a mute detective. There was an escape from an insane asylum, a poisoning, a blue glasses fortune teller, a milk man and an endless string of other loosely connected characters.
May 25, 2021
3.5 stars. Loved Slopperton and the Sloshy (I thought some of the early chapters, in the first few paragraphs, where Braddon described The Mood of the community along with the town was just the best). I also liked when the author seemed to speak to the reader directly, and to be jabbing fun at the characters. I didn't love how tidy the end was, personally. This might be better to read with end notes, there's a lot of 1860s pop culture that went right over my head. I don't know anything about the author, but I plan to look into her after writing this review (and my next Zoom meeting); may add more if there is anything interesting!
January 28, 2022
Rounding up, I would probably give it 3.5 stars (or 7/10).
March 23, 2021
Listened to this via Phoebe Reads a Mystery. This was v amusing. I really enjoyed hearing of the adventures that all began at Slopperton on the Sloshy!
June 8, 2021
I enjoyed this very much! An interesting, twisty story, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's ironic style of writing kept me laughing, even though the story is somewhat dark and sad for a large portion of the book.
March 20, 2018
This, Braddon’s first novel, is an absolute hoot. Sarah Waters describes it as a ‘lurid, improbable’ story, and indeed it is, but it’s written with such vigour that the reader is happily swept along by every impossible coincidence, every unlikely event. The overwhelming melodrama of the plot is leavened by a pervasive and sly black humour that puts one in mind of Dickens (and is, dare I say it, less laboured and prolix than Dickens), quite different from the more carefully controlled writing in her later novels.
Since this is a sensation novel, the story deals with sensational events – murders, switched identities, madness, and – in this instance – a (mute) detective, who pre-dates The Moonstone’s Sergeant Cuff by several years, and plays a more pivotal role in the story than Inspector Bucket (Bleak House). Indeed, there’s something of the Columbo about Mr Peters, since we know the murderer’s identity from the start, and it’s the detective’s job to work out how the murder was committed and bring the miscreant to justice.
As Sarah Waters rightly notes, there is very little Victorian lady writer sentimentality in this novel. Towards the end of the book, for instance, Mr Peters rather gleefully reports the disappointment suffered by his adoptive son, who ‘bellowed for three mortal hours’ after being cheated out of seeing his murderous biological father being hanged.
Braddon’s novels might not all be of the finest quality (she was a prolific career novelist, after all, who unashamedly wrote ‘to earn plenty of money’) but she deserves to be known for more than Lady Audley’s Secret, and to be appreciated as a novelist of cracking good reads that also shed a great deal of light on some of the social problems and attitudes in mid-Victorian England.
Since this is a sensation novel, the story deals with sensational events – murders, switched identities, madness, and – in this instance – a (mute) detective, who pre-dates The Moonstone’s Sergeant Cuff by several years, and plays a more pivotal role in the story than Inspector Bucket (Bleak House). Indeed, there’s something of the Columbo about Mr Peters, since we know the murderer’s identity from the start, and it’s the detective’s job to work out how the murder was committed and bring the miscreant to justice.
As Sarah Waters rightly notes, there is very little Victorian lady writer sentimentality in this novel. Towards the end of the book, for instance, Mr Peters rather gleefully reports the disappointment suffered by his adoptive son, who ‘bellowed for three mortal hours’ after being cheated out of seeing his murderous biological father being hanged.
Braddon’s novels might not all be of the finest quality (she was a prolific career novelist, after all, who unashamedly wrote ‘to earn plenty of money’) but she deserves to be known for more than Lady Audley’s Secret, and to be appreciated as a novelist of cracking good reads that also shed a great deal of light on some of the social problems and attitudes in mid-Victorian England.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2021
This was a classic I actually enjoyed! A bit too many characters to keep track of for an audiobook, but otherwise I quite enjoyed this. The female characters were as usual largely at the male characters' mercy, but I still felt they had more depth than I would have expected.
November 7, 2023
I know I have to switch up my tactics with classics as I'm losing attention when in idiot book format a lot more lately. But also, I find this story a bit messy overall. There's too many characters for no good reasons, there's part of the secondary stories that don't really get resolved, it's hard to tell who's the main character (if there's one), and I had a hard time understanding some of the shift in the story now and then. Like when we jump into France for the first time, or towards the end where before the whole boat thing.
I have to say, I don't mind when this happens in Agatha Christie's book, when one person is related to another out of the blue. But I feel like she has a better way to ease the reader into it most of the time. Here, you get all sorts of random "Luke, I am your father" and such. There's a long lost twin, there's too many "orphans" (or abandonned bastards) to count, and so on and so forth. I had to go look at the wikipedia synopsis too many time, and still I'm not sure I got it all right.
The ending is... weirdly unsatisfactory. It doesn't end badly, but the story of too many people affected by "the bad guy" are left for you to filled out.
To be fair, it might be partially a me issue as I've been having trouble with most classics I've read this year, even the ones I read with my eyeballs instead of my ears. But the only impression this book leaves me with is: mess.
I have to say, I don't mind when this happens in Agatha Christie's book, when one person is related to another out of the blue. But I feel like she has a better way to ease the reader into it most of the time. Here, you get all sorts of random "Luke, I am your father" and such. There's a long lost twin, there's too many "orphans" (or abandonned bastards) to count, and so on and so forth. I had to go look at the wikipedia synopsis too many time, and still I'm not sure I got it all right.
The ending is... weirdly unsatisfactory. It doesn't end badly, but the story of too many people affected by "the bad guy" are left for you to filled out.
To be fair, it might be partially a me issue as I've been having trouble with most classics I've read this year, even the ones I read with my eyeballs instead of my ears. But the only impression this book leaves me with is: mess.
June 30, 2017
(Actually, I read the ebook at mobileread.com, which has a few typos, but not that many.) A rich man is murdered by a consummate villain who looks like an angel and frames an innocent man.
I loved Lady Audley's Secret, so Trail of the Serpent is right up my alley: over-the-top Victorian melodrama, with murders and madhouses and betrayals and deliciously unlikely coincidences. And told in a pseudo-Dickens style, with some genuinely funny moments and turns of phrase. (I do love Dickens.)
Braddon's first novel is actually a little paint-by-numbers, but she obviously had so much fun writing it that it's easy to forgive her, especially when she creates such interesting characters. Joe Peters--the mute detective--is a wonderful addition to Victorian detectives; and his adopted son--brought up to become a detective--is a fascinating little character. It's too bad Braddon didn't write more stories with them. And the villain is such a villain: is there anything he won't stoop to?
Some of the scenes go on a little long, and there's an incredible turn of events at the end that-- Well, Braddon does drop a hint earlier that something's happening, but it's awfully convenient.
Still, a surprisingly fun read!
I loved Lady Audley's Secret, so Trail of the Serpent is right up my alley: over-the-top Victorian melodrama, with murders and madhouses and betrayals and deliciously unlikely coincidences. And told in a pseudo-Dickens style, with some genuinely funny moments and turns of phrase. (I do love Dickens.)
Braddon's first novel is actually a little paint-by-numbers, but she obviously had so much fun writing it that it's easy to forgive her, especially when she creates such interesting characters. Joe Peters--the mute detective--is a wonderful addition to Victorian detectives; and his adopted son--brought up to become a detective--is a fascinating little character. It's too bad Braddon didn't write more stories with them. And the villain is such a villain: is there anything he won't stoop to?
Some of the scenes go on a little long, and there's an incredible turn of events at the end that-- Well, Braddon does drop a hint earlier that something's happening, but it's awfully convenient.
Still, a surprisingly fun read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews