What do you think?
Rate this book
Mrs. Bradley #66
The Crozier Pharaohs
Trouble starts in the quiet coastal village of Abbots Crozier when Bryony and Morpeth, the eccentric Rant sisters of Crozier Lodge, decide to breed Pharaoh hounds, the oldest domesticated dogs in the world.
The sisters reluctantly take on a kennel-maid to care for the Pharaohs but, some time after her arrival, their Labrador, Sekhmet, is stolen. The theft leads to the discovery of a dead body in the river. Is the unidentified corpse connected with the night prowler who has been tapping on the windows of Crozier Lodge? Before the mystery can be solved, a second body is found on the moor.
When suspicion falls on the Rants’ kennel-maid, Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and Laura Gavin are called in to retrace the steps of the dead men and find out how and why they died.
The sisters reluctantly take on a kennel-maid to care for the Pharaohs but, some time after her arrival, their Labrador, Sekhmet, is stolen. The theft leads to the discovery of a dead body in the river. Is the unidentified corpse connected with the night prowler who has been tapping on the windows of Crozier Lodge? Before the mystery can be solved, a second body is found on the moor.
When suspicion falls on the Rants’ kennel-maid, Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley and Laura Gavin are called in to retrace the steps of the dead men and find out how and why they died.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Gladys Mitchell
100 books143 followersAka Malcolm Torrie, Stephen Hockaby.
Born in Cowley, Oxford, in 1901, Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell was the daughter of market gardener James Mitchell, and his wife, Annie.
She was educated at Rothschild School, Brentford and Green School, Isleworth, before attending Goldsmiths College and University College, London from 1919-1921.
She taught English, history and games at St Paul's School, Brentford, from 1921-26, and at St Anne's Senior Girls School, Ealing until 1939.
She earned an external diploma in European history from University College in 1926, beginning to write her novels at this point. Mitchell went on to teach at a number of other schools, including the Brentford Senior Girls School (1941-50), and the Matthew Arnold School, Staines (1953-61). She retired to Corfe Mullen, Dorset in 1961, where she lived until her death in 1983.
Although primarily remembered for her mystery novels, and for her detective creation, Mrs. Bradley, who featured in 66 of her novels, Mitchell also published ten children's books under her own name, historical fiction under the pseudonym Stephen Hockaby, and more detective fiction under the pseudonym Malcolm Torrie. She also wrote a great many short stories, all of which were first published in the Evening Standard.
She was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1976.
Born in Cowley, Oxford, in 1901, Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell was the daughter of market gardener James Mitchell, and his wife, Annie.
She was educated at Rothschild School, Brentford and Green School, Isleworth, before attending Goldsmiths College and University College, London from 1919-1921.
She taught English, history and games at St Paul's School, Brentford, from 1921-26, and at St Anne's Senior Girls School, Ealing until 1939.
She earned an external diploma in European history from University College in 1926, beginning to write her novels at this point. Mitchell went on to teach at a number of other schools, including the Brentford Senior Girls School (1941-50), and the Matthew Arnold School, Staines (1953-61). She retired to Corfe Mullen, Dorset in 1961, where she lived until her death in 1983.
Although primarily remembered for her mystery novels, and for her detective creation, Mrs. Bradley, who featured in 66 of her novels, Mitchell also published ten children's books under her own name, historical fiction under the pseudonym Stephen Hockaby, and more detective fiction under the pseudonym Malcolm Torrie. She also wrote a great many short stories, all of which were first published in the Evening Standard.
She was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1976.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 11, 2021
The last of Mitchell's Dame Bradley books, but far from my favorite. Psychiatrist and criminologist Dame Bradley and her secretary (whose husband is with Scotland Yard) Laura Gavin accidentally meet the two Rant sisters, who are raising a rare Egyptian breed of dogs. When their kennel maid discovers a dead body, they are afraid she will be suspected, and ask for Dame Bradley's help. A second body appears soon after--someone the women have met, but like the first body he is unidentified. Dame Bradley determines the truth, but must turn to the police to find proof of her theories. Heaven knows I don't demand a lot of action, but this is almost entirely conversational, without as much of Dame Bradley's wit as the best books in this series contain.
October 23, 2019
A very convoluted tale of 2, possibly 3 murders that take place in mid 20th century England on or near the moors and close to the sea. Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley is a psychiatrist who deals almost exclusively in solving murders. She and her assistant Laura Gavin are friends with the Rant sisters Bryony and Morpeth who have and take care of 5 Pharaoh hounds and a Labrador with the aid of Susan an orphan adopted by the former vicar and now a volunteer kennel keeper. Other individuals of note: Adams a poacher, Mortlake a physician, a pharmacists helper, the local police, a shady London PI and Scotland Yard.
February 1, 2020
Loved this book. Quirky and funny and interesting
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews