The Dowager's Secret
- London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co, 1897
London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co, 1897. First edition. Very Good +. Publisher's yellow paper over boards. Octavo. 236 pp. Some dustsoiling to wrappers. Otherwise, very fresh and clean throughout. An attractive copy of a rare and fragile item, Very Good + OCLC records only four copies (none in the United States).
This mystery novel revolves around Frank Capel, a middle-aged, middle-class bachelor who becomes embroiled in a scandal with a noble family and its stern matriarch, the Dowager Countess Cradbroke. When Capel realizes that Elsie Winter, the paramour of his youth, is missing, he suspects that the noble family is involved. Sure enough, a maid's confession reveals that the Dowager tried to have Elsie poisoned after Elsie, a middle class woman, intended to marry the Dowager's landed son. Through the testimonies and diaries of several women (Deborah Crosby, the Dowager's maid, a witness; Judy Winter, Elsie's sister; and Charlotte Slade, the Dowager's friend, who was involved in the attempted murder), the mystery unfolds, revealing a web of characters that spans from the working class to the English aristocracy. Though Frank Capel is ostensibly the protagonist, the lengthy excerpts from the records of female characters occupy most of the work; ultimately, the novel is a murder mystery and social drama revolving around the interlocking lives of women motivated to the unthinkable by money, familial bonds, social status, and personal ambition.
We could not find much information about Mrs. Baseley (fl. ca. 1875-1905) who also published under the pseudonym Mignon. One OCLC record, mysteriously, gives her full name as Allibone Baseley, but we could not find any evidence to support this claim. Baseley may have been related to Catherine Gissing, née Baseley (1859–1937), sister-in-law of the novelist George Gissing; or "Mrs. Baseley" may have been as much a pseudonym as "Mignon." Regardless, Baseley published many short, entertaining novels, many of them in the Family Story-Teller series from the publisher William Stevens. All her works are now scarce. Baseley's novels David's Queen (1877), Millicent's Children (1882), and Sweet Anna Greyson (1888) are recorded in a few copies on OCLC, but others (including John Varney's Widow, Lady Jenny's Trials, and Lady Moreton's Governess) are recorded only in contemporary announcements of their publication. As the titles belie, her work was mostly written for women, and mostly staged against the backdrop of high society, often featuring middle-class characters becoming entwined with the lives of secretive (and sinister) aristocrats. Very Good +.
This mystery novel revolves around Frank Capel, a middle-aged, middle-class bachelor who becomes embroiled in a scandal with a noble family and its stern matriarch, the Dowager Countess Cradbroke. When Capel realizes that Elsie Winter, the paramour of his youth, is missing, he suspects that the noble family is involved. Sure enough, a maid's confession reveals that the Dowager tried to have Elsie poisoned after Elsie, a middle class woman, intended to marry the Dowager's landed son. Through the testimonies and diaries of several women (Deborah Crosby, the Dowager's maid, a witness; Judy Winter, Elsie's sister; and Charlotte Slade, the Dowager's friend, who was involved in the attempted murder), the mystery unfolds, revealing a web of characters that spans from the working class to the English aristocracy. Though Frank Capel is ostensibly the protagonist, the lengthy excerpts from the records of female characters occupy most of the work; ultimately, the novel is a murder mystery and social drama revolving around the interlocking lives of women motivated to the unthinkable by money, familial bonds, social status, and personal ambition.
We could not find much information about Mrs. Baseley (fl. ca. 1875-1905) who also published under the pseudonym Mignon. One OCLC record, mysteriously, gives her full name as Allibone Baseley, but we could not find any evidence to support this claim. Baseley may have been related to Catherine Gissing, née Baseley (1859–1937), sister-in-law of the novelist George Gissing; or "Mrs. Baseley" may have been as much a pseudonym as "Mignon." Regardless, Baseley published many short, entertaining novels, many of them in the Family Story-Teller series from the publisher William Stevens. All her works are now scarce. Baseley's novels David's Queen (1877), Millicent's Children (1882), and Sweet Anna Greyson (1888) are recorded in a few copies on OCLC, but others (including John Varney's Widow, Lady Jenny's Trials, and Lady Moreton's Governess) are recorded only in contemporary announcements of their publication. As the titles belie, her work was mostly written for women, and mostly staged against the backdrop of high society, often featuring middle-class characters becoming entwined with the lives of secretive (and sinister) aristocrats. Very Good +.