12 h 47 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a quiet cathedral city conceal behind its bells, careful manners, and outward goodness?
In The Bishop's Secret, Fergus Hume draws you into a respectable world with something shameful beneath its surface. The cathedral city offers an ordered setting for a mystery built on a hidden past. Here, a secret is more than a private burden: it threatens the calm that the community works to preserve.
Blackmail gives hidden sins a dangerous reach, while clues and suspects turn the search for truth into a puzzle. Hume explores the gap between public virtue and private life. As the truth slowly emerges, the question is not only what lies concealed, but how much power that knowledge gives another person.
What you’ll discover
- Calm with something beneath Enter a cathedral city where careful manners offer no guarantee of an untroubled private life.
- The pressure of blackmail Discover how a hidden sin becomes a source of power in someone else's hands.
- A puzzle to follow Follow clues and consider suspects as the mystery moves toward the truth.
- The cost of respectability Look beneath outward goodness at the strain of keeping a shameful past concealed.
- Truth revealed by degrees Enjoy the slow uncovering that gives this old-fashioned mystery its particular pull.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Victorian detective puzzles with a wry sense of humor, cathedral-town gossip, secret engagements, blackmail plots and a cast of memorable talkers, from sharp-tongued ladies to a sailor turned missionary and private detective.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Cathedral City and Its Chorus
- A Visitor Leaves the Bishop Shaken
- The Scarred Man and the Barmaid
- Secrets Spread to Other Houses
- A Murder and a Muddled Inquiry
- Tangled Engagements and a Garden Party
- A Missionary Who Is a Detective
- The Doctor Hears a Suspicion
- What the Story Is Really About
Who’s who
- Bishop George PendleThe kindly, stately Bishop of Beorminster, who hides a dreadful secret to protect his wife and children from shame.
- Michael CargrimThe bishop's chaplain, a smooth and sly young man who wants the rich parish of Heathcroft and will use any secret to get it.
- Dr. GrahamA sharp-tongued, skeptical old doctor and the bishop's oldest friend, who warns him of coming trouble and then helps him through it.
- Mrs. PanseyAn archdeacon's widow who bullies Beorminster with her memory and her tongue, and who loves scandal above all.
- Gabriel PendleThe bishop's gentle, highly strung younger son, a curate secretly engaged to the barmaid Bell Mosk.
- Bell MoskThe bold, handsome barmaid at The Derby Winner, who wants a better life and sees Gabriel as her way to it.
- Miss WhichelloA brisk, kindly old maid who raised her niece Mab and who is troubled by a past connection to the scarred stranger.
- Ben BalticA rough sailor turned self-styled missionary and private detective, who sets out to prove the bishop innocent.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 12 h 47 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Das Geheimnis des Bischofs in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Das Geheimnis des Bischofs
by Fergus Hume · 1902
A scarred stranger interrupts a bishop's grand reception, and a scheming chaplain starts digging.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Bishop's Secret is a mystery novel by Fergus Hume, who also wrote The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. It is set in the quiet cathedral city of Beorminster, where a popular bishop seems to have everything: a fine palace, a devoted wife, a loyal flock and a family he adores.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Cathedral City and Its Chorus
The story opens with Miss Daisy Norsham, a plain and shallow spinster, arriving in Beorminster to hunt for a husband. She stays with Mrs. Pansey, an archdeacon's widow who bullies the whole diocese with her memory and her tongue. Mrs. Pansey dresses in heavy black silk and a gauze turban, and she judges everyone she meets.
On the way to the bishop's reception, she gives Daisy a running account of local society. Bishop Pendle is a time-server in her view, and his wife is a white-faced doll. Their daughter Lucy is engaged to the wealthy Sir Harry Brace. The loveliest girl in town is Mab Arden, niece of the brisk Miss Whichello, and Mr. Cargrim, the bishop's chaplain, is a Jesuit in disguise.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Das Geheimnis des Bischofs
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Bishop's Secret about?
It follows a Victorian bishop whose peaceful life is shaken when a scarred stranger visits him at a reception. A murder follows, a scheming chaplain suspects him, and a private detective sets out to learn the truth.
Who is Mother Jael in The Bishop's Secret?
Mother Jael is an old gypsy fortune-teller who camps on Southberry Heath. She knew the murdered man, follows the bishop in a red cloak, and later gives the detective a vital clue.
Who wrote The Bishop's Secret?
Fergus Hume wrote it. He was a popular Victorian novelist, best known for The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, and he died in 1932. This book shows his talent for comic characters and tangled plots.
The author
Fergus Hume
1859–1932 · English mystery novelist
Fergus Hume (1859–1932) was a British novelist born in England. He grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand, and moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1885. He published The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in 1886. He returned to England in 1888 and continued writing crime novels, including The Green Mummy.
More by Fergus Hume
All 9 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
