Published in 2021 (first published 1949)
167 pages
Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of Mrs Gabrielle Margaret V[ere] Long née Campbell), was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and biography. Her total output numbers over 150 volumes with the bulk of her work under the ‘Bowen’ pseudonym. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye, and Margaret Campbell. As Joseph Shearing, she wrote several sinister gothic romances full of terror and mystery. Many of these stories were published as Berkley Medallion Books. Several of her books were adapted as films. Her books are much sought after by aficionados of gothic horror and received praise from critics.
Bowen’s alcoholic father left the family at an early age and was eventually found dead on a London street. After this, Bowen’s prolific writings were the chief financial support for her family. She was married twice: first, from 1912-16, to a Sicilian named Zefferino Emilio Constanza, who died of tuberculosis, and then to one Arthur L. Long. Her first novel was The Viper of Milan (1906), after which she produced a steady stream of writings until the day of her death on 23rd December 1952. Her last, posthumous, novel was The Man with the Scales (1954).
What is this book about?
Marjorie Bowen (1885-1952) was a prolific author of some 150 books and counted Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, and Graham Greene among her many admirers. Her most enduring work is her tales of the ghostly and supernatural, her favorites of which she collected in 1949 under the title The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories.
Included in this volume are some of her most famous stories, including ‘The Crown Derby Plate’, a classic in which a woman gets more than she bargained for when she purchases a set of old plates at an estate sale, ‘Kecksies’, an unsettling tale in which it is unclear exactly who is dead and who is not, and the title story, ‘The Bishop of Hell’, which tells of a defrocked clergyman who promises to reveal the secrets of the afterlife from beyond the dead.
This collection of twelve stories ranks among the finest volumes of British ghost stories of all time and is presented here with a new introduction by Melanie R. Anderson.
