By the 1930s , though his public success remained considerable , many literary critics saw Walpole as outdated . His reputation in literary circles took a blow from a malicious caricature in Somerset Maugham 's 1930 novel Cakes and Ale : the character Alroy Kear , a superficial novelist of more pushy ambition than literary talent , was widely taken to be based on Walpole . In the same year Walpole wrote possibly his best @-@ known work , Rogue Herries , a historical novel set in the Lake District . It was well @-@ received : The Daily Mail considered it " not only a profound study of human character , but a subtle and intimate biography of a place . " He followed it with three sequels ; all four novels was published in a single volume as The Herries Chronicle .