| Bishop William Mallory from Australia comes to Mason for help with an inheritance problem. He claims that the wealthy Renwold C. Brownley had years ago sabotaged his son's marriage and driven his wife, Julia Branner, to give her baby girl up for adoption. After his son died, the grandfather started hunting for his lost grand-daughter and the detective agencies he hired have now brought a young woman who claims to be the long lost heir. Julia claims that the woman is a fake. Mason takes the case, but suspects the Bishop is a fake, because he stutters.
Mason has the Bishop followed. The Bishop gets attacked in his hotel room and disappears while he is boarding a ship. While Mason is trying to take two and two and make a four, the wealthy grand-father is murdered, and all the fingers point to Julia. Julia turns to Mason for help. Mason is left trying to convince himself that his client is innocent, with more than one mystery to solve, about the disappearing bishop, the fake daughter and the dead grandfather. This novel contains more focus on the events than on the courtroom scenes, so if you are looking for exciting legal dialogues, this one might disappoint you. The mystery by itself is very well crafted. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - very upbeat How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 40% Special suspect? - relative Murder of certain profession? Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes General Crime (including known murderer) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - money/treasure Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting United States Yes The US: - West Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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