| Wealthy and beautiful bluestocking Francesca Cahill is a woman extraordinaire. At 20 years old, she is a free-thinking reformist. She heads countless organizations, helps the poor, and studies full-time in a college. At the same time she goes to dress fittings, attends parties, and meets with men whom her mother introduces to her. Although the pressure of getting married is burdening her, she still waits for her perfect man - a man who has the same ideals, an unblemished honor, and most importantly, one who would understand and encourage her thinking and socio-civic activities. When Francesca meets Rick Bragg, she knows in her heart that she has finally found the right man.
Newly appointed police commissioner Rick Bragg is impressed by Francesca's beauty and much more her intelligence. However having just received his commission, Rick tries hard to be successful in his duty. He has no time for social dating and puts all of his time in his work. When the news of an abduction of a boy belonging to a noble family blows up, he spends all his time and resources in solving the case. But a distraction that keeps on interfering with his work is Francesca, who by chance obtains the first of the many clues leading to the victim. Francesca is devastated when she finds out that her next-door neighbor's son has been abducted. While perusing their mail, she accidentally gets a mail from the abductor which she immediately gives to Rick. When Rick clearly doesn't want her interfering with the case, she sets out to solve the case, piecing the clues one by one herself. While she gets more involved with the case, she learns horrifying secrets such as the mother of the abducted child has many strings of lovers despite presenting a happy marriage and her brother-in-law being one of the lovers. The most heartbreaking is that Rick has been the mother's former lover and father of the abducted child. As the abductor becomes irrational and morbid in his clues, Rick and Francesca senses that their time is quickly running out and they may be too late to save the child. Can they stop the abductor become a murderer? | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - very upbeat How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70% Special suspect? - investigator him/herself Misc. Murder Plotlets - killer purposefully leaves puzzle clues 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 - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - revenge How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Southeast City? Yes City: - New York 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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