Books › Blue Hand
Blue Hand
First published 1999 · 327 pages
A classic vintage mystery where shadowy inheritances and hidden pasts collide in a tense game of cat and mouse.
What it feels like
This classic 1920s adventure delivers a brisk, suspenseful experience steeped in the atmosphere of old money and long-buried secrets. The mood is distinctly shadowy and tense, built around the creeping dread of mysterious intruders and the looming threat of a ruthless antagonist. It feels like a traditional parlor mystery that steadily expands into a broader tale of peril, driven by an earnest protagonist desperately piecing together a puzzle of missing heirs and dangerous suitors. The narrative pulls the reader through a web of suspicious neighbors and hidden identities, maintaining a dramatic, inquisitive tone throughout. It will thoroughly delight fans of vintage suspense who love the texture of early twentieth-century thrillers, where romance and peril walk hand-in-hand.
- Mood
- mysterious
- tense
- shadowy
- intriguing
- Tone
- suspenseful
- dramatic
- inquisitive
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden identities · corrupting wealth · protective love · uncovering the past
- The writing
- Classic 1920s adventure prose that prioritizes unfolding mysteries, dramatic revelations, and steady suspense.
- The arc
- Moves from uneasy suspicion to urgent, protective determination as long-buried secrets unravel.
- Who it's for
- Readers who enjoy vintage mysteries, secret inheritances, and classic adventure setups featuring earnest investigators and hidden pasts.
Content notes
- unwanted pursuit
- threats of violence
About the book
Jim Steele, a clerk for a prominent London attorney, has the distasteful task of assisting a notorious client, Digby Groat, who stands to inherit the Jonathan Danton fortune. Danton’s infant daughter and closest heir, Dorothy, was thought to have died in a boating accident twenty years ago. Adding to the mystery, Dorothy’s mother, Lady Mary Danton, also disappeared around the same time. Jim receives alarming news that his new love interest, Eunice, has accepted a new job as live-in secretary to Digby’s mother. Soon after, Eunice receives a message from a mysterious intruder that her life is in danger and that she should leave the Digby house. As time passes, it becomes apparent that Digby, ruthless in his pursuit of wealth and women, has set his sights on Eunice. Eunice’s parents have passed away, but something in her history doesn’t sit well with Jim’s inquiring mind. As he investigates he’s surprised to learn that his neighbor, a beautiful invalid, has also been making inquiries about Eunice’s past, and has more than a casual interest in both Eunice and Jim. Blue Hand was published in 1925.
Description from Open Library.
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