Overview

Adam Williams, wealthy furrier and despicable human being, is killed while loveable, old, Detective Masters and the half dozen possible suspects from family and staff are with him in his study - each the perfect alibi for the others. A barrage of cryptograms and other messages written in codes hold the clues. Might it be the wife - a depressed wallflower; the son - a womanizing, self-centered, rebellious artist; the butler - a witty Englishman who may have blackmailed the victim to procure his position years before; the maid, uneducated but bright, blunt and a cryptogram fanatic; the reclusive handyman, who has been involved with the wife for years; or the victim's long-time secretary and sometimes mistress who is well remembered in the will? Motives and gadgets abound. Along the way, four other unsolved murders from the past are resolved as Masters enlists the help of this fascinating group of characters - all of them suspects. One of 17 novels in the Raymond Masters Detective Series - reviewed as cozy murder mysteries, sleuth novels, private detective fiction and detective mysteries.