A case from the catalogue
A fog-choked autumn evening at Chiltern Manor. The library and long gallery host the final, tense viewing of the legendary Hartington porcelain collection. Beneath the veneer of sherry and polite murmurs, financial ruin and bitter grudges simmer among the assembled dealers, collectors, and the widowed Lady Hartington.
Open this fileMr. Alistair Finch — A charming but ruthless London dealer, notorious for 'gentlemanly gazundering'—last-minute price reductions that have financially ruined several in the room. Found dead in the long gallery.
Widow and owner of the collection — Seller; desperate for the sale to save the estate. Finch was the lead buyer but had threatened to pull out.
Local auctioneer, genteel but nearly bankrupt — Finch's gazundering had ruined Barnes's reputation and left him personally liable for the auction guarantees.
Rival collector with a deep-seated grudge — Finch had gazundered Croft on a previous sale, costing him a priceless collection and public embarrassment.
Lady Hartington's loyal, old-family solicitor — Finch had discovered an irregularity in the estate's trust documents that Ashworth had overseen, and was blackmailing him.
Finch's quiet, efficient personal secretary — Finch's employee. She knew all his deals and secrets. He had recently refused her a promised partnership.
The culprit, the alibis and the clue logic are locked before your first chapter. The narrator does not know the solution: it can neither leak it nor rewrite it when you close in.