Unravelled Knots

Baroness Orczy's Unravelled Knots returns to the sharp-eyed, sardonic "Old Man in the Corner," who delights in exposing the failures of police detection over tea and conversation. In these intricately plotted mysteries, quiet country houses, polished society, and hidden motives conceal crimes that seem impossible to solve. The first case, "The Mystery of the Khaki Tunic," centers on Miss Mary Clarke, a reserved poultry farmer found dead in a locked room at Hardacres, and her disreputable brother Arthur, whose social ease and dubious finances make him an easy suspect. Gas, a missing key, a torn khaki tunic, and rumors of blackmail and compromising letters build a seemingly airtight case against him. At the inquest, conflicting alibis, testimony from Lady Foremeere, Lord Foremeere, and Miss St. Jude, and a revealing detail about the tunic itself overturn the apparent certainty of guilt. A second scandal follows, involving Allan Carysfort and the assault on Mr. Stonebridge, where public suspicion races ahead of proof. The Old Man then exposes a deeper fraud involving Felix Shap and Julian Lloyd, built on forged affidavits, false claims, and blackmail. Across these cases, Orczy blends murder, deception, class tension, and courtroom suspense into elegant puzzles of misdirection and revelation. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.