Judith Lee

Judith Lee has a rare gift: she can read spoken words from a distance, a talent that proves dangerous when, as a child, she overhears two men plotting the theft of a valuable silver collection from Myrtle Cottage, including a prized Charles II salt-cellar. Her decision to investigate leads her straight into the hands of the thieves, who bind and gag her, cut off her long hair, and leave her humiliated, wounded, and alone with a crucial whispered clue: "Cotterill, Cloak-room, Victoria Station, Brighton Railway." Freed by Mr. Colegate, Judith pursues the trail to Victoria Station, where her uncanny lip-reading identifies the attacker again and exposes a cloak-room bag containing not silver but women's clothing packed with priceless jewels. The discovery reveals a far larger international conspiracy, and Judith's sharp eye soon helps detectives storm Bantock's suspicious shop, where she publicly identifies her assailant and seizes the knife used against her, turning personal outrage into a breakthrough. That same instinct for hidden meaning draws Judith into a new mystery when a desperate call from the Godwin household brings her to a family in crisis. Young May Godwin begs for help after her sister Lucille vanishes amid quarrels with her fiancé Jack Upcott, a troubling attachment to George Ratton, visits to a palmist named Isolda, and a string of strange messages, notes, and clues that suggest jealousy, manipulation, and scandal beneath the surface. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.