The Wolves and the Lamb

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. In J. S. Fletcher's The Wolves and the Lamb, a London law office becomes the hunting ground for greed, secrecy, and deception when John Carsdale learns that twenty-one-year-old Richard Shrewsbury has inherited a fortune of three hundred thousand pounds. Carsdale and his elegant colleague Mrs. Walsingham quickly size up the inexperienced young man, who has arrived from the West Indies alone, trusting, and eager for guidance after seeking help from his late father's old friend, Barclay Leverton. When Leverton's death is announced and Richard appears in person, Carsdale launches a smooth, fatherly campaign to win his confidence, while Mrs. Walsingham watches for threats from Leverton's sharp daughter, Frances. But respectable appearances conceal a darker business. Hidden papers, a locked room, a dead man's secrets, and a mysterious necklace draw the characters into a tangled struggle over ownership, loyalty, and control. As Blair, Burgoyne, and others maneuver around the jewels, Mrs. Walsingham and Carsdale scheme to keep both the real and imitation stones in their hands, even as Burgoyne grows determined to protect Richard from manipulation. Blair then stages a theatre-and-supper test to expose whether Mrs. Walsingham is wearing the stolen diamonds, and a shabby stranger's watchful presence suggests the danger is only beginning.