7 h 6 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A killing breaks the calm of Washington society, and a coded message asks you to look beneath its polite surface.
In The Thirteenth Letter, Natalie Sumner Lincoln brings murder into the drawing rooms, offices, and official circles of Washington, D.C. A circle of people has secrets to keep, and a killing gives those secrets new weight. As you follow the clues, each suspect offers another reason to question what respectable appearances might conceal.
At the heart of the mystery is a cipher: a puzzle in writing that invites you to think alongside the investigator. Conversation, observation, and slow discovery carry the story forward. The pleasure is in weighing what you learn, testing your suspicions, and trying to reach the answer before the mystery reveals it.
What you’ll discover
- Secrets behind polite manners Look beneath respectable appearances as a crime brings private troubles into the open.
- A message in cipher Work through a coded puzzle that gives you another way into the mystery.
- Washington beyond its offices Enter a world of officials, diplomats, and families linked by long social ties.
- Clues worth lingering over Follow conversations and observations at a steady pace that leaves room for thought.
- The pleasure of suspicion Weigh the suspects and test your guesses before the answer comes into view.
Who will love it
For readers who love classic detective fiction, puzzles and ciphers, and the drawing rooms and official circles of early twentieth century Washington.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mystery set in the capital
- Polite society keeps its secrets
- A cipher invites you to think
- How to read a mystery of this age
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Read and hear Der dreizehnte Brief in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Der dreizehnte Brief
by Natalie Sumner Lincoln · 1924
A murder and a cipher draw you into Washington society, where every suspect has something to hide.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Thirteenth Letter is a mystery novel by Natalie Sumner Lincoln, an American writer who set many of her detective stories in Washington, D.C. She wrote in the early twentieth century, when the American detective novel was finding a wide audience.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A mystery set in the capital
Natalie Sumner Lincoln chose Washington as her home ground. The city was full of government clerks, officials, diplomats, and families with long social ties. That crowd made a good pool of suspects, because everyone seemed to know everyone and everyone kept something back.
A setting like this does real work in a detective story. It gives the writer a closed circle of people who meet at dinners, in offices and at public events. Each meeting can hide a motive or drop a clue. A reader learns to watch who stands near whom and who avoids a certain name.
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Who wrote The Thirteenth Letter?
The novel was written by Natalie Sumner Lincoln, an American author of detective fiction who died in 1935. She is known for mysteries set in Washington, D.C., where she drew on her knowledge of the city and its society.
What kind of book is The Thirteenth Letter?
It is a detective mystery of the early twentieth century. Books of this type centre on a murder, a group of suspects with secrets, and clues that the reader can follow, here including a puzzle in cipher.
Where is The Thirteenth Letter set?
The story is set in Washington, D.C. Lincoln often used the capital as her backdrop, with its official circles, drawing rooms and government offices giving her mysteries their atmosphere and their pool of suspects.
The author
Natalie Sumner Lincoln
1881–1935 · American crime writer
Natalie Sumner Lincoln was an American crime writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was born there in 1881 and died in 1935. She wrote mystery novels in the early twentieth century. Her books include The Trevor Case, The Thirteenth Letter, and The Red Seal.
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