6 h 48 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
What if the detective who solves your problem is also the man you should fear?
Horace Dorrington runs a private detective agency in Victorian London. He is polished, charming and quick to see through a scheme. But helping a client is not his only concern. In Arthur Morrison’s The Dorrington Deed-Box, each case offers this unscrupulous investigator something else to consider: what can he gain from it?
This collection of six crime stories opens a box of case papers filled with secrets, money and sharp talk. The cases draw on Victorian business and family life, where private troubles give Dorrington room to work. Unlike Morrison’s decent, careful Martin Hewitt, he makes cleverness feel dangerous. Solving a crime and doing right are very different things.
What you’ll discover
- A detective worth watching Meet a charming investigator whose quick mind serves his own interests before anyone else’s.
- Secrets with a price Explore cases where money and private troubles give a cunning detective something to work with.
- Cleverness without a conscience Discover how skill and dishonesty can sit comfortably together in the same polished man.
- Victorian streets and offices Step into London’s business and family life through Morrison’s plain, quick storytelling.
- Puzzles and sharp talk Follow schemes that invite you to question the investigator as closely as the crime.
Who will love it
For readers who love Sherlock Holmes and darker, more cynical detectives, and anyone curious about Victorian crime fiction, puzzles, secrets and schemes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A detective who works for himself
- Every case begins with a secret and money
- Being clever is not the same as being good
- A brisk style with a Victorian backdrop
Who’s who
- Horace DorringtonA polished London private detective with a quick mind, who takes cases for what he can gain from them.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Dorringtons Urkundenkassette
by Arthur Morrison · 1897
In Victorian London, a worried client's secret becomes an opportunity for a detective who puts profit before justice.
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In short
The Dorrington Deed-Box is a book of detective stories by Arthur Morrison, published in 1897. Its hero is Horace Dorrington, a private inquiry agent in Victorian London.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A detective who works for himself
Horace Dorrington runs a private detective agency in London. On the surface he looks like the figure Victorian readers knew from other crime tales. He is polished and confident, and he is quick at reading people and clues. Clients come to him in trouble and he takes their cases.
The difference lies in his motives. Dorrington is not driven by justice or loyalty. He is driven by profit, and he treats each client as a chance to gain something. Morrison lets the reader see this side of him from the start, so the interest lies less in whether he will solve a case and more in what he will do with the answer.
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What is The Dorrington Deed-Box about?
It is a collection of Victorian detective stories about Horace Dorrington, a London private detective. He solves cases of secrets, property and fraud, but he pursues his own profit rather than simple justice.
Who is Horace Dorrington?
Horace Dorrington is a fictional private inquiry agent created by Arthur Morrison. He is charming and skilful, but he is also unscrupulous, which makes him very different from most detectives of his time.
When was The Dorrington Deed-Box written?
It was published in 1897, during the great age of Victorian detective fiction. The stories are invented, but they draw on the real world of London offices, wealthy clients and legal papers.
The author
Arthur Morrison
1863–1945 · English novelist and journalist
Arthur Morrison (1863–1945) was an English writer and journalist. He was born in Poplar, London, and later lived in Essex and Buckinghamshire. He wrote novels and detective stories. His books include Martin Hewitt, Investigator (1894), The Dorrington Deed-Box (1897), and The Hole in the Wall (1902). He died in Chalfont St Peter.
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