Resumen
Resumen de Peter Ruff y el Doble Cuatro
Para quién es
Readers who enjoy clever disguises, rival spies, secret societies and a hero who outwits the police with a smile. It suits anyone who likes short, brisk cases linked by one growing mystery.
De qué trata este libro
Peter Ruff and the Double Four is a set of linked adventures by E. Phillips Oppenheim, an English writer of popular thrillers who died in 1946. It comes from the years before the First World War, when readers loved clever detectives, spies and secret societies. The book follows one man through two parts and many cases, and each chapter gives you a fresh puzzle with a quick, neat solution.
Peter Ruff begins as a young crook with a hidden wish for a quiet suburban life. When the police drive him out of it, he sets up in London as a private detective, with an actress named Violet Brown as his secretary. He sells his skill to frightened people, and he cannot resist beating Scotland Yard at its own game. Soon a secret society in Paris, the Double Four, takes an interest in him.
You get disguises, telephone calls in the night, a stolen government paper, a mysterious invention, and a hero who cares as much about his tailor as about his enemies. You also get a long duel with a polished German spy. Let us start where Peter does, at a supper table in Streatham, with heavy footsteps stopping outside the gate.
En este resumen
- 1A supper table ends a respectable lifeFree
- 2A corpse on the carpet earns five hundred guineas
- 3A stolen invention and a fooled detective
- 4An actress, a shooting and a hidden room
- 5Old love sets a trap and a stolen paper
- 6The Double Four calls in its debt
- 7Paris offers a prize and Violet names her price
- 8A retired farmer becomes the Baron de Grost
- 9What lies under the adventures
Idea clave 1 de 9
A supper table ends a respectable life
The book opens on a foggy Sunday evening in November at Daisy Villa in Streatham. David Barnes, a coal merchant with Methodist leanings, carves the cold beef without his coat. His wife and daughter Maud, who has genteel hopes, study the guest of the evening. He is Spencer Fitzgerald, a mild young cashier in gold spectacles, who says he earns four pounds ten a week and has four hundred pounds put away.
The family is delighted. Mrs Barnes asks her sly questions, Mr Barnes whistles at the salary, and young Adolphus admires his own pink tie. Fitzgerald holds Maud's hand beneath the tablecloth and tells himself this is the future he truly wants. Oppenheim plays the scene as gentle comedy, but the comedy has an edge, because the reader senses that the guest is not what he seems.
Then heavy footsteps stop outside and the gate creaks. Fitzgerald listens, strolls to the window, remarks on the fog, and is gone before anyone can speak. In walks John Dory, a detective in uniform, with two policemen at his back. He asks for the guest and finds only an open window, a spilled bottle of port and a stunned family.
Fitzgerald crosses the road to a flat where Violet Brown lives. She is an actress with long narrow eyes and a green silk jacket, and she greets him as Peter. He tells her that his respectable life is over. His long walks in the country and the bookkeeping he left behind at the shop have done him in. The law has driven him from decent society, and he says the law will pay.
His plan is clever. Thieves lose most of the value of what they steal, so he will sell skill instead. As Peter Ruff, private detective, he will help nervous people out of trouble for cash, and he will match wits with Scotland Yard when it fails. Violet will become Miss Brown, his secretary and partner, on one condition: he will not be made love to. She agrees, though her heart is plainly in it.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Peter Ruff y el Doble Cuatro
What is Peter Ruff and the Double Four about?
It follows Peter Ruff, a former thief who becomes a private detective in London. He solves cases for frightened clients, outwits Scotland Yard, and is drawn into the Double Four, a powerful secret society based in Paris.
What is the Double Four in the book?
It is a secret society run from Paris. Its eight leaders live openly as men and women of fashion, while an organization of agents and criminals serves them. Its sign is a domino marked with two fours.
Who is Bernadine, also called Count von Hern?
He is a polished foreign spy who lives in England as a sportsman and guest. He keeps working against Peter Ruff and his friends, and their rivalry runs through much of the book.
Is Peter Ruff and the Double Four easy to read?
Yes, it suits many readers. The chapters work like short stories, each with its own puzzle and a clear, lively solution. The dialogue is quick, and the same few characters keep the whole book together.
What is the main message of the book?
It shows a man who wants respectable comfort yet is drawn to adventure and cleverness. The book asks where law ends and private justice begins, and it treats that question with wit and suspense.