6 h 47 minAudiobook15 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
When everyone has something to hide, how do you tell a liar from someone who is simply afraid?
In The Four-Pools Mystery, Jean Webster turns to crime fiction and the pleasures of an old-fashioned puzzle. A rural Southern setting, a closed circle of suspects, and a secret someone wants kept draw you into a world of suspicion. The question is not only what has happened, but whom you can trust.
Place matters here. An isolated country setting gives the mystery its atmosphere, while hidden truths give it weight. Beneath the search for an answer lies another question: why do people conceal what they know? For readers familiar with Webster’s warm, funny stories, this novel offers a different side of her writing.
What you’ll discover
- A closed circle Follow a puzzle where a handful of people are close enough to fall under suspicion.
- A place with presence Enter a rural Southern setting that does more than provide a backdrop.
- Secrets beneath the crime Look beyond what has happened to the truths someone wants to keep hidden.
- Fear or deception Weigh the difference between someone who lies and someone who is merely afraid.
- Webster beyond familiar ground Discover the mystery writer behind an author better known for her girls’ stories.
Who will love it
Readers who like a classic whodunit with clues to weigh, a haunted old house, a lively courtship and a hero who talks his way into every room. It suits anyone fond of Southern settings and clever reporters.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A reporter who makes the news
- A homecoming to a changed house
- A ghost takes supper
- Polly, a rival and a sheet in the moonlight
- The safe is robbed and a detective arrives
- Clancy's theory and a Colonel who rules by temper
- A day at Luray Cave
- Arrest, inquest and a stubborn silence
- Terry steps off the train
Who’s who
- Arnold CrosbyA New York lawyer, worn out by a forgery case, who tells the story and sets out to clear his cousin.
- Terry PattenA cheeky Post-Dispatch reporter who solves crimes the police cannot and arrives with a ruler, a notebook and a plan.
- Colonel GaylordThe proud, quick-tempered master of Four-Pools, who rules his son and servants alike and cannot forgive his runaway daughter.
- Radnor GaylordThe Colonel's younger son, who runs the plantation and keeps a secret he will not share, even to save himself.
- Polly MathersA spoiled, charming young woman who enjoys making two suitors jealous and has to decide between them.
- Jim MattisonThe county sheriff and Radnor's rival for Polly, steady, ill-tempered and keen to prove his case.
- Cat-Eye MoseThe Colonel's yellow-eyed, half-witted servant who follows him everywhere, hunts snakes and wanders the grounds at night.
- SolomonThe old butler, full of ghost lore and gossip, who hears more than he says.
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- Audiobook
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Le mystère des Four-Pools
by Jean Webster · 1908
A tired New York lawyer rests at a Virginia plantation, where a ghost steals chickens and a safe is robbed.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Four-Pools Mystery is a detective novel by Jean Webster, who also wrote Daddy-Long-Legs. It is told by Arnold Crosby, a New York lawyer worn out by a forgery case, who goes south for a rest and walks into a haunting, a robbery and a death.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A reporter who makes the news
The story opens in New York with Arnold Crosby, a lawyer in a firm that rarely touches criminal cases. He has been handling the Patterson-Pratt forgery matter, and the publicity around it is the worst part. The cause of that publicity is Terry Patten, a reporter for the Post-Dispatch, a paper known for sensation.
Terry strolls into Arnold's office, takes a chair and begins asking impudent questions. He asks them with such friendly innocence that Arnold answers them before he can stop himself. Within a quarter of an hour Terry knows the inside of Arnold's affairs and is giving advice. Arnold is furious when he reads the paper the next morning, yet he finds himself hoping the young man will call again.
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What is The Four-Pools Mystery about?
A New York lawyer visits his uncle's Virginia plantation to rest and finds a ghost, a robbery and a death. His cousin is accused, and a clever reporter arrives to find the truth.
Who is Terry Patten?
Terry is a young Irish-American reporter for the Post-Dispatch who often solves crimes before the police. He is quick, impudent, charming and good at getting people to talk.
What is the Gaylord ha'nt?
Ha'nt is a Southern word for a haunt, or ghost. The Gaylord ha'nt is said to be the spirit of a man beaten to death by an ancestor, who walks the old cabins and laurel path.
The author
Jean Webster
1876–1916 · American novelist
Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, an American novelist born in Fredonia, New York, in 1876. She later lived in New York City, where she died in 1916. Her novels include When Patty Went to College (1903), Daddy-Long-Legs (1912), and Dear Enemy (1915).
More by Jean Webster
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