11 h 53 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a clever lie fools the investigators, but gives itself away to someone who never leaves the chair?
In Unravelled Knots, Baroness Orczy gathers thirteen short mysteries built around hidden motives, careful lies and clues laid out plainly. Homes, businesses, families and social circles look respectable on the surface. Beneath that ordinary appearance sits a puzzle, waiting for a sharp mind to see what others miss.
The pleasure is armchair detection: solving a crime through thought rather than pursuit. Official investigators work hard, but often settle too quickly on their first theory. Each self-contained tale gives you facts to weigh and an answer to guess before the explanation arrives. Can you see where the deception begins?
What you’ll discover
- Crimes solved by thought Follow a sharp mind as it untangles a case without leaving the chair.
- Secrets behind ordinary surfaces Look beneath respectable homes and social circles for the hidden motives that shape each puzzle.
- Deception that fools investigators Watch careful lies steer official investigators toward a theory that deserves a second look.
- Clues you can weigh Test your own guesses against plainly presented facts before the solution reveals its reasons.
- A mystery for spare moments Enjoy a self-contained puzzle that fits into a spare half hour and invites close attention.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy puzzle plots, inquest scenes, clashing clues, and guessing along with a sharp, sarcastic detective before he names his answer.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A teashop thinker solves what police cannot
- Early cases hang on clues that cannot agree
- Vanishings and false princes test whom to trust
- Locked rooms and cliff paths hide family secrets
- Stolen papers and a shot in the dark
- A flower, a hat and a stranger in black
- Money, wills and servants in two London houses
- The Moorland Tragedy ends the collection abroad
- Public opinion is the real villain
- A form that rewards listening
Who’s who
- The Old Man in the CornerA thin, ghostlike armchair detective who ties knots in string and claims he can solve any crime by logic alone.
- The journalist narratorA young Express Post reporter who doubts the old man's theories yet keeps returning to the teashop to hear them.
- Arthur ClarkeA charming tennis player in debt, accused of his sister's murder at Hardacres while he loves a lord's daughter.
- Louisa SmithsonA grocer's daughter, newly rich, who waits at the church in Folkestone for a Russian prince who does not arrive.
- Philip AshleyA handsome bachelor torn between his love for Muriel and a miser father who wants him married.
- Ann WeberA pretty housemaid at Fulton Gardens who keeps several admirers waiting and tells a strange story at an inquest.
- Antonio VissioAn Italian gamekeeper's assistant in Yorkshire who loves Winnie Gooden and cannot bear a rival.
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- Hardcover
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Nœuds dénoués
by Baronne Orczy · 1925
An old man in a Fleet Street teashop ties knots in string and solves the crimes that baffle Scotland Yard.
Medium level5–10 hours to readfrançais
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In short
What if the sharpest detective in London never left his chair? In a Fleet Street teashop, a young journalist finds a thin old man in huge horn-rimmed spectacles.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A teashop thinker solves what police cannot
The frame never changes. A young journalist from the Express Post walks into a Fleet Street teashop and finds the Old Man in the Corner beside the fire. He is thin and pale, with a checked coat and huge horn-rimmed spectacles. His clawlike hands are never still, because they are always tying string into knots.
His method is easy to state. He reasons from reports and inquests, but he also makes inquiries of his own. He sits through inquests and reads every paper. He takes the facts the public already knows, puts them in the order in which they happened, and asks which story fits every one of them. He calls criminology an exact science, ruled by logic.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1925
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 7 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Orczy, Emmuska. Unravelled Knots. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/unravelled-knots.
Orczy, E. (2026). Unravelled knots. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/unravelled-knots (Original work published 1925)
Orczy, Emmuska. Unravelled Knots. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/unravelled-knots.
@book{orczy2026unravelled,
author = {Orczy, Emmuska},
title = {Unravelled Knots},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/unravelled-knots},
note = {First published 1925}
}
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What is Unravelled Knots about?
It is a collection of thirteen mystery tales. In each, an old man in a London teashop tells a journalist about a crime that baffled the police, then explains his own solution while tying knots in a piece of string.
Who is the Old Man in the Corner?
He is a thin, pale armchair detective with horn-rimmed spectacles and nervous fingers that tie string into knots. He studies crimes through newspapers and inquests and delivers his answers with a dry chuckle and great self-satisfaction.
What does the string and its knots mean?
The string is the old man's habit and sign of thought, since his fingers work it while his mind works the case. It also links the thirteen tales, and the knots return in the closing pages in a surprising way.
The author
Baroness Orczy
1865–1947 · Hungarian-born British novelist
Baroness Orczy (1865–1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. Born Emma Orczy in Tarnaörs, Hungary, she moved to London in 1880. She wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel, published in 1905, and detective stories, including The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. She died in London.
More by Baronne Orczy
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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