6 h 30 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 30 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A gray envelope waits beside a clock, and a mother pushes her daughter toward a decision she fears.
In James Hay’s "No Clue!", Catherine Brace wants Mildred to post a letter before the midnight collection. Mildred hesitates, while Gene waits in the next room. The address is Sloanehurst. Neither woman speaks openly about what the letter demands, but their bitter exchange makes clear how much they believe depends on sending it.
At Sloanehurst, consulting detective Jefferson Hastings regrets letting Judge Wilton draw him into talking about his cases. Modest and more comfortable listening, he worries that he has bored his host, Arthur Sloane. He does not know a brutal crime awaits him. This American puzzle mystery sets secrets against an investigator whose patience matters most when answers seem out of reach.
What you’ll discover
- A letter under pressure An envelope beside the mantel clock turns a private disagreement into a tense decision.
- A mother’s hard resolve Catherine’s anger and sudden restraint make Mildred’s hesitation feel dangerous before the letter leaves.
- A quietly engaging detective Meet Hastings, whose modesty and humor offer a welcome contrast to the household’s tensions.
- Secrets worth questioning Weigh private motives and uncertain appearances as the mystery invites you to form your suspicions.
- The pleasure of persistence Follow an investigator who returns to questions and small facts rather than abandoning a cold trail.
Who will love it
Readers who like puzzles built from small clues, a thoughtful older detective, a country house full of secrets, and a villain you love to dislike. Fans of early twentieth century American mysteries will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A gray envelope sets a plan moving
- A quiet guest wakes to a murder
- Three stories, one daughter, one hiring
- A dagger, a bed slat, and a cold mother
- An alibi that holds and a host who refuses
- Webster collapses and Lucille tells her secret
- Money, a bribe, and a case that seems closed
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Jefferson HastingsA stout, kindly consulting detective who whittles while he thinks and takes charge at the scene of the crime, determined to find the real killer.
- Lucille SloaneArthur Sloane's brave young daughter, who hires Hastings to find the murderer and to protect her father and her fiancé.
- Arthur SloaneA wealthy, nervous host with a love of crime books, who hides in bed behind smelling salts and refuses to explain his night.
- Berne WebsterA brilliant young lawyer, engaged to Lucille, who is in debt and was found beside the dead woman, his former stenographer.
- Mrs. Catherine BraceThe dead woman's cold, sharp-eyed mother, who feels no visible grief and pushes her own accusation with fierce skill.
- Eugene RussellA timid real estate clerk who loved Mildred, followed her to Sloanehurst, and swears he is innocent.
- Sheriff CrownA vain, eager country sheriff facing an election, who wants a quick arrest and is easily flattered.
- Judge WiltonSloane's gruff old friend, a judge nicknamed Hard Tom, who helped find the body and keeps his thoughts to himself.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 30 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Pas d’indice ! 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.
Pas d’indice !
by James Hay · 1920
A detective in a baggy nightshirt kneels over a stabbed woman on a rich man's lawn, and no one will tell him the truth.
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In short
No Clue! is a detective novel by James Hay, an American writer who died in 1936. It takes place in a hot Virginia July, at a colonial mansion called Sloanehurst outside Washington, and it follows an aging consulting detective, Jefferson Hastings, through the week after a young woman is stabbed on the lawn.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A gray envelope sets a plan moving
The story opens in a stuffy Washington apartment on a summer night, close to midnight. Catherine Brace paces from the mantel to the window and back, glancing again and again at an oblong gray envelope propped against the clock. She is lean, high shouldered and hard, a woman who seems to press her will on every room she enters. In her mind, the envelope holds great power.
Her daughter Mildred is supposed to mail it, and Mildred is no longer sure. She says it is too late, that they cannot manage the man it is meant for. Her mother answers with such cold scorn that the girl falls silent. A caller named Gene waits in the living room, and Mrs. Brace points toward him with a laugh that says more than words could.
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What is No Clue! by James Hay about?
It is a detective novel in which a young woman is stabbed on the lawn of Sloanehurst, a Virginia mansion. Consulting detective Jefferson Hastings, a guest at the house, is hired by the owner's daughter to find the killer and protect her family.
Who is Jefferson Hastings?
Hastings is the detective at the center of the book. He is a stout, kindly man in his fifties who whittles wood while thinking, dislikes attention, and has a gift for reading people. He once worked for the Department of Justice.
What is the gray envelope in No Clue!?
It is an oblong gray envelope that Mildred Brace mails on the night before the murder, addressed to someone at Sloanehurst. Nobody admits receiving it, and a scrap of its flap, marked with wet ink, becomes the central clue.
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