12 h 5 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 297 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 297 pagesAbout this book
A magistrate lies murdered in his locked library, and a soot-smudged handprint turns a quiet household into a circle of suspects.
In Arthur J. Rees’s The Hand in the Dark, the English countryside offers little shelter from fear. A respected magistrate’s death draws investigators into a household burdened by old grudges and hidden truths. From the grieving widow to the watchful butler, everyone has something to protect—and secrecy can look very much like guilt.
The investigation advances through clues, doubt and careful reasoning. Appearances mislead, motives overlap, and each discovery raises fresh questions about whom to trust. Rees invites you to weigh what people reveal against what they conceal. The stakes reach beyond finding a murderer: how can justice emerge when nobody tells the whole truth?
What you’ll discover
- A locked library Consider a seemingly impossible crime whose enclosed setting makes every clue feel close at hand.
- Secrets that resemble guilt Watch private fears and old resentments complicate the search for a killer.
- A shadowed country household Enter a quiet world where familiar rooms and guarded conversations take on menace.
- A puzzle for patient readers Follow the slow gathering of evidence and test your suspicions as the investigation unfolds.
- Motive beneath appearances Look beyond respectable surfaces to questions of deception, responsibility and what justice demands.
Who will love it
For readers who love classic puzzle mysteries, atmosphere, suspicion and careful reasoning, and fans of early twentieth century detective fiction.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fear begins with what cannot be seen
- Everyone in the story hides something
- Clues are fair, and patience pays
- Rees writes for the reader who guesses
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- 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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The Hand in the Dark
by Arthur J. Rees · 1920
A crime stirs up secrets in a small circle of suspects, and every clue offers a way to uncover the hidden hand.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Hand in the Dark is a mystery novel by Arthur J. Rees, a British writer of detective fiction in the early twentieth century.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Fear begins with what cannot be seen
The title sets the tone. A hand in the dark suggests a danger that has no face, and that idea drives the whole book. Rees works in a tradition where the first fear comes from not knowing who is acting, or why. The reader is asked to feel the dark before any solution comes.
Stories of this kind often lean on night, closed rooms, old houses and sudden silences. Such settings shrink the world, so every sound and every shadow counts. Small events start to feel large. A door left open can matter more than a long speech.
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What is The Hand in the Dark about?
It is a detective mystery by Arthur J. Rees, built around a crime, a circle of people with secrets, and the search for the truth. Its mood is dark and tense, and its pleasure lies in following the clues.
Who wrote The Hand in the Dark?
Arthur J. Rees wrote it. He was a British author of detective and mystery fiction in the early twentieth century, who died in 1942, and he wrote several other crime novels for readers of puzzle stories.
Is The Hand in the Dark a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction, written as a detective novel in the early twentieth century. Like most books of its kind, it invents its crime, its people and its puzzle to entertain the reader.
The author
Arthur J. Rees
1872–1942 · Australian mystery novelist
Arthur J. Rees (1872–1942) was an Australian writer of detective fiction. He was born in Melbourne and later lived in England. He wrote The Hand in the Dark, published in 1920, and The Moon Rock, published in 1922. He also worked as a journalist.
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