9 h 50 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 50 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A fortune is at stake, suspects vanish, and every uncertain story gives the chase a new direction.
In The Million-Dollar Suitcase, Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry put money, clues and pursuit at the heart of a detective mystery. A valuable prize draws attention, while people whose stories do not quite fit leave an investigator to separate truth from bluff. The puzzle matters, but so does keeping up with the hunt.
This is brisk, plot-driven crime fiction, where stolen wealth and disappearing suspects keep certainty out of reach. MacGowan and Newberry build the appeal around clear plotting and forward motion. If you enjoy weighing a doubtful account while the action presses on, the story offers both a mystery to untangle and a chase to follow.
What you’ll discover
- A fortune worth pursuing A valuable prize gives the mystery its pull and the pursuit its stakes.
- Stories that do not fit Follow an investigator sorting truth from bluff among accounts that leave room for doubt.
- Suspects who slip away Vanishing suspects make the hunt as compelling as the puzzle at its heart.
- Clues with forward motion Enjoy a trail of clues woven into brisk action rather than a leisurely investigation.
- Two writers, clear plotting Discover MacGowan and Newberry's shared craft through a mystery built for pace.
Who will love it
Perfect for readers who love locked-room puzzles, clever deductions and quick banter, and for anyone who enjoys a daring hero, a sharp-eyed heroine and a small town full of secrets.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A teller and a suitcase vanish from a sealed room
- Nobody can describe the man who vanished
- A returned soldier buys the stolen suitcase
- A prodigy sits down at a wedding supper
- Barbara reasons out the impossible exit
- The trail leads to a hotel and a vanished gambler
- A father lies dead in a bolted study
- Diaries, secrets and a town under suspicion
- What the story is really about
Who’s who
- Jerry BoyneA veteran bank detective who tells the story, loves Worth like a son, and trusts plain police methods until Barbara teaches him otherwise.
- Worth GilbertA restless captain home from France who buys the stolen suitcase for the thrill of the chase and never explains himself.
- Barbara WallaceA bookkeeper and former child prodigy with a perfect memory who hates her gift but uses it to solve the cases.
- Edward ClayteA forgettable bank teller who walks out with the money and cannot be described by anyone who knows him.
- CummingsThe bank's sharp lawyer, who suspects Worth and grows fond of Barbara.
- Thomas GilbertWorth's stern father, who writes cutting diaries on his neighbors and is found dead in a bolted study.
- Ina VandemanWorth's former fiancée, a poised society bride who keeps her secrets behind unreadable eyes.
- Bronson VandemanIna's polished new husband, a smiling social leader of Santa Ysobel who is eager to help.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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La valigia da un milione di dollari in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La valigia da un milione di dollari
by Alice MacGowan; Perry Newberry · 1922
A soldier home from France buys a stolen suitcase and stakes his fortune on the hunt.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A suitcase holding nearly a million dollars disappears from a locked room seven stories up. Who could pull that off, and how?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A teller and a suitcase vanish from a sealed room
The story opens in San Francisco at the Van Ness Avenue Savings Bank. After closing on a Saturday, the cashier finds a shortage, and the trail points to Edward Clayte, a paying teller who walked out with a brown suitcase. The bank is missing almost a million dollars.
Jerry Boyne, head of a bankers' detective agency, tells the tale in a dry, weary voice. He follows close behind Clayte. A desk clerk at the St. Dunstan apartments saw him come in, and a woman mending carpet on the seventh floor saw him step out of the elevator and enter his room. Yet when Boyne gets there, the three windows are fixed with burglarproof locks, the door is secured, and neither Clayte nor the suitcase is inside.
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What is The Million-Dollar Suitcase about?
A San Francisco bank teller walks out with nearly a million dollars and vanishes from a locked room. Detective Jerry Boyne, a returned soldier named Worth Gilbert and a gifted young woman, Barbara Wallace, chase the thief.
Who is Edward Clayte?
Clayte is the paying teller at the Van Ness Avenue Savings Bank who leaves with the suitcase. Nobody who knows him can describe him, which is the first great puzzle of the book.
Why does Worth Gilbert buy the suitcase?
He offers eight hundred thousand dollars for the stolen suitcase and its contents, wanting a big gamble to relieve his boredom after the war. The agreement makes Worth the owner of the suitcase and its listed contents.
The author
Alice MacGowan
1858–1947 · American novelist
Alice MacGowan was an American author who lived from 1858 to 1947. She wrote novels and short stories, sometimes with her sister, Grace MacGowan Cook. She also collaborated with Perry Newberry. Their novel The Million-Dollar Suitcase was published in 1922. She lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and later in Carmel, California.
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