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危機、本版の表紙

Story summary

危機のあらすじ

  • 読了8分
  • 10 parts
  • 音声は近日公開

A stranger inherits a Maryland estate, and the seat at its library desk may be deadly.

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危機の概要

要約:読むのに8 minかかります

読書時間
約3 h 50 min3 h fast, 4 h 30 min slow
所要時間
54,400語
ライブラリ内の難易度
標準 longer sentences, everyday words
初版刊行年
1922by ヴァン・タッセル・サトフェン

Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日

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危機 in short

In Jeopardy follows a young man who comes to a Maryland funeral for a small keepsake and ends up master of a great house. Hugh Hildebrand finds a woman who becomes his wife, an enemy in the neighboring family, and a library where men have died. A doctor doubts a death, a jury finds nothing, and a chemist notices a rose, a cocoon, and a lens.

What 危機 is about

What would you do if a man you met only once left you his whole estate? Hugh Hildebrand, a young Philadelphia lawyer with little to do, gets a short letter in June 1919. It asks him to attend the funeral of a distant cousin in Maryland and to hear a will read. He expects a small keepsake. He gets a great house.

In Jeopardy is a mystery novel by Van Tassel Sutphen, set in tidewater Maryland just after the First World War. Hugh tells the story himself. You get a painted library, a secret door, a hidden lookout, a rival family, and a cipher with a key that must be guessed.

対象読者. Readers who like a country house puzzle with a hidden door, a family feud, a cipher to work out, and a love story running through it.

The story in 10 parts

  1. Key idea 1 · free to read

    A letter calls Hugh to a funeral

    Hugh Hildebrand is a young lawyer in Philadelphia, living on a quarterly income from his mother's estate. He has few clients and plenty of golf. One June morning in 1919 a special delivery letter wakes him. It invites him to the funeral of Francis Graeme, lord of Hildebrand Hundred in Maryland.

    Hugh met Graeme only once, three months before, when the older man walked into his office, claimed him as a cousin, and took him to lunch. Now the cousin is dead, and the letter says Hugh is named in the will.

    He expects a small legacy, perhaps enough for a mourning ring. He gets off the train at a lonely flag station and decides to walk. A farmer points him to a shortcut across a neighbor's land, a right of way the owner resents. Before he reaches the funeral, he has found an enemy.

    A modest man on a small errand begins the tale, because Hugh does not know what he is walking into.

  2. 2

    Hugh meets the Thanefords on a shortcut

    On the path to the church a powerful young man with black, V-shaped eyebrows stops Hugh.

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  3. 3

    The will makes Hugh master of the Hundred

    At the funeral Hugh meets the lawyer, Mr. Eldon, and the two mourners, Betty Graeme and her cousin Eunice Trevor.

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  4. 4

    A doctor doubts how Francis Graeme died

    After dinner on the first night, Doctor Marcy makes a quiet confession.

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  5. 5

    An inquest, a secret door, and a yellow rose

    The doctor withdraws his death certificate, and John Thaneford, who happens to be the coroner, must hold an inquest.

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  6. 6

    A lookout on Sugar Loaf and a strange lens

    Next morning Warriner studies the library with a hammer and a steel rod.

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  7. 7

    The dying man's numbers and the safe

    Betty tries to reach Fielding Thaneford.

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  8. 8

    A warning from the dead and a marriage under strain

    Hugh explains the main kinds of cipher to Betty, and he makes her a square of letters for a system called the Undecipherable Cipher.

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  9. 9

    What the story says about inheritance, trust, and jealousy

    The book is about what we inherit and what it costs.

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  10. 10

    How the story is told and what to watch for

    Hugh tells the story in his own voice, years later.

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Read all 10 key ideas now

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Characters, plot and themes

Main characters

  • Hugh Hildebrand A young Philadelphia lawyer who tells the story and unexpectedly inherits Hildebrand Hundred. He wants to do the right thing and to win Betty.
  • Betty Graeme Francis Graeme's adopted daughter, warm and clever. She wants to protect her family and to learn the secret behind her father's death.
  • John Thaneford A rough, dark neighbor and cousin who believes the Hundred should be his. He wants the estate and will not accept losing it.
  • Fielding Thaneford John's very old father, hairless and silent. After a stroke he tries to pass on one last message through numbers.
  • Chalmers Warriner A chemist and moth collector with a sharp eye for small clues. He wants to understand how Francis Graeme died.
  • Eunice Trevor Betty's pale, bitter cousin, who has lived as a poor relation. She wants to help John Thaneford and she holds secrets.
  • Doctor Marcy The scarred local physician who doubts that his friend Francis Graeme died of natural causes and presses for an inquest.

How it ends (spoiler)

The danger is a deadly ray of sunlight. Years before, Fielding Thaneford set a special lens in the library window so that the June sun would strike whoever sat in the master's chair. Repairs moved the lens, so Hugh is spared and John Thaneford dies in its path. Betty and Warriner, who were never lovers, save Hugh. The library burns, the windows are replaced, and Hugh and Betty are reconciled.

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『危機』についての質問

What is In Jeopardy by Van Tassel Sutphen about?

It is a mystery about Hugh Hildebrand, a Philadelphia lawyer who inherits a Maryland estate from a cousin he met once. He soon finds that deaths in the library may not be natural, and a rival neighbor wants the estate.

Who is John Thaneford in the novel?

John Thaneford is Hugh's cousin and neighbor, a dark and fierce young man who believes Hildebrand Hundred should be his. His father, Fielding Thaneford, is a silent, hairless old man who holds a family secret.

What do the numbers 1-4-2-4-8 mean?

They are the last message a dying man gives to Betty. The numbers open a safe holding a coded diary, and they also work as a clue to the key needed to read the cipher in the book.

When is In Jeopardy set and is it a true story?

It is a work of fiction set in Maryland in 1919 and the years after. The estate, families, and events are invented, though the setting reflects real postwar life in the American South.

Is In Jeopardy easy to follow?

Yes, in the sense that it has a clear first-person voice, short chapters, and a steady stream of clues. Hugh explains each puzzle as he goes, so a reader can follow the ciphers and the clues along with him.

この版を引用します

Sutphen, Van Tassel. In Jeopardy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-jeopardy.

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危機の要約を最後まで無料で読めます

  • 200,000+の古典を電子書籍、オーディオブック、15分で読める要約で楽しめます。紙の本と大活字本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
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無料で始めます本日のお支払いはありません。初年度は一日あたりUSD 0.14、その後は一日あたりUSD 0.27です。
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