Story summary
Samenvatting van De dode brief
- 8 min. leestijd
- 11 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A clerk in the Dead Letter Office opens a two-year-old letter that points to an unsolved murder.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · We mailen je voordat je betaalt · Online opzeggen in twee klikken
De dode brief in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 6 h 10 min4 h 55 min fast, 7 h 20 min slow
- Lengte
- 88.300 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1866by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van De dode brief, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
De dode brief in short
The Dead Letter is a mystery that runs in a circle. A clerk opens a misdirected note, remembers the murder of Henry Moreland in a stormy village two years earlier, and takes the note to a gifted detective. Together they follow a trail of small things, from a broken chain to a handkerchief to a hollow in an oak.
What De dode brief is about
A clerk sits in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, sorting mail that never found its owner. His hands stop over a yellowed envelope, delayed for nearly two years. The note inside is short and strange, and it carries him back to the worst night of his life.
The Dead Letter was written by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor, who published it in 1866 under the pen name Seeley Regester. Richard Redfield, a young lawyer, tells of a murder in the Hudson River village of Blankville. Many place it among the first American detective novels. You get the people, the clues and the ideas that drive them.
Voor wie is het?. This is for readers who love a mystery built from clues, a detective with unusual gifts, a haunted house, a faithful love story, and a wide sweep from a Hudson village to the Pacific coast.
The story in 11 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A stale letter sends a clerk back
Richard Redfield works in the Dead Letter Office in Washington, cutting open lost mail. The work is so dull that his fingers move without him. Then one envelope stops them.
It is addressed to John Owen at Peekskill, and its postmark reads October 18, 1857. The date means something to Redfield, though he cannot say why. Inside is a note full of riddles about a disappointed order, a day good for taking a picture, and a plan that has failed.
To explain his shock, Redfield goes back two years to Blankville. He is a law student in the office of John Argyll, and one stormy Saturday he spends the evening with the family. Eleanor, the daughter, glows because her fiancé Henry Moreland comes out every Saturday by train. Redfield loves her in secret. This night Henry does not come.
A small, odd object can hold the end of a very large story.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
A murder in the rain breaks a household
At breakfast on Sunday a servant asks for Mr. Argyll and Redfield.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
A strange young woman draws suspicion
At the Argyll gate, Redfield notices a pale young woman staring at the covered body with wild black eyes.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
A robbery and a detective with sharp eyes
On Monday Mr. Argyll says a second blow has fallen.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
Small clues point to the sewing girl
Burton travels to Blankville to see the ground himself.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
A child's gift and a chase through the city
Weeks pass with no progress.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
A haunted villa and a friend turned stranger
Mrs. Scott tells Redfield that Moreland Villa is haunted.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
The dead letter returns and a ship sails west
The second half begins where the book began.
- 9Begin gratis met lezen
Suspicion is a weapon that circumstances can load
The book keeps asking how easily an honest man can look guilty.
- 10Begin gratis met lezen
Love and devotion drive nearly everyone
Almost every person in the book is moved by love.
- 11Begin gratis met lezen
A first-person voice, a method, and a landscape
Redfield tells his own story, and the choice shapes everything.
Read all 11 key ideas now
3 months free, then USD 0,14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- We mailen je voordat je betaalt
- Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Richard Redfield A young law student who loves Eleanor in secret and vows to find Henry Moreland's murderer, then finds himself under suspicion.
- Mr. Burton A calm, brilliant detective with a gift for reading faces and handwriting, who works for conviction and keeps his theories close.
- Eleanor Argyll The beautiful daughter of John Argyll, engaged to Henry Moreland, who is left broken by his death and keeps faith with his memory.
- Leesy Sullivan A talented, proud seamstress who carries a secret and a child, and keeps turning up where she should not.
- Mary Argyll Eleanor's lively younger sister, who keeps believing in Redfield when almost everyone else stops.
- John Argyll A kind, prosperous lawyer who treats Redfield as a son, then is slow to explain his growing coldness.
- Lenore Burton The detective's frail young daughter, a gifted singer and clairvoyant, whom her father tries to protect.
- Mrs. Scott The Moreland gardener's wife, a sturdy, kind woman who believes the empty villa is haunted.
How it ends (spoiler)
The Dead Letter is traced to George Thorley, a hired assassin found in Mexico under a false name. Burton brings his written confession and Leesy Sullivan to the Argyll library. There he names James Argyll as the man who paid for the murder, and James tries to escape before being banished. Redfield is cleared and welcomed back. He marries Mary, while Eleanor stays faithful to Henry's memory.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of De dode brief opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Vragen over De dode brief
What is The Dead Letter about?
It follows Richard Redfield, a clerk who finds an old, puzzling letter that seems tied to the murder of his friend Henry Moreland. With the help of a detective named Burton, he pursues the trail from Blankville to New York and California.
Who wrote The Dead Letter and when?
Metta Victoria Fuller Victor wrote it and published it in 1866 under the pen name Seeley Regester. Readers often call it one of the earliest American detective novels, set just before the Civil War, in 1857.
Who is Mr. Burton in The Dead Letter?
Burton is a New York detective who lost his fortune to an unpunished fire and now hunts the guilty. He reads faces and handwriting, uses his daughter Lenore's trance gift, and shares his thoughts with Redfield only in part.
Who is Leesy Sullivan?
Leesy is a gifted seamstress who once sewed for the Moreland family. Her strange comings and goings, a lost handkerchief and a mysterious child make her the first person Redfield suspects, though her reasons are not what they seem.
Is The Dead Letter easy to read today?
Yes, in the sense that the plot moves through clear scenes, with short chapters, vivid storms, a haunted house and a chase across the city. The narrator speaks warmly to the reader, so the mystery stays easy to follow.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller. The Dead Letter. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dead-letter.
Victor, M. V. F. (2026). The dead letter. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dead-letter (Original work published 1866)
Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller. The Dead Letter. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dead-letter.
@book{victor2026dead,
author = {Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller},
title = {The Dead Letter},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dead-letter},
note = {First published 1866}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian Gray3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van De dode brief, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
