Summary
Summary of In Jeopardy
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A funeral interrupts Hugh's idle life
Hugh Hildebrand has few clients and little reason to disturb his comfortable life in Philadelphia. Then a letter announces the funeral of Francis Graeme, a cousin he met only once. Their brief friendship had been warm, but Hugh expects no more than a small keepsake.
Travelling south, he finds himself delayed and walking toward the church. He wonders whether love might give his life purpose. Before he reaches the funeral, the journey has already carried him beyond his familiar routine.
Key idea 2
An inheritance awakens an old grievance
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Key idea 3
The locked room invites uncomfortable questions
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Key idea 4
Small clues unsettle the official verdict
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Key idea 5
A distant hill offers another clue
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Key idea 6
Marriage leaves the mystery still open
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Key idea 7
Jealousy breaks trust inside the house
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Key idea 8
Pride and jealousy threaten Hugh's home
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Key idea 9
Careful attention connects the scattered clues
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who like country house mysteries, locked rooms, secret passages and codes they can try to crack beside the characters, and who enjoy a storyteller with a dry, self-mocking voice and a love story woven through the puzzle.
What this book is
In Jeopardy is a mystery novel by Van Tassel Sutphen, set in Maryland just after the First World War. It follows Hugh Hildebrand, a young Philadelphia lawyer with little to do, who travels south in June 1919 for the funeral of a cousin he has met only once. He expects a small keepsake. Instead he learns that he is the heir to a great estate.
The house is called Hildebrand Hundred, and its library is the heart of the puzzle. A death there looks natural, yet a doctor, a chemist and a young woman named Betty Graeme all feel that something is wrong. Along the way you meet a bitter neighbour, a secret door, a stained glass window and a string of numbers passed on by a dying man.
The book gives you a country house mystery with clues you can weigh for yourself, a love story, and a ciphered diary that needs a clever mind to read. It begins with a letter that wakes Hugh from sleep and sends him on a train toward Crown Ferry.
In this summary
- 1A funeral letter brings Hugh southFree
- 2The Thanefords and a strange old man
- 3A will that changes everything
- 4A doctor doubts a natural death
- 5The inquest and the yellow rose
- 6Sugar Loaf and the strange lens
- 7A rival's ultimatum and a false suspect
- 8Marriage, a safe and a cipher
- 9Jealousy, a broken promise and a bound man
- 10What the story is really about
- 11How the story is told
Key point 1 of 11
A funeral letter brings Hugh south
The story opens in Philadelphia on a June morning in 1919. Hugh Hildebrand is nearly thirty, a lawyer with few clients and a steady income from his late mother's estate. A special delivery letter wakes him. It comes from the Calverton law firm of Eldon and Crawford and announces the funeral of Francis Graeme, owner of Hildebrand Hundred in King William County.
Hugh had met Graeme only once, three months earlier. The two men took to each other at once over a lunch that ran into dinner at the University Club. A planned visit to the Hundred never happened, and now Graeme is dead. Hugh expects at most a small legacy, perhaps enough for a mourning ring.
He catches the train, but a freight wreck delays it. At the little station of Crown Ferry he finds no carriage and a surly handyman. He leaves his bag and sets off on foot toward S. Saviour's Church, with barely an hour to spare.
He has a lot to say about his own idle life as he goes. He admits he adds nothing to the world and wonders if falling in love might change that. The letter has pulled him out of an easy routine, and the walk south is the first step into a very different life.
On the road he meets the new county sheriff, Greenough, who points him to a shortcut. It crosses the Thaneford land by a public right of way that the owners resent.
That’s 1 of 11 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Doctor Marcy question the apparent natural death of Francis Graeme?
Right. “He had examined Francis Graeme on the morning he died and found him in perfect health.”Not quite. “He had examined Francis Graeme on the morning he died and found him in perfect health.”
What does Eunice admit doing?
Right. “Eunice Trevor's statement admits she took the dispatch box and glued the cocoon, but denies any part in Graeme's death.”Not quite. “Eunice Trevor's statement admits she took the dispatch box and glued the cocoon, but denies any part in Graeme's death.”
How does Betty's response to the mystery differ from Hugh's?
Right. “She works out the puzzle while he sulks, and the story shows her as the true detective.”Not quite. “She works out the puzzle while he sulks, and the story shows her as the true detective.”
Questions about In Jeopardy
What is In Jeopardy by Van Tassel Sutphen about?
It is a mystery about Hugh Hildebrand, who inherits a Maryland estate from a cousin he met once. Deaths in the estate's library, a hostile neighbour and a coded diary set up a puzzle that Hugh, his wife and a chemist work to solve.
Where and when is In Jeopardy set?
The story takes place at Hildebrand Hundred, an old estate in King William County, Maryland, in the years just after 1919. It begins in Philadelphia and uses real train routes, country roads and a fictional county seat called Calverton.
What do the numbers 1-4-2-4-8 mean in the story?
They are the last message of a dying man, passed to Betty at his deathbed. What they mean is the riddle at the heart of the book.
Do I need to know about ciphers to enjoy In Jeopardy?
No. Hugh explains the main kinds of code step by step to Betty, and the chapter even prints the square used. You can follow along or simply enjoy the story, since the explanations are clear and friendly.
Who are the main characters in In Jeopardy?
Hugh Hildebrand tells the story. Betty Graeme is his future wife, Chalmers Warriner is the chemist, Doctor Marcy the physician, and John Thaneford and Eunice Trevor are the rivals. Fielding Thaneford is John's formidable father.
