Story summary
The Agony Column summary
- 8 min read
- 8 parts
- Audio soon
An American in London addresses a stranger through the newspaper, and a murder soon fills his letters.
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The Agony Column at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 1 h 40 min1 h 20 min fast, 2 h slow
- Length
- 23,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1916by Earl Derr Biggers
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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The Agony Column in short
At bottom, this is a story about a daring impulse. A man in London sees a woman once, addresses her in a newspaper, and is given a week to win her interest. Each letter pulls her, and you, further in.
What The Agony Column is about
Picture a stifling July morning in London in 1914. A young American sits in a hotel breakfast room, eating strawberries and reading the personal notices in the Daily Mail. Then a girl with violet eyes walks in, carrying the same newspaper. What would you do?
The Agony Column was written by Earl Derr Biggers, the American novelist who later created the detective Charlie Chan. It is a short, fast mystery told in letters, one a day for seven days, from a man trying to win a woman he has barely seen. You get a murder, a missing knife, and coded notices.
Who it’s for. You will enjoy this book if you like clever puzzles, quick London atmosphere, a touch of romance, and playful narrators. It suits readers who love coded messages and amateur sleuths.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A newspaper column brings two strangers together
The story opens on Friday, July 24, 1914, in a London baking in the heat. Geoffrey West, an American from Kansas, lives in rooms on Adelphi Terrace. He visits the Carlton hotel for strawberries and the newspapers. The Times is for study and the Mail is for fun.
What he loves in the Mail is the Personal Notices, known as the Agony Column. Lovers beg each other to come home, and suitors dodge angry fathers. Strangers seek introductions to a woman in a bonnet or a lady who waved from a taxi. In the Times, a tiny item says Austria has sent an ultimatum to Serbia. He barely notices it.
Then a girl walks into the breakfast room with her father. Her hair is gold and her eyes are violet, but it is her easy manner that stops West cold. She orders grapefruit, says she hates strawberries, and reads aloud from the same column. West orders a second plate of strawberries, loudly. They are from Texas.
Back on his balcony, West has an idea. He calls it absurd, yet he cannot put it away. The next morning the girl finds a notice addressed to the young woman who preferred grapefruit to strawberries. Her face is stern at first. Then, behind the paper, a smile appears.
A single daring message can turn a glance across a room into the start of a story.
- 2Start free to read
Seven letters must prove he is worth knowing
For two days nothing comes, and West decides he has lost everything.
- 3Start free to read
A quarrel upstairs ends in a killing
The second letter is written at three in the morning, and its tone is very different.
- 4Start free to read
Four small notices may hold the answer
In his third letter West explains why those newspapers nag at him.
- 5Start free to read
Two visitors ask him to tell the same lie
The fourth letter holds the strangest night yet.
- 6Start free to read
Curiosity is the engine that keeps the letters moving
The book plays on a simple human trait.
- 7Start free to read
Ordinary lives wait at the edge of a great war
All through the book, a second story runs in the background.
- 8Start free to read
Letters, headlines, and a bootblack shape the telling
Biggers tells the story mostly through the seven letters.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Check yourself
What opportunity does the woman give West through the Agony Column?
Right. “The woman with grapefruit allows the man with strawberries to send a daily letter for a week.”Not quite. “The woman with grapefruit allows the man with strawberries to send a daily letter for a week.”
Why do the asters, scarab, and hat matter to the mystery?
Right. “The asters, the scarab, and the hat sound silly until you see them as signals in code.”Not quite. “The asters, the scarab, and the hat sound silly until you see them as signals in code.”
Why is Lieutenant Fraser-Freer willing to go to prison?
Right. “Lieutenant Fraser-Freer is ready to go to prison to protect a family name that has served England for generations.”Not quite. “Lieutenant Fraser-Freer is ready to go to prison to protect a family name that has served England for generations.”
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Geoffrey West An American from Kansas living in Adelphi Terrace, he writes seven daily letters to win the attention of a woman he met only by sight.
- Marian Larned A lively young woman from Texas touring London with her father, she loves mystery and romance and reads the Agony Column with delight.
- Captain Stephen Fraser-Freer An Indian Army officer on leave in London, he lives above West and meets his visitor with cold reserve.
- Chief Inspector Bray The efficient head of the Special Branch at Scotland Yard, he leads the murder case and views West with suspicion.
- Colonel Hughes A tanned, friendly officer and friend of the dead captain, he offers West help and works quietly on his own inquiry.
- Lieutenant Norman Fraser-Freer The captain's young brother, he is ready to take terrible blame to protect his family's honor.
- Archibald Enwright A talkative Englishman West meets in Interlaken, he gives West a letter of introduction to a cousin who denies knowing him.
- Walters The caretaker of the house on Adelphi Terrace, once a gardener, he loves the courtyard and serves the lodgers anxiously.
How it ends (spoiler)
Colonel Hughes shows that Inspector Bray is really Von der Herts, the head of a German spy ring, and Bray kills himself with the Indian knife. Then West admits that he alone killed Captain Fraser-Freer, but only on paper. The captain is alive and well, and the whole plot was West's invention, a playwright's game for the grapefruit lady. Marian sends a telegram, they sail home on the Saronia, and before their last night she tells him her answer will be yes.
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Questions about The Agony Column
What is The Agony Column about?
An American in London in 1914 begins writing daily letters to a woman he met only by sight. His letters soon carry a murder next door, coded newspaper notices, a Scotland Yard inspector, and the threat of war.
What does the Agony Column mean in the book?
It is the nickname for the Personal Notices in the Daily Mail, where readers placed short messages by the word. Lovers, schemers, and joking strangers all used it, and in the story it becomes a way to speak in code.
Who are Geoffrey West and Marian Larned?
West is a Kansas-born American in London who writes the seven letters. Marian is a spirited young woman from Texas who reads them while touring Europe with her father, a congressman fond of quoting his bootblack on foreign affairs.
When is The Agony Column set and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction by Earl Derr Biggers, set in the final days of peace in late July and early August 1914, with real London places such as the Carlton, the Strand, and Scotland Yard.
Is The Agony Column easy to read?
Yes, it is approachable. The short chapters are mostly letters in a chatty, humorous voice, the clues are simple objects like asters, a pin, and a hat, and each letter ends on a hook that pulls you along.
Cite this edition
Biggers, Earl Derr. The Agony Column. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-agony-column.
Biggers, E. D. (2026). The agony column. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-agony-column (Original work published 1916)
Biggers, Earl Derr. The Agony Column. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-agony-column.
@book{biggers2026agony,
author = {Biggers, Earl Derr},
title = {The Agony Column},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-agony-column},
note = {First published 1916}
}
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