Summary
Summary of The Hand in the Dark
Key ideas
Key idea 1
The house carries a violent inheritance
The moat-house stands behind its ring of water, with ivy hiding cracks and a history of killings behind its quiet appearance. Its founder, Philip Heredith, burned a royalist owner alive. The victim's ghost promised that a family begun in horror would end in horror.
Philip later built a church and prayed for his victim, but also recorded his own virtues for his descendants. This mixture of violence, repentance and family pride hangs over the house as women from wartime London arrive.
Key idea 2
Polite manners hide household resentment
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Musard's tale holds the dinner guests
Start free to read
Key idea 4
A murder breaks the evening apart
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Different methods produce competing theories
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Hazel's silence leaves her exposed
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Colwyn looks beyond the apparent answer
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Small details test every confident explanation
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
You will enjoy this if you love country-house puzzles, rival detectives, wartime England, old family curses and a trail of clues that keeps changing direction until the last chapters.
What this book is
A scream rings through an English country house, and a gunshot follows while a whole dinner party sits at table below. The Hand in the Dark is a detective novel by Arthur J. Rees, set in Sussex in the autumn of 1918. It gives you a cursed house, a stolen necklace, two rival detectives and a young woman who will not speak. The story begins long before the shot, with the house itself and the blood in its past.
In this summary
- 1An old house with a bloody past waitsFree
- 2Aunt Alethea rules the household and dislikes its new bride
- 3Vincent Musard holds the dinner table in his hands
- 4A tale of a ruby and two skeletons fills the dinner hour
- 5A scream and a shot shatter the evening
- 6Two detectives with opposite methods take over
- 7A housekeeper's secret turns suspicion on her daughter
- 8Phil hires Colwyn, and the case begins to open
- 9What the story is really about
Key point 1 of 9
An old house with a bloody past waits
The book opens on the moat-house in Sussex, an old brick house ringed by water, in the autumn of 1918. Rees starts with its history, a record of killings that reaches back to Saxon times. The founder, Philip Heredith, burned a royalist owner alive, and the dead man's ghost swore that a family begun in horror would end in horror.
Philip built a church and prayed for the man he killed. He also left a stone tablet listing his own virtues, so that later Herediths would admire him. Centuries on, the house still stands, its roof sagging and its ivy hiding the cracks, with peacocks on the terrace and marble nymphs in the garden.
Into this quiet place come modern women in uniform, friends of the young couple who live there. The clash between old England and wartime London sets the mood. As you listen, keep the curse in mind, because other characters mention it as the story darkens.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
How do Merrington and Caldew differ in their approach to the murder?
Right. “Merrington trusts experience and fear, while Caldew trusts small clues, and each is blind in his own way.”Not quite. “Merrington trusts experience and fear, while Caldew trusts small clues, and each is blind in his own way.”
How does Hazel respond when suspicion falls on her?
Right. “Hazel refuses to answer any question, and she is arrested for the murder.”Not quite. “Hazel refuses to answer any question, and she is arrested for the murder.”
What important discovery does Colwyn make at the moat-house?
Right. “The pearl necklace is gone from Violet's locked jewel case.”Not quite. “The pearl necklace is gone from Violet's locked jewel case.”
Questions about The Hand in the Dark
What is The Hand in the Dark about?
It is a detective novel about the shooting of a young wife during a dinner party at an old Sussex house. Two Scotland Yard men and a private detective try to find who did it.
Who is Colwyn in The Hand in the Dark?
Colwyn is a private detective with rooms above Ludgate Circus in London. Phil Heredith hires him because he does not believe the police have the right person, and he reasons by doubting appearances rather than trusting them.
When is The Hand in the Dark set?
The story takes place in the autumn of 1918, near the end of the First World War.
What does Semper Fidelis mean in the book?
It is Latin for always faithful. The words are scratched on the back of a small green brooch found in the dead woman's bedroom, and the brooch becomes a key clue for the detectives.
Is The Hand in the Dark easy to follow?
Yes, in the sense that it moves clearly from scene to scene. Short chapters, vivid characters and a steady trail of clues make it easy to follow, and the detectives repeat their reasoning aloud.
