Summary
Summary of The Trevor Case
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A burglary uncovers a murder
A masked burglar enters Edmund Trevor’s house and opens the safe in his private office. Instead of valuables, he finds a woman crouched inside. Terrified, he closes the door and escapes. By morning, the Attorney General’s household has discovered Mrs. Trevor’s body.
At first, her death seems a terrible accident. Then Doctor Davis finds a small wound beneath the lace of her gown: she was killed before the safe was closed. The burglar’s discovery becomes a puzzle about who killed her and why.
Key idea 2
Gossip unsettles the obvious explanation
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Key idea 3
The inquest turns friends into suspects
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Key idea 4
Peggy gives Dick a personal stake
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Key idea 5
A telephone call changes the case
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Key idea 6
Trevor reveals the cost of secrecy
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Key idea 7
The hidden pin threatens Beatrice
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Key idea 8
Loyalty can make innocence look guilty
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Key idea 9
Small clues work alongside friendship
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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
For readers who love a classic whodunit with a locked-safe puzzle, a quick-witted reporter, a spirited young heroine, and the sparkle of old Washington society, with its parties, rumors and political secrets.
What this book is
The Trevor Case is a murder mystery set in the drawing rooms of Washington, written by Natalie Sumner Lincoln, who died in 1935. It begins with a burglar creeping into the house of the Attorney General, Edmund Trevor, near Dupont Circle. He opens the safe in the private office and finds something no thief expects.
The book gives you a puzzle with a crowded cast of suspects. A young newspaper reporter named Dick Tillinghast turns detective, spurred by a playful challenge from the girl he loves. Around him move a sharp-tongued society hostess, a loyal butler, a detective who once served with the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, a naval officer, a smooth private secretary, and officials who reach as far as the White House.
The clues sit in plain sight. There is a hatpin, a signet ring, a torn note, a telephone call at a quarter past two in the morning, and a small box passed from one friend to another. Along the way you also get a lively picture of calling cards, charity balls, streetcars and gossip in the capital of the early twentieth century. Let us begin with the cry that breaks a quiet breakfast.
In this summary
- 1A burglar finds a dead womanFree
- 2Society gossip meets the news
- 3The inquest hears strange testimony
- 4A verdict, a box and a challenge
- 5Dick follows a telephone call
- 6The Attorney General explains himself
- 7Black Hand threats and a hidden pin
- 8What the story is really about
- 9How the mystery is told
Key point 1 of 9
A burglar finds a dead woman
The story opens in darkness. A masked man slips through a landing window of the Attorney General's house on Massachusetts Avenue at Dupont Circle. He creeps down the stairs, crosses the hall, and enters the private office. He is a skilled safecracker, and after three quarters of an hour his patient fingers work out the old-fashioned combination.
The heavy door swings open on oiled hinges, and he sweeps his electric torch across the inside. For one second the beam shines bright, then it goes dark in his shaking hand. Crouched just inside the safe is a woman, and she seems to stare straight back at him. Terror takes over, he shuts the door, and he vanishes as silently as he came.
Morning brings a cry of murder to the breakfast table of Edmund Trevor, the Attorney General. His confidential secretary, Alfred Clark, bursts in half fainting and says that Mrs. Trevor is in the safe. Trevor hurries to the office while his daughter Beatrice and the butler, Wilkins, follow in alarm. There he finds his beautiful young wife in evening dress, her Titian-red hair neatly coiled, kneeling on one knee with her eyes wide open.
Doctor Davis comes at once and says she has been dead for hours. The household first believes in a dreadful accident, that she went to put away her jewelry and the door swung shut behind her. Then Detective James Hardy arrives. He tells them that a patrolman caught a man leaving their yard before dawn, carrying burglar's tools, a mask and sneakers. Hardy has come only to ask whether anything was stolen.
The doctor then says it was no accident. Beneath her left breast, hidden by the lace of her gown, lies a small wound that pierced the heart. She was dead before anyone closed the safe on her. Hardy breathes a single word, murdered, and Beatrice faints at her father's feet. In a few pages the book has set up its central puzzle.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
What turns the discovery in the safe into a murder investigation?
Right. “Beneath her left breast, hidden by the lace of her gown, lies a small wound that pierced the heart.”Not quite. “Beneath her left breast, hidden by the lace of her gown, lies a small wound that pierced the heart.”
What prompts Dick to begin his search for the real murderer?
Right. “She offers half her kingdom to whoever succeeds.”Not quite. “She offers half her kingdom to whoever succeeds.”
Why does protective silence deepen the mystery?
Right. “Each of them keeps quiet to shield someone else, and each silence deepens the mystery and makes the person look guiltier.”Not quite. “Each of them keeps quiet to shield someone else, and each silence deepens the mystery and makes the person look guiltier.”
Questions about The Trevor Case
What is The Trevor Case about?
It is a murder mystery set in Washington. The Attorney General's wife is found dead in his private safe, and a young reporter, Dick Tillinghast, tries to find the real killer while suspicion falls on several people close to the family.
Who is Dick Tillinghast?
Dick is a young newspaper reporter for the Star in Washington. He loves Peggy Macallister, accepts her challenge to find the real murderer, and follows clues from the White House to a lonely studio across the river.
Who are Peggy and Mrs. Macallister?
Peggy Macallister is a lively young woman and the dear friend of Beatrice Trevor. Her grandmother, Mrs. Van Zandt Macallister, is the grand hostess of Washington society, who loves a mystery and speaks her mind.
When was The Trevor Case written and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction by Natalie Sumner Lincoln, set in the Washington of horse cars, calling cards and early telephones. The characters and crime are invented, but the city, offices and social life are drawn from real places.
Is The Trevor Case easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short, the dialogue is lively, and each scene ends on a hook. The clues are laid out clearly, so you can follow along and try to solve the puzzle yourself.
