6 h 49 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 49 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a family fortune brings not security, but secrets, rivals, and the feeling that someone is watching?
In Jeopardy by Van Tassel Sutphen draws you into an inheritance mystery set in the American South. Family property, old secrets, and rival claims form the heart of its intrigue. The promise of a fortune comes with suspicion, while hidden knowledge and dangerous rivals make inheritance a source of unease.
This is a period mystery, with the older pace and manners that belong to its kind of storytelling. Sutphen places family fortune at the center of a tale about secrets and competing claims. Read for the atmosphere of old houses and suspicion, and watch how suspense makes you question what lies behind a claim.
What you’ll discover
- A fortune under suspicion Explore an inheritance mystery where family property brings competing claims rather than simple comfort.
- Secrets beneath the surface Follow the pull of hidden knowledge and the unease that surrounds what remains concealed.
- Dangerous rival claims Discover how rivals turn the promise of inheritance into a reason for doubt.
- A Southern setting Enter a mystery set in the American South, amid family fortune and old secrets.
- An older mystery rhythm Settle into period manners and a pace that leaves room to linger over suspicion.
Who will love it
Readers who like a country house puzzle with a hidden door, a family feud, a cipher to work out, and a love story running through it.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A letter calls Hugh to a funeral
- Hugh meets the Thanefords on a shortcut
- The will makes Hugh master of the Hundred
- A doctor doubts how Francis Graeme died
- An inquest, a secret door, and a yellow rose
- A lookout on Sugar Loaf and a strange lens
- The dying man's numbers and the safe
- A warning from the dead and a marriage under strain
- What the story says about inheritance, trust, and jealousy
- How the story is told and what to watch for
Who’s who
- Hugh HildebrandA young Philadelphia lawyer who tells the story and unexpectedly inherits Hildebrand Hundred. He wants to do the right thing and to win Betty.
- Betty GraemeFrancis Graeme's adopted daughter, warm and clever. She wants to protect her family and to learn the secret behind her father's death.
- John ThanefordA rough, dark neighbor and cousin who believes the Hundred should be his. He wants the estate and will not accept losing it.
- Fielding ThanefordJohn's very old father, hairless and silent. After a stroke he tries to pass on one last message through numbers.
- Chalmers WarrinerA chemist and moth collector with a sharp eye for small clues. He wants to understand how Francis Graeme died.
- Eunice TrevorBetty's pale, bitter cousin, who has lived as a poor relation. She wants to help John Thaneford and she holds secrets.
- Doctor MarcyThe scarred local physician who doubts that his friend Francis Graeme died of natural causes and presses for an inquest.
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In Jeopardy
by Van Tassel Sutphen · 1922
A stranger inherits a Maryland estate, and the seat at its library desk may be deadly.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a man you met only once left you his whole estate? Hugh Hildebrand, a young Philadelphia lawyer with little to do, gets a short letter in June 1919.
In Jeopardy at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 50 min3 h fast, 4 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 54,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1922by Van Tassel Sutphen
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A letter calls Hugh to a funeral
Hugh Hildebrand is a young lawyer in Philadelphia, living on a quarterly income from his mother's estate. He has few clients and plenty of golf. One June morning in 1919 a special delivery letter wakes him. It invites him to the funeral of Francis Graeme, lord of Hildebrand Hundred in Maryland.
Hugh met Graeme only once, three months before, when the older man walked into his office, claimed him as a cousin, and took him to lunch. Now the cousin is dead, and the letter says Hugh is named in the will.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Sutphen, Van Tassel. In Jeopardy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-jeopardy.
Sutphen, V. T. (2026). In jeopardy. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-jeopardy (Original work published 1922)
Sutphen, Van Tassel. In Jeopardy. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-jeopardy.
@book{sutphen2026jeopardy,
author = {Sutphen, Van Tassel},
title = {In Jeopardy},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-jeopardy},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is In Jeopardy by Van Tassel Sutphen about?
It is a mystery about Hugh Hildebrand, a Philadelphia lawyer who inherits a Maryland estate from a cousin he met once. He soon finds that deaths in the library may not be natural, and a rival neighbor wants the estate.
Who is John Thaneford in the novel?
John Thaneford is Hugh's cousin and neighbor, a dark and fierce young man who believes Hildebrand Hundred should be his. His father, Fielding Thaneford, is a silent, hairless old man who holds a family secret.
What do the numbers 1-4-2-4-8 mean?
They are the last message a dying man gives to Betty. The numbers open a safe holding a coded diary, and they also work as a clue to the key needed to read the cipher in the book.
The author
Van Tassel Sutphen
1861–1945 · American novelist and golf writer
Van Tassel Sutphen was an American writer and magazine editor whose novel The Doomsman imagined a ruined, half-forgotten New York generations after a great catastrophe — an early landmark of post-apocalyptic fiction.
More by Van Tassel Sutphen
See all their booksMore like this
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