7 h 6 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 6 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A killing breaks the calm of Washington society, and a coded message asks you to look beneath its polite surface.
In The Thirteenth Letter, Natalie Sumner Lincoln brings murder into the drawing rooms, offices, and official circles of Washington, D.C. A circle of people has secrets to keep, and a killing gives those secrets new weight. As you follow the clues, each suspect offers another reason to question what respectable appearances might conceal.
At the heart of the mystery is a cipher: a puzzle in writing that invites you to think alongside the investigator. Conversation, observation, and slow discovery carry the story forward. The pleasure is in weighing what you learn, testing your suspicions, and trying to reach the answer before the mystery reveals it.
What you’ll discover
- Secrets behind polite manners Look beneath respectable appearances as a crime brings private troubles into the open.
- A message in cipher Work through a coded puzzle that gives you another way into the mystery.
- Washington beyond its offices Enter a world of officials, diplomats, and families linked by long social ties.
- Clues worth lingering over Follow conversations and observations at a steady pace that leaves room for thought.
- The pleasure of suspicion Weigh the suspects and test your guesses before the answer comes into view.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like classic detective stories with a country house, a clever heroine, a quiet sheriff, and a secret code you can follow step by step.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A storm, a nurse and a strange wedding
- Morning brings a death and a drugged nurse
- One girl's word against another's
- A burned envelope and a black seal
- Sheriff Trenholm finds the weapon
- Blackmail, lies and a minister's denial
- The third hand and the false beard
- Miriam's Russian past and the lost diamond
- Thirteen letters and a code in the stamps
- A will of hate and a trap in the dark
Who’s who
- Miriam WardA young trained nurse, new to Washington, who is the only witness to the night's events and wants to clear her name.
- Guy TrenholmThe county sheriff, a large, quiet, well-read man who follows each clue and tests everyone around him.
- Betty CarterPaul Abbott's beautiful fiancee, who first denies being at the lodge and carries a secret she fears to share.
- Alan MasonPaul's cousin and a Washington reporter, restless and nervous, who loves Betty and resents the sheriff's questions.
- Doctor RobertsThe family physician who treats Paul and Mrs. Nash, helps Miriam, and seems kindly and concerned about everyone.
- Mrs. NashBetty's sharp-tongued aunt, who falls ill at the lodge, watches everything and keeps her own plans.
- Doctor Alexander NashMrs. Nash's husband, a smooth clergyman who performs the marriage and then says he cannot recall it.
- CorbinThe sullen caretaker of the lodge, who hides things, demands money and fears the sheriff.
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The Thirteenth Letter
by Natalie Sumner Lincoln · 1924
A night nurse wakes to a dead patient, a bride who denies she came, and thirteen letters stamped with a secret.
Easy read5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Picture yourself as a nurse, alone in a farmhouse on a snowy night with a very sick man upstairs. At midnight a young woman in furs and a clergyman push through the door, and a wedding takes place beside the bed while you are out of the room.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A storm, a nurse and a strange wedding
On a winter night in a snowstorm, Doctor Roberts leaves Miriam Ward in charge of Paul Abbott, a wounded war veteran. He lives alone at his family hunting lodge, twenty miles from Washington. This is Miriam's first case in the capital, so she wants to do everything right.
The house is gloomy and lit by oil lamps. Only the caretaker Corbin and his wife Martha share it. Abbott is feverish and keeps asking whether his fiancee Betty Carter has come.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1924
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 35 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Lincoln, Natalie Sumner. The Thirteenth Letter. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteenth-letter.
Lincoln, N. S. (2026). The thirteenth letter. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteenth-letter (Original work published 1924)
Lincoln, Natalie Sumner. The Thirteenth Letter. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteenth-letter.
@book{lincoln2026thirteenth,
author = {Lincoln, Natalie Sumner},
title = {The Thirteenth Letter},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteenth-letter},
note = {First published 1924}
}
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What is The Thirteenth Letter about?
It is a murder mystery set at a hunting lodge near Washington. A nurse sees a strange marriage and then finds her patient stabbed. A sheriff and the nurse investigate letters with a hidden stamp code.
What does the thirteenth letter mean in the book?
It refers both to the last of thirteen letters sent from Canada and to the thirteenth letter of the alphabet. The stamps on the envelopes carry a code, and the final message points to a hiding place.
Who is Miriam Ward?
Miriam is a trained nurse from New York on her first case in Washington. She is the only witness to the night of the murder, and her Russian past ties into the mystery of a lost jewel.
The author
Natalie Sumner Lincoln
1881–1935 · American crime writer
Natalie Sumner Lincoln was an American crime writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was born there in 1881 and died in 1935. She wrote mystery novels in the early twentieth century. Her books include The Trevor Case, The Thirteenth Letter, and The Red Seal.
More by Natalie Sumner Lincoln
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