13 h 18 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Behind false faces and broken trust, a detective’s daughter pursues a wrong she refuses to leave unanswered.
Madeline Payne stands at the center of a mystery of betrayal, disguise, and family loyalty. She is a detective’s daughter, and that connection frames her pursuit of justice. Around her lies a world of secrets and hidden identities, where appearances offer no sure guide to whom she can trust.
In this Victorian detective novel, Lawrence L. Lynch brings together a determined young woman and the patient work of pursuit. The appeal lies in watching secrets meet persistence. Madeline will not let a wrong go unanswered, and her resolve gives the mystery a personal force beyond the puzzle of concealed identities.
What you’ll discover
- A determined young heroine Follow Madeline Payne as her refusal to accept wrongdoing keeps the pursuit alive.
- A world of disguises Enter a mystery where false faces and hidden identities make appearances uncertain.
- The pull of family Explore a story that places a detective’s daughter and family loyalty at its heart.
- Justice with personal stakes Discover how betrayal and a relentless desire for justice give this mystery its drive.
- Patient detective work Settle into an old-fashioned mystery of secrets, clever pursuit, and a heroine who persists.
Who will love it
Readers who love Victorian sensation tales, clever disguises, scheming villains and a determined heroine who plans her own revenge. Fans of detective stories with warm friendships and a touch of romance will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Girl Overhears Her Own Sale
- The Warning in the Hotel Room
- A Pistol, a Shot and a Fever
- Olive's Sorrow and a New Purpose
- Cora's Scheme Takes the House
- Céline Leroque Takes a Place
- Two Hearts Give Each Other Away
- Ghosts, Fevers and a Silk Belt
- What the Story Is Really About
Who’s who
- Madeline PayneA lonely heiress and a detective's daughter who turns betrayal into a hunt for justice, using disguise and nerve.
- Lucian DavlinA handsome gambler and schemer who charms women and pretends to be Cora's brother while chasing a rich estate.
- Cora WestonA clever adventuress who marries John Arthur under a false name and wants Oakley's fortune for herself.
- Dr. Clarence VaughanA kind young physician who warns Madeline in time, saves her life and becomes her loyal brother in the fight.
- Olive GirardA gentle, steadfast wife whose husband sits in prison for a crime she believes he never did.
- Claire KeithOlive's bright young sister, quick to love and fiercely loyal to Madeline once she learns the truth about Percy.
- Edward PercyA smooth blond fortune hunter who courts rich women, including Claire and Miss Arthur, and keeps dangerous secrets.
- John ArthurMadeline's grasping stepfather, who holds her mother's estate for his lifetime and wants the girl out of his way.
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- Audiobook
- 13 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter
by Lawrence L. Lynch · 1883
A girl who flees with a charming gambler sees the truth and returns in disguise to hunt her enemies.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter is a Victorian mystery by Lawrence L. Lynch.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Girl Overhears Her Own Sale
The story begins in the woods near Bellair. Madeline Payne, an orphan raised by a cold stepfather named John Arthur, listens to the city man Lucian Davlin urge her to run away with him. He is leaving for the city the next day, and he wants her answer by evening. She hesitates, and a telegram boy interrupts them before she can reply. Davlin walks off smiling, and the reader sees him mutter about a woman named Cora and about getting family secrets from her old nurse.
Madeline climbs her favorite tree to think. Below her sit her stepfather and a miserly old suitor named Amos Adams. She hears them bargain over her as if she were a parcel. Arthur will hand her over in marriage if Adams tears up an old debt and pays ten thousand dollars. She also learns that her late mother left the Oakley fortune so that Arthur may use it but never sell it, and that it passes to Madeline when he dies.
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What is Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter about?
It follows Madeline, a young heiress who runs from a cruel stepfather, is deceived by a gambler, and then returns in disguise to Oakley to expose a plot against her family and to help clear an innocent man.
Who is Madeline Payne's father?
Her father was Lionel Payne, called Payne the Expert, a gifted young detective feared by criminals. He died when she was a baby, and Madeline later finds that she has inherited his skill at solving mysteries.
Who is Céline Leroque?
Céline Leroque is the false name and disguise Madeline uses to work as a French lady's maid at Oakley. Blue glasses, a dark wig and a loose jacket let her listen in on the people she is hunting.
The author
Lawrence L. Lynch
1853–1914 · American mystery writer
Lawrence L. Lynch was the pen name of Emma Murdoch Van Deventer, an American mystery writer born in Oswego, Illinois, in 1853. She lived in Illinois and died in 1914. She wrote mystery novels in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Madeline Payne, the Detective’s Daughter and The Diamond Coterie.
More by Lawrence L. Lynch
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