8 h 15 minAudiobook3 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
A chemist pretends to be ill for love; a physician admits his fame rests on luck. Who can read appearances?
In Melvin L. Severy’s The Darrow Enigma, a physician with an unusually sharp memory meets George Maitland, a chemist who claims to need treatment. But Maitland’s real aim is an introduction to Gwen Darrow, the daughter of the doctor’s patient, John Darrow. Behind the medical visit lies a longing he struggles to confess.
Maitland first notices Gwen beside a painting of Cornwall’s coast by William T. Richards. Shared delight in art leaves him spellbound, yet he cannot bring himself to speak to her. Chemistry, courtship and the doctor’s wry admissions draw you into a detective mystery of murder, concealed motives and the patient search for justice.
What you’ll discover
- An unusually candid physician Meet a narrator who admits that a lucky cure earns him an undeserved reputation.
- A chemist hiding his purpose Watch Maitland turn a supposed illness into a chance to approach the Darrow family.
- A meeting through art Step into a crowded gallery where a coastal painting brings Gwen into Maitland’s view.
- Science and human feeling Follow conversations that move from atomic attraction to the far less predictable pull of love.
- The pleasure of patient reasoning Settle into an old-fashioned murder puzzle that invites close attention to secrets and small facts.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy old-fashioned detective stories, with their secrets, suspects and slow unravelling of clues. It may suit you less if you want fast modern thrillers, graphic detail or a hero with a troubled inner life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mystery begins with a death
- Every household keeps its secrets
- Justice depends on patient reasoning
- How a puzzle story is told
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The Darrow Enigma
by Melvin L. Severy· 1904
A puzzling death becomes the subject of a criminal investigation.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A mystery begins with a death
Detective fiction of the Victorian age usually opens with a crime that cannot be explained at once. A death occurs, and the people around it offer accounts that do not quite fit together. The reader is drawn in by that gap between what is said and what is true.
In a story like this one, the setting matters as much as the crime. Drawing rooms, private houses and respectable families give the plot its pressure, because a murder there threatens a whole social world.
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The author
Melvin L. Severy
1863–1951 · American inventor and novelist
Melvin L. Severy was an American engineer, inventor, and writer who lived in the United States. He was born in 1863 and died in 1951. He wrote The Darrow Enigma, a novel published in 1904, alongside his work in engineering and invention.
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What is The Darrow Enigma about?
It is a detective mystery built around a murder, a group of people with hidden secrets and an investigation that seeks the truth. It follows the conventions of Victorian crime fiction.
Who wrote The Darrow Enigma?
Melvin L. Severy, an American author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wrote it. He worked in fiction that often mixed mystery with larger ideas.
Is The Darrow Enigma hard to read?
Older detective novels can feel formal, with long sentences and measured pacing. If you enjoy period mysteries, the style is part of the charm and should not be a barrier.
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