10 h 57 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 57 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a court full of watchers, can one young reporter trust reason more than fear?
Joseph Rouletabille leaves Paris for a dangerous case in the Russia of the Tsar. Very young and sharply observant, he approaches a mystery like a mathematician facing an equation. But here, the problem unfolds in a tense political world, where the court lives under the threat of plots.
In The Secret of the Night, Gaston Leroux sets a logical mind against secrecy, spies and sudden threats. Rouletabille relies on reasoning rather than rumour as he follows the case. Short chapters keep the story moving, while Leroux's taste for strange detail gives this detective puzzle the energy of an old-fashioned adventure.
What you’ll discover
- A sharp young mind Follow Rouletabille as he brings a reporter's curiosity and precise reasoning to a dangerous mystery.
- Under the Tsar's shadow Enter a Russian court where political unrest and the threat of plots sharpen the tension.
- Reason against fear Watch a hero trust logic in a world shaped by secrecy, spies and rumour.
- A reporter's eye Discover the strange details and brisk storytelling of a novelist who first works as a journalist.
- Theatrical suspense Feel the pace of short chapters and bold drama as the mystery draws you onward.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy locked-room puzzles, clever young detectives and tense old-world settings will feel at home here, along with anyone drawn to palaces and secret police.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A reporter enters a threatened house
- The guards may hide the danger
- The bomb leaves an impossible question
- Suspicion reaches into the family
- Small holes reveal a hidden route
- A death unsettles the detective
- Love makes every doubt hurt
- Gaiety and fear share one house
- Turn the plain facts around
Who’s who
- Joseph RouletabilleA young Paris reporter with a round face and a sharp mind, sent by the Tsar to save the general from his unseen enemies.
- General Feodor TrebassofThe stern former governor of Moscow, cheerful by day and haunted at night, who refuses to be afraid.
- Matrena PetrovnaThe general's devoted second wife, who guards him day and night and fears the enemy lives inside her own house.
- Natacha FeodorovnaThe general's calm, poetic daughter, who loves her father deeply and keeps a secret nobody can read.
- KouprianeThe Chief of Police, brave and quick to anger, who wants to catch the plotter in the act.
- Boris MourazoffThe soldier-poet orderly, engaged to Natacha, who writes verses about the dead students and burns with jealousy.
- Michael KorsakoffThe cold, polished second orderly, a hard soldier who seems to hold a strange power over Natacha.
- GounsovskiThe soft-spoken chief of the Secret Police, who does favors for everyone and trusts no one.
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The Secret of the Night
by Gaston Leroux · 1912
A boy reporter sent by the Tsar eats the caviar, dismisses the police and waits for a hand to open a locked door.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Getting to the bottom of mysteries is my calling.”
In short
What would you do if the Emperor of Russia asked you to save a general whom no guard can protect? Joseph Rouletabille, a young reporter from Paris, answers by sitting in a villa and eating all the caviar.
The Secret of the Night at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 15 min5 h fast, 7 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 89,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1912by Gaston Leroux
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 boy reporter arrives and eats the caviar
Rouletabille reaches the datcha des Iles at the personal wish of the Emperor. He is asked to save General Feodor Trebassof. The general's wife, Matrena, believes the danger comes only from Nihilists, and she does not want a boy to risk his life.
She finds him alone at a table of snacks, scraping the last caviar from the jars. She cries out that he is only a boy. Yet he has already noticed a fresh boot print in spilled beer, and he says nothing about it.
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Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Leroux, Gaston. The Secret of the Night. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-secret-of-the-night.
Leroux, G. (2026). The secret of the night. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-secret-of-the-night (Original work published 1912)
Leroux, Gaston. The Secret of the Night. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-secret-of-the-night.
@book{leroux2026secret,
author = {Leroux, Gaston},
title = {The Secret of the Night},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-secret-of-the-night},
note = {First published 1912}
}
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What is The Secret of the Night about?
It follows the young reporter Rouletabille, sent by the Tsar to protect General Trebassof from assassins in St. Petersburg. Bombs, poison, a locked room and a trusted household make every person a suspect.
Who is Rouletabille?
Joseph Rouletabille is a teenage Paris reporter with a sharp mind and a famous record of solving puzzles. He first appears in The Mystery of the Yellow Room, and he treats each case as a problem of pure logic.
Do I need to read The Mystery of the Yellow Room first?
No. The story stands on its own and explains who Rouletabille is as it goes. Readers who know the earlier book enjoy a few friendly references, but newcomers can follow every clue.
The author
Gaston Leroux
1868–1927 · French mystery novelist
Gaston Leroux was a French author and journalist born in Paris in 1868. He wrote mystery novels, including The Mystery of the Yellow Room, published in 1907, and The Phantom of the Opera, serialized in 1909–1910. He later lived in Nice, where he died in 1927.
“Getting to the bottom of mysteries is my calling.”
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