9 h 2 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 2 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a quiet valley of old houses and familiar faces, murder makes trust a dangerous choice.
The Porcelain Mask by John Jay Chichester takes you to New York’s Hudson Valley, where river views and country houses frame a detective puzzle. A murder disturbs this quiet setting. An investigator must work out who can be trusted among people whose family ties reach deep into the past.
Hidden identities and family secrets lie at the heart of the mystery. Within a closed circle of suspects, a familiar face offers no guarantee of honesty. You follow the clues, weigh each person’s story, and look for what remains concealed. The pleasure lies in testing your judgment as the investigation moves forward.
What you’ll discover
- A valley under suspicion Enter a landscape of river views and old estates where quiet surroundings hide a crime.
- Faces you must question Consider hidden identities as you weigh what each suspect claims to be.
- Family ties under pressure Follow an investigation that brings guarded family secrets into the open.
- A puzzle to pursue Study the clues and test your reading of events against the investigator’s.
- The slow unmasking Enjoy the steady pull of a mystery built around trust, suspicion, and concealed pasts.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy classic murder puzzles with a country house, a small suspect circle, a clever amateur and clues they can follow will love this book. It also suits those who like newsroom humor and romance woven into the crime.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Joan comes home to secret pain
- Helen's past demands a payment
- Silence deepens Kirklan's doubts
- A scream unsettles the suicide story
- A strong motive is not proof
- Small clues disturb the easy answer
- Protection can look like guilt
- Every small thing needs a reason
Who’s who
- Joan SheridanA warm, quick-witted young woman who comes home from France to find the man she loves married to another, and she guards a painful silence.
- Kirklan GilmoreA gentle novelist and master of Greenacres who adores his new wife, values honesty, and is pushed to the edge by doubts.
- Helen GilmoreA beautiful bride of three weeks, headstrong and frightened, who hides a past she cannot afford to have discovered.
- Victor SarbellaAn intense Italian-American illustrator and guest at Greenacres who carries a deep grief and a promise of vengeance.
- Wiggly PriceA sharp New York reporter with animated ears who needs a great story to keep his job and trusts small clues.
- Don HaskinsA once-smooth crook, now desperate and hunted, who needs a thousand dollars and has a hold over Helen.
- Sergeant TishA round New York detective with a bandaged head who wants the man who beat him and trusts the obvious.
- BatesThe old Gilmore butler, a devoted reader of detective stories, who soon argues that the apparent suicide is murder.
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- Large print hardcover
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The Porcelain Mask
A bride of three weeks lies dead at Greenacres, and a reporter with wiggling ears will not accept the easy answer.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if you came home from a trip abroad and found that the man you love has married a stranger, and that she has taken your room? Joan Sheridan faces exactly that at Greenacres, a big old house on the Hudson River north of New York City.
The Porcelain Mask at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 5 min4 h fast, 6 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 72,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
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
Joan comes home to a house that has changed
Joan Sheridan arrives at Greenacres a day early, bursting with the joy of coming home. She is about twenty-one, and she has spent a month in France. On the porch she sees a beautiful stranger with bronze hair asleep in a hammock.
Bates, the old butler she calls Daddy, greets her warmly, then falters when she mentions her room. Upstairs her mother tells her the news. Joan's stepbrother Kirklan has married a woman named Helen Banton a week after meeting her. Helen has also demanded Joan's beloved room above the river, and carpenters have cut a door to link it to Kirklan's.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Chichester, John Jay. The Porcelain Mask. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-porcelain-mask.
Chichester, J. J. (2026). The porcelain mask. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-porcelain-mask
Chichester, John Jay. The Porcelain Mask. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-porcelain-mask.
@book{chichester2026porcelain,
author = {Chichester, John Jay},
title = {The Porcelain Mask},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-porcelain-mask}
}
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What is The Porcelain Mask about?
It is a detective mystery set at a Hudson Valley estate, where a novelist's bride of three weeks is found dead. A suspicious reporter, a crook on the run and a house full of secrets complicate the search for the truth.
Who is Wiggly Price?
Wiggly Price is a New York newspaper reporter called Wiggly because his ears move when he is excited. He arrives after the murder, recognizes the dead woman, and uses small clues to question the official explanation.
What does the title The Porcelain Mask mean?
The title points to something smooth and fragile that hides what lies beneath. It applies to a character's beautiful face and manner, and to a hidden object whose purpose becomes clear as the mystery unfolds.
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