7 h 30 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 30 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a Sussex village where everyone knows everyone, a murder makes familiar faces hard to trust.
Louis Tracy's The Postmaster's Daughter places a serious crime in a quiet rural community. Here, every person has a role and a history, and secrets are hard to keep. Suspicion reaches beyond the crime itself, turning village life into a puzzle of questions, doubt and fear. The setting offers little room to escape the notice of others.
Scotland Yard brings a trained outsider's eye to the case. Detectives from London must work among local habits and loyalties, asking careful questions where people already know one another. The pleasure lies in watching method meet suspicion, and in following an investigation that unfolds step by step rather than rushing past the people at its heart.
What you’ll discover
- A village under suspicion Enter a close community where a serious crime changes how neighbours see one another.
- The outsider's trained eye Follow Scotland Yard detectives as their methods meet the habits and loyalties of village life.
- Secrets beneath familiar lives Look beyond the crime toward the private histories that make each person worth watching.
- A puzzle built patiently Enjoy careful questions and a case that invites you to follow each step.
- Quiet country, gathering doubt Feel the contrast between a rural setting and the fear spreading through its community.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like village mysteries with a clever puzzle, eccentric detectives and a gentle love story, set in an English summer.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A familiar face brings suspicion
- Gossip gives suspicion a direction
- An old romance clouds the present
- A husband turns grief into accusation
- A joking manner hides careful observation
- The haunted window yields physical evidence
- The detectives let the village relax
- Doris helps draw out a threat
- Appearances conceal motives and loyalty
Who’s who
- John Menzies GrantA young writer and former soldier who finds a dead woman in his garden and becomes the village's favourite suspect.
- Doris MartinThe clever, honest nineteen-year-old daughter of the postmaster, who loves stars and books and stands by her friend.
- Charles F. FurneauxA tiny, theatrical Scotland Yard detective who jokes constantly and hides a sharp mind behind his grin.
- James WinterA big, kindly Chief Inspector who works beside Furneaux, posing as an Argentine horse buyer.
- Isidor G. IngermanThe dead woman's husband, a smooth City financier with a silky voice who is set on blaming Grant.
- P. C. RobinsonThe vain village constable who takes a line on the case and wants the glory of solving it.
- Walter HartGrant's easygoing friend, an adventurer who loves revolutions, carries a revolver and acts first.
- Fred ElkinA horse dealer with a hot temper who hopes to marry Doris and loudly hates Grant.
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The Postmaster's Daughter
by Louis Tracy · 1916
A woman's body hangs on a rope in a Sussex river pool, and the village points at the man whose lawn it borders.
Medium level2–5 hours to read16 languages
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“Why would anyone in Steynholme want to kill a great actress like Adelaide Melhuish?”
In short
What would you do if a drowned woman lay at the end of a rope in your garden, and you had seen her face at your window the night before? That is the plight of John Menzies Grant, a young writer in the Sussex village of Steynholme.
The Postmaster's Daughter at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 63,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1916by Louis Tracy
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 drowned woman is hauled from the pool
The story opens on a bright June morning at The Hollies, an old Sussex farmhouse. Grant strolls into his garden, already uneasy, because he saw a face at a small window the night before.
Down by the river pool he spots a rope fastened to an iron staple. It was not there the day before. His gardener, Bates, hauls it in, and at the end is the body of a young woman, bound with cord and wounded on the forehead. Grant sends Bates for the police. When the village constable, Robinson, arrives, Grant names her as Adelaide Melhuish, a London actress he once knew well.
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Details
- First published
- 1916
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Tracy, Louis. The Postmaster's Daughter. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-postmasters-daughter.
Tracy, L. (2026). The postmaster's daughter. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-postmasters-daughter (Original work published 1916)
Tracy, Louis. The Postmaster's Daughter. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-postmasters-daughter.
@book{tracy2026postmasters,
author = {Tracy, Louis},
title = {The Postmaster's Daughter},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-postmasters-daughter},
note = {First published 1916}
}
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What is The Postmaster's Daughter about?
It is a detective novel about the murder of a famous actress, whose body is found on a rope in the river pool of a writer's garden in a Sussex village, and about the hunt for whoever put her there.
Who are Furneaux and Winter?
They are two Scotland Yard detectives. Charles Furneaux is small, witty and theatrical, while James Winter is large, calm and genial. They work as a pair and are called the Little One and the Big One.
What is the story of Owd Ben's ghost?
It is a village legend about Ben Robson, an old farmer who once lived at The Hollies. A face at the small window was said to have frightened his daughter, and the tale of his ghost is used in the plot.
The author
Louis Tracy
1863–1928 · British novelist
Louis Tracy was a British writer who lived from 1863 to 1928. He was born in Liverpool, England, and wrote novels, including mysteries and romances. His books included The Albert Gate Mystery, published in 1904, The Silent Barrier, published in 1910, and One Wonderful Night, published in 1912.
“Why would anyone in Steynholme want to kill a great actress like Adelaide Melhuish?”
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