Story summary
Краткое содержание: Дочь почтмейстера
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A woman's body hangs on a rope in a Sussex river pool, and the village points at the man whose lawn it borders.
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Дочь почтмейстера — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 63 100
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
- Первая публикация
- 1916by Луис Трейси
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Дочь почтмейстера in short
The Postmaster's Daughter follows a murder in a quiet Sussex village, from the discovery of a drowned actress on a writer's lawn to the arrival of two detectives from Scotland Yard. Grant is soon the village's favourite suspect, and Doris Martin is caught up in the gossip. The story moves through the inquest, the haunted window and the hat with bullet holes to a carefully planned net.
What Дочь почтмейстера is about
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. On a bright June morning his gardener hauls up the body of the famous actress Adelaide Melhuish.
The Postmaster's Daughter is a detective novel by Louis Tracy, an English journalist and storyteller who died in 1928. It offers a village puzzle with a pompous constable, a haunted window and two very different men from Scotland Yard. You get a love story held back by gossip, and a clear view of how a village reaches a verdict before any court does.
Для кого. 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.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
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.
Then he admits something awkward. The night before, he saw a face at that same window and now believes it was hers. He found nothing and told himself he had imagined it. The confession is honest, yet it hands the constable a story to build on.
What a witness holds back in the first hour can follow him for days.
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Constable Robinson takes a line and sticks
Robinson is the only law in Steynholme, and his biggest case has been a stolen chicken.
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The superintendent probes an old love affair
Superintendent Fowler is calmer than his constable and far more skilful.
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A husband arrives with veiled threats
That evening a card is brought to Grant, printed with the name Isidor G. Ingerman.
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A comic little detective arrives from Scotland Yard
Grant finds Doris in the post office garden talking with a slight, dapper man in a straw hat.
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A pistol shot ends the dinner party
Grant's old friend Walter Hart arrives from London, a tall adventurer who makes his living among revolutions.
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Furneaux slips away and Winter takes his place
Furneaux follows up the hat with a quiet trick.
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Doris is asked to play a part
Winter asks Doris to meet him on a country road after church, where Superintendent Fowler sits beside him in a closed car.
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A village judges before the evidence is in
One of the book's main concerns is how a small community decides who is guilty.
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How the tale is told, with wit and clues
Louis Tracy tells the story in a lively voice that likes a joke as well as a clue.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- John Menzies Grant A young writer and former soldier who finds a dead woman in his garden and becomes the village's favourite suspect.
- Doris Martin The clever, honest nineteen-year-old daughter of the postmaster, who loves stars and books and stands by her friend.
- Charles F. Furneaux A tiny, theatrical Scotland Yard detective who jokes constantly and hides a sharp mind behind his grin.
- James Winter A big, kindly Chief Inspector who works beside Furneaux, posing as an Argentine horse buyer.
- Isidor G. Ingerman The dead woman's husband, a smooth City financier with a silky voice who is set on blaming Grant.
- P. C. Robinson The vain village constable who takes a line on the case and wants the glory of solving it.
- Walter Hart Grant's easygoing friend, an adventurer who loves revolutions, carries a revolver and acts first.
- Fred Elkin A horse dealer with a hot temper who hopes to marry Doris and loudly hates Grant.
How it ends (spoiler)
The killer is Theodore Siddle, the quiet village chemist and jury foreman, who loves Doris and has been secretly poisoning Elkin. Furneaux breaks into his house and finds clues. Siddle, seeing the detectives close in, fires a pistol at Furneaux, then swallows poison and dies in his orchard. Grant is cleared, kisses Doris, and they marry within the year.
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Вопросы о книге Дочь почтмейстера
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.
Is The Postmaster's Daughter a true story?
No, it is fiction by Louis Tracy, an English novelist who died in 1928. The village of Steynholme, the people and the crime are invented, though they use the real setting of rural Sussex and Scotland Yard.
Is The Postmaster's Daughter easy to follow?
Yes is not needed here: it moves chapter by chapter with clear scenes, short conversations and humorous characters. The clues are set out openly, so a listener can keep track of who is where and what each person knows.
Как сослаться на это издание
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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