Summary
A snow-laden Adirondack manor becomes the glittering stage for a Thanksgiving Eve tragedy when steel magnate Richard Deering collapses, a bullet cooled by winter’s breath lodged near his heart. His ward, Donald Greene—equal parts suitor and serpent—has already orchestrated an alibi in Manhattan, yet the telegram that lures him back crackles with Evelyn’s frantic electricity. Enter Horace Lee, a sleuth whose mind pirouettes through motives like a skater tracing invisible arabesques across black ice: the butler’s trembling hands conceal filial devotion, not guilt; the secretary’s quiet competence masks an unrequited ache; and Greene’s own genius for gadgetry—an ice-rimed bullet fired by clockwork in his absence—turns love into a baroque weapon. As the estate’s Tiffany windows frost over, sanity itself splinters: Greene, cornered by Lee’s merciless logic, succumbs to the hereditary madness he once courted, while Evelyn, radiant in grief, bestows her hand upon the detective whose wounded lungs now breathe the clear air of justice.
Synopsis
Richard Deering, a wealthy New Yorker, spends his holidays in a magnificent lodge in the heart of the Adirondacks. His daughter, Evelyn, Donald Greene, his ward, and Robert Ross, his confidential secretary, are his companions. On the eve of Thanksgiving, Greene is called to New York on business. He leaves reluctantly as he is deeply in love with Evelyn and jealous of Ross. The next morning, while at breakfast, Donald receives a telegram from Evelyn that her father has been shot and begging him to come at once, and bring a detective. Greene goes to Horace Lee, a crime specialist, and returns to Deer lodge accompanied by the detective and his assistant, Joe. They find Deering unconscious attended by the country doctor, and Dr. Adamson, a specialist from New York. The detective and his assistant set to work to unravel the mystery. Suspicion lights on the family butler, who was the last to see his master alive, and who had been acting strangely. Through adventures and deduction the detective unravels the mystery. The butler is exonerated as his worried demeanor is found to be the result of an effort to shield his son, an escaped convict, who had sought refuge in the lodge on the eve of the shooting, and the charge of attempted murder is brought against Donald Greene, who had brought in the aid of mechanical science to perform the deed in his absence. Donald Greene, who has inherited a trace of madness, becomes hopelessly insane. Evelyn gives her hand to the man of her choice, Horace Lee, who is completely restored to health.
