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The Talleyrand Maxim

J. S. Fletcher

Book Overview: 

John Mallathorpe, a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist and land owner dies in an accident, apparently without making a will. His estate goes to his wife and two children and they live the good life for a number of years. However, an old bookseller, whilst clearing some old books passed on from the Mallathorpe estate, finds a copy of Mallathorpe's will inside one of the books, and unfortunately for the family the will bequeaths the whole estate minus a small endowment for the family, to the city authorities. The bookseller takes the will to the local solicitor to seek advice, but unfortunately dies in the solicitor's office. The clerk on duty sees an opportunity to benefit himself from the knowledge of the existence of the will. This is a gripping detective story, with many twists and turns, based in Edwardian England

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .I'll discuss nothing, and do nothing, till
I've seen that will!"

Pratt rose, too, nodding his head as if quite satisfied. He took up the copy, tore it in two pieces, and carefully dropped them into the glowing fire.

"I shall be at my lodgings at any time after five-thirty tomorrow evening," he answered quietly. "Call there. You have the address. And you can then read the will with your own eyes. I shan't bring it here. The game's in my hands, Mrs. Mallathorpe."

Within a few minutes he was out in the park again, and making his way to the little railway station in the valley below. He felt triumphant—he knew that the woman he had just left was at his mercy and would accede to his terms. And all the way back to town, and through the town to his lodgings, he considered and perfected the scheme he was going to suggest to Mrs. Mallathorpe on the morrow.

Pratt lived in a litt. . . Read More

Community Reviews

This is a very good, solid mystery. There is not much surprising in the tale, but the plot, characters and atmosphere are all very well constructed.

Loved it!

The mysteries by J.S. Fletcher are a little uneven--some I have really enjoyed and others not so much. This book was quite good until the resolution, where everything got very tidy very quickly, which led to a disappointing finish. What Fletcher had happen pretty much had to be what happened, but it

This was the fourth novel in the seventeen novel, twenty-eight short story monster-sized J.S. Fletcher anthology. It is my favorite of the first four. Well-written, fast paced, excellent plot and an interesting collection of characters, especially the villain. As has been noted in other reviews, Fle

This is a crime story, not a crime mystery: At every stage, the reader is told what happens. And what happens is that the plans of the scheming crook who is the lead character of the story, slowly unravel, until he literally sees no way out. The feeling of inevitability that Fletcher seems to convey

JS Fletcher was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the "Golden Age". I enjoyed this form of detective novel which is so different to modern mysteries.

The Golden Age:
Certain conventions and clichés were established that limited any surprises on the part of the reader to the details o

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