Connington: Tragedy at Ravensthorpe

The theft of rare medallions during a masked ball at Ravensthorpe is followed by murder. Sir Clinton Driffield investigates.

Review

The story deals with a masked ball given at Ravensthorpe—a lonely country estate inherited by Maurice Chacewater through an oddly worded will—to celebrate his sister’s coming of age. What each guest was to wear had been kept a secret and all who entered Ravensthorpe that night wore masks.

Cecil, who is on bad terms with his brother, Maurice, arranges a practical joke with several young friends to plunge the house into darkness and to carry out a mock robbery at a given  moment; but the plan is overheard. The ensuing situation is doubly complicated.

In the drama that follows, the theft of rare Leonardo da Vinci medallions, thrilling chases through the woods, secret passages, a rare form of nervous disease, suicides and murders, all have their places. Everything is woven into one complex and exciting pattern, and the final unravelment is masterly.

(Wilmington, Delaware, Morning News, 1928)