''Unravelled Knots'', by

Baroness Orczy Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci) (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends as Em ...

, author of the ''Scarlet Pimpernel'' series, contains thirteen short stories about the Old Man in the Corner, Orzy's

armchair detective An armchair detective is a fictional investigator who does not personally visit a crime scene or interview witnesses; instead, the detective either reads the story of the crime in a newspaper or has it recounted by another person. As the armcha ...

who solves crimes for his own entertainment. This is the last of three books of short stories featuring the detective and follows those in ''

The Old Man in the Corner The Old Man in the Corner is an unnamed armchair detective who appears in a series of short stories written by Baroness Orczy. He examines and solves crimes while sitting in the corner of a genteel London tea-room in conversation with a female jou ...

'' and '' The Case of Miss Elliott''. In these first person narratives, a woman, presumedly the Polly Burton of ''

'', visits a tea-house after an absence of twenty years to find the Man in the Corner just as she had last seen him years before, fidgeting with his string and with mysteries to unravel. She is fascinated by the unlikely unravelings she hears, but despite her sarcasm and pride in her own investigative talents she remains the learner, impressed in spite of herself. The book is also notable for the development of the Old Man himself as a character; while in previous books he would simply extoll the genius of a criminal who outwitted the police while never lifting a finger to bring them to justice, here he occasionally recommends that his listener publish his writings (whenever the circumstances will protect her from a libel suit), or references having notified the police about a conclusion. Seven of these stories originally appeared in the ''London Magazine'' (1923–1924) and five in ''Hutchinson's Magazine'' (1924–1925).

* The Mystery of the Khaki Tunic * The Mystery of the Ingres Masterpiece * The Mystery of the Pearl Necklace * The Mystery of the Russian Prince * The Mysterious Tragedy in Bishop'S Road * The Mystery of the Dog's Tooth Cliff * The Tytherton Case * The Mystery of Brudenell Court * The Mystery of the White Carnation * The Mystery of the Montmartre Hat * The Miser of Maida Vale * The Fulton Gardens Mystery * A Moorland Tragedy

External links

Unravelled Knots
at

Project Gutenberg Australia Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. It is a sister site of Project Gutenberg, though there is no formal relationship between the two organizations. The site hosts free eboo ...

* 1925 short story collections Short story collections by Baroness Emma Orczy Mystery short story collections Hutchinson (publisher) books {{1920s-mystery-story-collection-stub

Contents

External links