Murders in Volume 2

One hundred years before the events of our 1941 puzzle, a beautiful guest disappeared from the wealthy Vauregard household, along with the second volume in a set of the collected works of Byron. Improbably enough, both guest and book seem to have reappeared, neither having aged a day. The elderly Mr. Vauregard is inclined to believe the young woman's story of having vacationed on an astral plane. But his dubious niece calls in Henry Gamadge, gentleman sleuth, expert in rare books, and sufficiently well bred--it is hoped--to avoid distressing the Vauregard sensibilities. As we soon discover, delicate sensibilities abound chez Vauregard, where the household includes an aging actress with ties to a spiritualist sect and a shy beauty with a shady (if crippled) fianc? As always in this delightful series, Gamadge comes up trumps, but only after careful study of the other players' cards. Murders in Volume 2, though the third Henry Gamadge novel, was considered by Elizabeth Daly to be the book with which the series truly began.