The Midnight Guest: A Detective Story

The artist Louis Delahay lies dead in his London square, and the evidence points squarely at his wife. A veiled woman appears at Lord Ravenspur's door in the dead of night, her husband's blood still wet on her hands, and the questions begin: What really happened in that house? Who was Delahay beyond the famous paintings? And what secrets festered behind the locked doors of their home? As Ravenspur and Inspector Dallas pull at the threads of the dead man's life, they find a web of mistaken identities, buried pasts, and relationships poisoned by jealousy and greed. The wife may not be guilty after all. Someone else had motive. Someone else had access. And Delahay's own mysterious past holds the key to his death. For lovers of golden age detective fiction, this 1907 thriller offers period atmosphere, genuine suspense, and a mystery that rewards attention. Fred M. White was writing in the same era that gave us Conan Doyle and the earliest crime fiction pioneers, and this compact tale demonstrates why their work still captivates.