The Wrong Box
1889
What if your survival was worth a fortune? For the last two surviving members of a tontine, that question has become a nightmare. The Wrong Box is Stevenson's deliciously dark comedy about two brothers, Joseph and Masterman Finsbury, who stand to inherit a massive sum, but only if they outlive each other. When a train accident creates a case of mistaken identity, both brothers suddenly have powerful reasons to prove the other one is dead. Their nephew Morris adds another layer of chaos as he hunts for an inheritance that keeps slipping away. Stevenson and co-author Lloyd Osbourne build a farcical masterpiece of misdirection, where every character lies, every inheritance is contested, and the only thing certain is that someone's fortune is about to go terribly wrong. It's greed as spectator sport, played out by people who will do absolutely anything to survive.
