This time the mysterious arrival and subsequent disappearance of a brown paper package sets Witherall off on a furious chase around Dalton and environs, only briefly interrupted by the discovery of the corpse of banker Fenwick Balderston, bashed in the head by a small bust of Shakespeare—a treasured gift from Leonidas himself. The reluctant sleuth suddenly becomes primary murder suspect as well, and a fascinating assortment of rescuers lines up to spirit Witherall from one precarious situation to another on the way toward a frenetic and quite surprising solution.
Leonidas Witherall, Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s “other” detective, inhabits a suburb of Boston named Dalton. One of its most colorful residents, he is the proprietor of a prestigious boys’ school and instantly recognizable by all as William Shakespeare’s remarkable look-alike. Few people, however, know him as “Morgatroyd Jones,” author of the popular and flamboyant Lieutenant Haseltine adventure novels. But like his own fictional hero, Witherall’s outrageous escapades mix slapstick and suspense like no one else’s.