In Jeopardy

A distant relative summoned to a rural estate after a kinsman’s sudden death finds what should be a routine probate occasion growing increasingly suspicious. A physician questions the naturalness of the demise and the visitor uncovers family secrets, cryptic numbers and an undecipherable cipher, hidden safes, clandestine meetings, and perilous confrontations that include a masked rider and a midsummer ball. Through methodical inquiry and hazardous episodes the narrator links inheritance, deception, and violent motives, gradually unraveling the conspiracy behind the death and exposing the forces that endangered the household.