Harding Kent is trying to discover what happened to make his fiancé's sister try to kill herself. He enlists the help of this friend, a postal inspector named Davis. At first, the inspector doesn't want anything to do with the case. All Harding has is a yellow scrap of paper, but when a policeman shows up with more of the same yellow paper from another suicide, Davis is intrigued. Harding has an immediate suspect in mind, but Davis isn't as sure.
On the positive side, most of it was easy to read, and I did want to know what happened. It was short and didn't take me long to get through. But, there are some serious issues with the book that need to be addressed. First is the non-PC language. I understand it's a product of its time, but some of it made me cringe. Usually, I can get past that kind of language, but let me give you an example. Davis comments that criminals are all insane. They are a product of their parents, and their heads are misshapen. In the future, they will be able to have surgery to correct their heads and make them better...it just doesn't sit well.
Overall, I liked the first half a lot more than the second. It wasn't just the weird thoughts about criminals, either. The conclusion seemed to drag on forever for some reason. Davis is one of those "Sherlock" types that discern clues that no one else sees and then basically call everyone else stupid when they don't see it. Also, the "mastermind" was something of a disappointment. SPOILER: It's someone who doesn't show up anywhere else in the book. I hate that. I like mysteries where I feel like I am trying to solve the mystery while reading. It's a letdown when I find out I never had a chance.
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