The Chuckling Fingers

Rediscover one of the great mystery authors of the twentieth century in this Depression-era tale of a wealthy family's dark secrets turning deadly on their remote lakeside estate. Voted Mystery of the Year in 1941.

An urgent note from a friend spurs Ann Gay to visit her recently married cousin, Jacqueline Heaton. Upon her arrival at Fiddler's Fingers, a remote, pine-grown estate on Lake Superior, Ann immediately senses her cousin's fear--someone has been playing increasingly malicious tricks on the Heatons, a proud family of Minnesota lumber tycoons, and all signs point to Jacqueline as the instigator.

Ann quickly resolves to take Jacqueline and her young daughter, Toby, away from the danger. But what began as seemingly trivial pranks--ruined clothes, a burnt bed, a smashed boat--escalates to direct attacks and ultimately murder. Everyone on the estate and nearby resort, including the entire Heaton family, becomes a suspect. Potential motives are revealed as Ann learns more about the Heaton family, and with no chance of anyone leaving Fiddler's Fingers until the killer is caught, Ann realizes that the only way to prove her cousin's innocence is by snaring the murderer herself.

The trap is set; with herself as bait, Ann's door creaks open in the night as a cloaked figure moves silently toward her bed....