The House Without the Door

Mrs. Vina Gregson should be sitting pretty. Acquitted of murdering her husband, she has inherited all his money, and can afford to dress in the height of 1940s style. Unfortunately, her fashionable clothing and coiffure go unseen, and much of her money unspent, as the Widow Gregson remains essentially a prisoner, trapped in her elegant New York apartment with occasional, furtive forays to her Connecticut estate. A jury may have found her innocent, but Mrs. Gregson remains a murderer in the eyes of the public, and of the tabloid journalists who hound her every step. Worse, she has recently begun receiving increasingly menacing letters—letters written, she is certain, by the person who killed her husband. Taking the matter to the police would only heighten her notoriety, so she calls on Henry Gamadge, the gentleman-sleuth earlier encountered in Murders in Volume 2. Known for his discretion, Gamadge also has a knack for solving problems that baffle the police.