The Frewin Miniatures

Eight miniatures on ivory. Ten thousand pounds. And a house where nobody came and nobody went. Old Mr. Frewin, the art dealer, has spent two years pinned to an invalid chair at Blatchley House, near Brighton. His one remaining joy is his collection — and above all the eight Englehearts, three inches high, painted on ivory, the most perfect specimens in existence. The Louvre sent men over from Paris to try and buy them. He would not sell. On the evening of January the fourteenth he suffers his third seizure. The case of miniatures is brought to his bedside so that he can hold them one last time. His wife asks to be left alone with him for a few minutes. There is a son she wants to speak about — a disgraced son, cut out of everything, whom the old man swore never to forgive. By morning the old man is dead and the miniatures are gone. The house was full of people. The doors were watched. Nothing was broken and nobody was seen. Scotland Yard is blamed, publicly and painfully, for getting nowhere — and so the case comes to the one officer whose methods the Yard does not entirely approve of, and whose results it cannot argue with. FOR LISTENERS This is a complete, unabridged reading of The Frewin Miniatures by Baroness Orczy, collected in Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (1910) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries. Lady Molly does not end this case with an arrest. She ends it by asking for something else entirely, and explaining exactly why she wants it. Do you think she was right to settle for that, or did somebody get away with too much? SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS CREDITS Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by Baroness Orczy (public domain). TAGS / KEYWORDS baroness orczy audiobook, lady molly of scotland yard, the frewin miniatures, lady molly audiobook, edwardian detective story, female detective classic, stolen miniatures mystery, art theft mystery audiobook, scotland yard mystery, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery