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The Old Man in the Corner

by Emmuska Orczy Orczy (1865–1947)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 36 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Old Man in the Corner" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy is a collection of detective short stories first published in The Royal Magazine in 1901. The stories feature an unnamed armchair detective who solves sensational crimes from his seat in a London tea-room, relating his deductions to a female journalist while tying knots in string. Unlike conventional detectives, he never brings criminals to justice, merely identifying them through logic and newspaper accounts. The final story hints that the Old Man himself may be a criminal.

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  • Detective and mystery stories, English

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Chapter I

THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY

The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the table.

"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation."

Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him.

She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), and plate of tongue (6d.).

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Contents

Show all 36 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI: "Non Proven"
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX: An Alibi
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI: The End

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About this edition

This free edition of The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska Orczy Orczy comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #10556, released 2004-01-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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