When Colonel William D'Arcy Mann is found shot dead in his Boston hotel suite, there are few to mourn him but many who will feel the repercussions of his untimely demise.Mann was the publisher of a scurrilous gossip rag in which he exposed the indiscretions, great and small, of Boston's highest caste - unless they paid the hush money he demanded.By discovering the body, Addington Ames, a resident of Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill, has violated at least two tenets of the Boston Brahmin code of behavior to which he was born - his name has appeared in the newspapers, and he has been questioned by the police. But it's his reason for visiting Colonel Mann in the first place that is by far Ames's greatest concern.His orphaned young cousin, Valentine, has made a most desirable match, but she has unfortunately been indiscreet, and the love letters she wrote during a failed summer romance have somehow fallen into Colonel Mann's hands. If her fiance were to discover her indiscretion, he would break their engagement, so Ames must recover the letters to save Val from social ostracism. But the missives in question are not to be found in the inconveniently dead blackmailer's hotel room. Only by finding the killer will he be able to prevent Val's heartbreak and disgrace. Read Less