The cover page is adapted from Under the Lamp, a painting completed in 1906 by Paul Sérusier. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S%C3%A9rusierwww.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
The Three Taps
Chapters (26)
- Dedication 0:00
- I: The Euthanasia Policy 0:08
- II: The Detective Malgré Lui 19:31
- III: At the Load of Mischief 36:04
- IV: The Bedroom 52:50
- V: Supper, and Mr. Brinkman 1:07:49
- VI: An Ear at the Keyhole 1:24:38
- VII: From Leyland’s Notebook 1:41:16
- VIII: The Bishop at Home 1:52:11
- IX: The Late Rector of Hipley 2:13:16
- X: The Bet Doubled 2:29:53
- XI: The Generalship of Angela 2:54:12
- XII: The Makings of a Trap 3:09:58
- XIII: A Morning with the Haberdasher 3:25:37
- XIV: Bredon Is Taken for a Walk 3:43:48
- XV: A Scrap of Paper 4:02:09
- XVI: A Visitor from Pullford 4:17:25
- XVII: Mysterious Behaviour of the Old Gentleman 4:33:54
- XVIII: The Barmaid Is Brought to Book 4:50:18
- XIX: How Leyland Spent the Evening 5:08:10
- XX: How Bredon Spent the Evening 5:24:09
- XXI: How Eames Spent the Evening 5:36:59
- XXII: At a Standstill 5:49:09
- XXIII: Leyland’s Account of It All 6:01:50
- XXIV: Mottram’s Account of It All 6:17:39
- XXV: Bredon’s Account of It All 6:33:44
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Jephthah Mottram is a wealthy businessman whose life is insured by a policy which pays a huge sum to his beneficiaries should he die before the age of 65, and after that provides an annuity. During his annual fishing retreat at a rural and decrepit Midlands inn, he dies one night of gas poisoning. There are complications. What is to be made of his attempt to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company because of a diagnosis he had received before his holiday? And what of the disposition of the three gas taps in his bedroom at the hostelry?
Inevitably, Mottram’s death requires investigation, not only by the police but by the insurance company’s brilliant—albeit lazy—detective, Miles Bredon. Bredon is accompanied by his wife—a very sharp Watson to Bredon’s Holmes—as well as a police detective who had served with Bredon in the Great War.
Ronald Knox populates this story of detection with a strong cast of supporting characters, adding a variety of viewpoints to the perception of Mottram’s untimely death. He also gave the book the subtitle “A Detective Story Without a Moral”—perhaps a subtle invitation from the author to his readers to draw a different conclusion?