The Franchise Affair

Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother had been accused of brutally kidnapping a young woman named Betty Kane.

Miss Kane’s claims seem highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she describes her alleged prison—the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks—in remarkable detail. Yet Marion Sharpe insists the girl has never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month.

Convinced that Betty Kane’s story is false, small-town solicitor Robert Blair becomes an unlikely amateur detective, taking up the Sharpes’ case and setting out to solve the extraordinary mystery that has stumped even Inspector Grant.