A Room to Die In

Cast of Characters

ANN NELSON — The heiress who did not want to be foxed out of her first editions and a mint of money

ELAINE NELSON GLUCK — Ann’s hell-raising mother — a hypochondriac beset by pills and bills

ROLAND NELSON — A passed master of chess who controlled several squares through his knights

PEARL NELSON — A gem of a wife who was lost in a meretricious setting

THOMAS TARR — This strong arm of the law disarmed the ladies and dismembered the men

JEHANE CYPRIANO — The unorthodox architecture of this doxy was based on a faulty foundation

ALEXANDER CYPRIANO — A living stalemate whose best bet was never laid

MARTIN JONES — A stud-driving contractor who rooked a chess player by pretending his house was his castle

EDGAR MAUDLEY — The light-fingered but heavy-handed bibliophile who weaved a strange tale about his heirlooms

BEN COOLEY — News photographer whose positives accentuated his negative

HARVEY GLUCK — He lived in a kennel and died in a garret

INSPECTOR FITZPATRICK — This matter-of-fact investigator found himself in a bloody phantasmagoria

ARTHUR EAKINS — An insurance agent whose policy was full coverage — often with six feet of dank earth

SHERIFF METZGER — This lumbering lawman built a strong case against a vicious criminal and sent him packing