They Wouldn't be Chessmen

By A E W Mason

A royal inheritance is failing, and the people entrusted with it cannot afford exposure. The ancestral pearls of Chitipur are deteriorating before a young prince returns to India, leaving Major Scott Carruthers to devise an elaborate scheme in which reputation, loyalty and greed become dangerously entangled. Yet human beings refuse to behave like chessmen: emotion, self-interest and chance threaten every carefully calculated move. Across Paris and the waterways and country estates beyond it, surveillance and disguise turn social encounters into contests of observation. A mezzo-soprano whose career has been interrupted by illness is drawn into the affair, protected by a former Bengal police officer while investigators study the tensions surrounding them. House-boats, motor launches and a fancy-dress gathering provide shifting ground for competing designs, as romantic uncertainty and social comedy sharpen the novel's psychological suspense without loosening its intricate mystery. The pleasure lies in watching manipulation meet emotional unpredictability. Conversations conceal intentions, appearances invite mistrust, and each participant must judge whether others are allies, obstacles or pieces being moved by an unseen hand. Combining crime fiction with adventure and a deception thriller's game-like plotting, the novel sustains curiosity through the contrast between orderly plans and unruly human conduct. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9378416055
• ISBN13: 9789378416057
• Release Date: March 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"