The Man in the Brown Suit

In Paris, a Russian dancer named Nadina meets privately with a man posing as Count Sergius Paulovitch. Both drop their adopted personas and speak in English. They discuss their criminal chief, known as the "Colonel," a mastermind behind jewel robberies, espionage, and assassination who has never incriminated himself. Nadina reveals she has double-crossed the Colonel: During a diamond robbery at De Beers in Kimberley, South Africa, she kept back South American stones that could redirect suspicion toward him. She plans to demand a fortune for her silence, with help from her husband.

The narrator, Anne Beddingfeld, is the spirited daughter of Professor Beddingfeld, an authority on Primitive Man. After her father dies of pneumonia, Anne inherits just under £88, rejects offers of marriage and employment, and moves to London, determined to find adventure.

On January 8th, Anne witnesses a fatal accident at Hyde Park Corner Tube station. A small man reeking of mothballs sees something terrifying, steps backward, and falls onto the electrified rail. A tall, bearded man claiming to be a doctor pushes forward, but Anne notices he feels for the heart on the wrong side of the body, convincing her he is searching the dead man's pockets. As he flees, he drops a paper that reads: "17.122 Kilmorden Castle." The dead man is identified as L. B. Carton, recently arrived from Kimberley. His only notable possession is a house agent's order to view the Mill House at Marlow, owned by Sir Eustace Pedler, a Member of Parliament. The next morning, a young foreign woman is found strangled at the Mill House, and a young man in a brown suit was seen leaving in a shaken state. The police launch a manhunt for this "Man in the Brown Suit."

Anne visits Lord Nasby, owner of the Daily Budget, who offers her a job if she produces results. She realizes the Kilmorden Castle is a ship sailing to Cape Town on the 17th, and the fare matches her inheritance. She books passage. At the Mill House, she finds a roll of Kodak films hidden in a cupboard, linked to Carton by the smell of mothballs, but the roll proves unexposed.

The narrative shifts to Sir Eustace Pedler's diary. A government official, Augustus Milray, persuades Sir Eustace to carry confidential documents to South Africa on the Kilmorden Castle. A scarred young man appears claiming Milray sent him as a second secretary, giving his name provisionally as "Harry Rayburn."

Aboard ship, Anne befriends Mrs. Clarence Blair (Suzanne) and Colonel Race, a soldierly fellow passenger. A dispute over Cabin 17 involves Anne, Sir Eustace's secretary Guy Pagett, and a missionary called the Rev. Edward Chichester. Anne keeps the cabin. Misreading the paper's figures as indicating Cabin 17 at 1 a.m. on the 22nd, she waits. A man bursts in, stabbed and bleeding. Anne bandages him, but he refuses to explain and leaves.

Anne confides in Suzanne. They realize the figures actually point to Cabin 71, Suzanne's cabin, originally booked under a pseudonym for Nadina. Suzanne recalls that a roll of films was dropped through her ventilator at 1 a.m. on the 22nd. They open the tin and discover uncut diamonds. The night steward confirms Carton arranged the delivery on a previous voyage. The diamonds were meant for Nadina, who never boarded because she was already dead.

Colonel Race recounts the De Beers robbery at dinner: Two young men, John Eardsley and his friend Lucas, brought diamonds from South America to Kimberley, where a woman substituted stolen stones, framing them. Sir Laurence Eardsley paid restitution and disowned his son; both men enlisted, and Eardsley was killed. As Race finishes, Rayburn appears visibly shaken, and Anne recognizes him as her wounded visitor. On the last night at sea, someone attacks Anne on deck. Rayburn rescues her, and they identify the attacker as Pagett. Anne calls Rayburn "Lucas," shocking him.

In Cape Town, Rayburn vanishes. Sir Eustace discovers his documents have been replaced with blank paper. Anne is lured to a villa in Muizenberg by a fake invitation, captured by a red-bearded Dutchman, but frees herself that night and overhears Chichester, now without his clerical disguise, discussing the Colonel's orders. She escapes at dawn. When Pagett tries to put Anne on the Durban train, Suzanne creates a diversion and Anne slips away. The next day, discovering a stolen wallet planted in her handbag to frame her, Anne sprints to the station and leaps aboard Sir Eustace's Rhodesia train, presenting herself as his new secretary.

Anne cables the Daily Budget, identifying the Marlow victim as Nadina. Near Bulawayo, Colonel Race proposes marriage during a drive to the Matopos hills; Anne declines, admitting she cares for someone else. At Victoria Falls, she receives a note signed "Harry Rayburn" asking her to meet at a clearing. She goes, but the path-marking stones have been rearranged. She steps into empty air and falls into the ravine.

Weeks later, Anne wakes in a hut on a small island in the Zambesi River, tended by Harry, who found her caught in a tree overhanging the gorge. He denies sending the note. During her recovery, they develop a deep bond. Harry explains that he and his friend were framed by Nadina during the De Beers affair. After the War, he learned Nadina had kept identifiable stones as leverage against the Colonel. He followed Carton to England in disguise as the fake doctor, took the paper from Carton's body, followed Nadina to Marlow, and found her already strangled. They establish a code: Genuine letters will have "and" crossed out, and telegrams will be signed "Andy." After a dawn attack on the island, they fight off assailants, swim the crocodile-infested channel, and trek to Livingstone.

In Kimberley, Suzanne reveals she hid the diamonds inside a large wooden giraffe from their souvenir collection, entrusted to Sir Eustace. Anne intercepts Pagett and learns his secret: He has a wife and children near Marlow, hidden for years, and his presence there on the day of the murder was innocent.

A telegram summons Anne to Johannesburg, signed "Harry" instead of "Andy." Recognizing it as a fake, she goes deliberately, hoping to identify the Colonel, and wires both Harry and Colonel Race. At a suburban house, Sir Eustace confirms he is the "Colonel," confesses to murdering Nadina, and demands Anne lure Harry with the diamonds in exchange for their lives. Anne writes the letter under duress but hides a pearl-handled revolver she found in her luggage.

When Harry arrives under guard, Anne pulls the revolver and holds it to Sir Eustace's head. Harry takes the weapon and explains the trap: Colonel Race's men followed him to the house. Sir Eustace throws a tin of film rolls into a building set ablaze amid the armed revolt sweeping Johannesburg, believing he has destroyed the diamonds, but Anne reveals they are hidden in the wooden giraffe. Race's forces storm the house, and Minks, one of Sir Eustace's agents who had impersonated both Chichester and a female secretary called Miss Pettigrew, testifies against Sir Eustace.

At a farm outside Johannesburg, Race informs Anne that Sir Eustace has escaped during the night. He speaks privately with her, explaining that he cleared Harry's name because he knew it was the right thing to do. When Harry approaches, Race addresses him as "Lucas," then reveals the truth: Harry Lucas was killed in the War. This man is John Harold Eardsley, Sir Laurence's son and heir to a vast fortune. The two friends exchanged identification discs, and Lucas died the next day. Eardsley let the world believe he was dead, concealing his identity so Anne would love him for himself. Anne accepts his confession.

Two years later, Anne and Harry live on their island with their young son, having eloped instead of returning to England. A letter arrives from Sir Eustace in Bolivia: He has escaped justice and bears no malice.