Heart to heart

"Heart to heart" by Ida Reade Allen is a mystery-romance novel written in the late 19th century. Set in the lakeside town of Lakeview, it pivots on a sensational wedding-day death that exposes hidden motives, tangled affections, and social pressures. Central figures include Colonel Willowby and his daughter Maud, the conflicted Henry Cross, the keen-eyed detective Jack Hull, and the enigmatic Violet Harding. The opening of the novel stages a radiant spring wedding that collapses into shock when bridegroom Allen Chesterbrook is discovered stabbed in his rooms, the scene suggestive of robbery yet missing nothing of value. Coroner Granby and Detective Hull take charge; Hull notes a dagger marked “V. H.” and golden hairs with a crinkled hairpin, soon focusing on Violet Harding after hearing town gossip and later intervening when a rough acquaintance confronts her by the lake. Meanwhile, Henry Cross finds and briefly conceals a torn letter implying Allen intended to break his engagement, and he privately tells Colonel Willowby—who is also reeling from a looming financial ruin Allen had promised to avert. Cross steps in to shore up the colonel’s debts and urges silence to spare Maud, while the funeral passes without her appearance and suspicion quietly gathers around Violet.

Heart to heart, by Ida Reade Allen. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #77537.