The Corbin necklace by Henry Kitchell Webster
"The Corbin Necklace" by Henry Kitchell Webster is a mystery novel written in the early 20th century. It follows a prominent Midwestern family on the eve of Judith Corbin’s wedding, when an infamous pearl necklace becomes the center of danger, pride, and intrigue. Narrated by a nearby family friend confined with a broken leg, the story watches sharp-eyed young Punch, reluctant bride Judy, their formidable grandmother, their strained mother Victoria, and returning
Uncle Alec as a vanished heirloom exposes hidden loyalties and fault lines. The opening of the novel sets the scene: Punch frets that newspapers have announced the pearls as Judy’s wedding gift, the neighbor-narrator sketches the Corbin dynasty and its iron-willed matriarch, and Judy arrives home ambivalent about her marriage to Bruce Applebury. At The Oaks, Punch discovers the safe once left unlocked; tensions flare between Victoria and Mrs. Corbin over who should have the necklace; Judy hints at her grandmother’s morphine use; and Uncle Alec reappears from the Philippines. On the day the guests arrive, Judy abruptly feigns a sprained ankle after a jolting encounter, and that evening Mrs. Corbin invites her to wear the pearls—but the case proves empty, prompting Victoria to urge secrecy while Alec argues for detectives. The party continues: Judy hides a hastily delivered note in a vase, Punch keeps a nocturnal watch, glimpses a man in torn, pale pajamas heading upstairs, and encounters Miss Digby in the hall, until morning brings Punch a sudden idea about where to look, cutting the opening on a taut cliff. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Webster, Henry Kitchell, 1875-1932 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Corbin necklace |
| Original Publication | New York: A. L. Burt Company, 1926. |
| Credits | Susan E., David E. Brown, Edo Reich, Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 83.5 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Jewelry theft -- Fiction |
| Subject | Families -- Fiction |
| Subject | Weddings -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76546 |
| Release Date | Jul 22, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 239 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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