The Chink in the Armour

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What to expect

“But there is one chink in the chain armour of civilized communities. Society is conducted on the assumption that murder will not be committed.”—The Spectator

Married at nineteen and already a widow at twenty-five, English beauty Sylvia Bailey is managing to enjoy life on her own in Paris. She even invests in a symbol of her freedom, a superb string of pearls she is rarely without. Sylvia befriends a fellow young widow with a love of gambling, a Polish woman named Anna Wolsky, and together the two visit Madame Cagliostra, a famous fortune-teller.

But Madame Cagliostra speaks in riddles, telling Sylvia that she may never return to her home country and to be wary of her beloved necklace. Declaring their fortunes entwined, the fortune-teller warns them not to leave Paris, for she sees “terrible danger” in their future …

Adapted as a silent film in 1922 with the title The House of Peril by writer and director Kenelm Foss, The Chink in the Armour is a classic thriller and modern mystery from Marie Belloc Lowndes.

Critics Review

  • “Such evidence, refreshingly, is never far to seek in the work of Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, whose ability to show and underline the character-flaw in her creatures which leads them into peril and, often, to death is largely responsible for the uncannily convincing effect she has on her readers.”

    American Review (1937)

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