Trichotomy

It is late December, 1929. Cyrus Skeen has concluded his case in Seeing Double, in which he wrestled with a cell of the Communist Party that sought to implicate him in a Soviet plot to indict the Western Allies with a "false amendment" to the Esterhazy plan (featured in Wintery Discontent) to unify Europe to avoid another cataclysmic war such as the Great War. The bogus codicil to the plan called for the immediate and unprovoked invasion of and toppling of the Soviet dictatorship by the Western Allies, including the United States. The codicil is a complete fabrication, expertly forged by the Soviets and allegedly originating within the German Foreign Ministry. The codicil was supposed to be found on Skeen's body in mysterious circumstances and publicized in the West.
This is the twentieth Cyrus Skeen detective novel. Skeen and his artist wife, Dilys, plan to have a quiet Christmas together, but then Skeen is suddenly invited to speak before a sociology class about his "Trichotomy" article in the American Mercury, which appeared in August to great acclaim. His essay is about criminal motives and the psychology of recidivists, or repeat offenders. Skeen, a noted private detective with an impeccable and effective record of dealing with recidivists, agrees to field questions from the students about the subject, but then things go murderously wrong in the classroom.


Genre: Historical Mystery