The Missing Link. Illustrated

The Missing Link transports readers to the moor‑land village of Toomerton in Devon, where the grand Tarry estate looms over the rural landscape with all its ancestral weight and family secrets. When a large fortune is at stake, daughters and heirs from afar — including two ambitious Americans — converge to inspect the estate and stake their claim.Tensions rise when one of these claimants is found brutally murdered in his bedroom, his head caved in under mysterious circumstances, in the very house that was supposed to seal his future. The only clue left behind is a gold cuff‑link — a “missing link” to something far more sinister than merely inheritance disputes. Who owns the cuff‑link, and what hidden ties or jealousies does it signify?Detective work, local gossip, and old rivalries begin to blend in an atmospheric portrait of a country house mystery. The moors themselves seem to whisper of treachery: isolation, mist, and the legacy of long‑buried family feuds set the stage for a puzzle both psychological and physical. Varney unfolds the plot with a steady pace, allowing suspicion to shift from one character to another, each with something to hide.With The Missing Link, George Varney (a pen name of Vernon Loder) delivers his first crime novel — a classic Golden Age whodunit in every sense. The large house, the inheritance plot, the cast of potentially guilty outsiders and insiders — all elements combine to craft a nostalgic, yet chilling, mystery.This is a compelling read for fans of country house detective fiction: lovers of locked-room style intrigue, dark family secrets, and clues that reveal more than just the culprit, but the hidden face of human greed and pride.