The List of Adrian Messenger

Adrian Messenger believes the deaths are connected and asks Anthony Gethryn to investigate, providing a list of victims. He heads off to collect evidence, but his plane is bombed mid-flight and crashes into the sea. In his dying breath he murmurs a garbled clue to Raoul Le Borg, hinting at the mystery's key.

Raoul Le Borg survives the crash and reveals he is Gethryn's WWII counterpart in the French Resistance. Together they decide to pursue Messenger's list and decode his final words. They begin the investigation, determined to uncover the truth behind the deaths.

Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm, Messenger's widow and former love interest of Gethryn, joins the investigation. Le Borg becomes strongly attracted to Jocelyn as the trio pieces together Messenger's clues. The team expands to include her knowledge of Messenger and the family.

They visit Adrian Messenger's apartment to read his unpublished manuscript, only to find the killer has already been there, retyping pages and removing key information. He leaves as Jocelyn arrives, suggesting the killer knows how to operate with disguises. Gethryn spots the inconsistencies, realizing the murderer uses realistic masks to hide identity.

The investigators travel to James Slattery, the living victim on Messenger's list, only to be told by his invalid twin brother Joe that James died years earlier. That night, the masked murderer pursues Joe, knocks him out, and pushes him into the river, where he drowns. The clues seem to point to a complex deception.

The next day, James's mother reveals that Joe was actually James, who impersonated his deceased brother to obtain a pension. This twist confirms the cunning nature of the killer and the possibility of multiple identities. The investigation now targets the truth of the wartime past and its cover-ups.

From the mother and a widow, Gethryn and Le Borg learn that all victims were in the same Burma POW camp. A Canadian sergeant betrayed comrades and killed each listed person to prevent identification. Messenger's hint about prominence and the Bruttenholms also ties into the inheritance line.

George Brougham appears at the Bruttenholm estate fox hunt, disguised as a member of the family. He is introduced as an heir and soon becomes the killer's next target, Jocelyn's son Derek, who stands to inherit the estate. The hunt provides the stage for the confrontation to come.

Gethryn uses the investigation as a setup, hoping to position himself as George Brougham's likely victim and draw out the killer. The plan relies on exposing Brougham to scrutiny among the hunting crowd. The tension builds as suspicion shifts toward the disguised member of the Bruttenholm circle.

Brougham sabotages the hunt by laying a drag and a hay tedder behind a wall, intending to impale Gethryn during the chase. He disguises himself again to slip away with Derek's horse. The plot shows the killer's calculated reach and willingness to harm by proxy.

As the hunt begins, the crowd's protest and the danger of the hidden trap unfold. Gethryn reveals he anticipated the device and removed the danger in advance. With the lead fox hound, they begin tracking the scent to identify the culprit among the onlookers.

Derek shouts a Romanian command that makes the horse halt, causing Brougham to be thrown and fatally impaled on the hay tedder he had planned for Gethryn. The killer's disguise collapses with the fall, exposing him at last.

With Brougham dead, the immediate threat to Jocelyn and Derek is lifted. Gethryn and Le Borg reflect on the case's fallout, having connected Messenger's dying clue to a wartime betrayal. The investigation closes as the truth about the killer's past is laid bare.

The final pieces fall into place as the clues surrounding Messenger's manuscript, the Burma camp connection, and the Bruttenholm inheritance converge. The living victims are accounted for and the mystery is resolved, leaving Jocelyn and her family safe.