The rat trap

A brazen jewel theft at a fashionable continental hotel leaves guests and police baffled and sets off an informal inquiry among the visitors. A perceptive, well-to-do observer takes an interest in criminology and suspects the coup required information from an accomplice among staff or guests. Social rivalries, flirtations, and differing attitudes toward wealth complicate suspicion and motive as the amateur investigator watches conversations, studies behavior, and reasons about opportunities. The narrative blends a puzzle about the missing gems with close-up scenes of resort life, manners, and the techniques of detection used to trace an elusive chain of clues.