Number Seventeen

The number Seventeen refers (at first) to the London apartment of a young widow who is strangled (off-scene) at the beginning of the book. Her neighbor, novelist Frank Theydon, joins with millionaire-philanthropist James Forbes to bring the murderer to justice. In the end, we discover that there is another sinister meaning to the number seventeen.



The international theme is dominant, beginning with a discussion of the possible danger posed by advances in air technology: will such advances bring the weapons of war to the skies – as submarines bring them to the seas? (The book was written before World War I.) This theme dominates the book, whose Asian “bad guys” represent the so-called Yellow Peril (widespread fears that the growing powers of Japan, China and other Asian countries posed great threats to the west).



“The law” is here represented by Scotland Yard’s Chief Superintended Winter and his friend, enemy and side-kick, Inspector Furneaux. Winter is big, burly, friendly, straight-forward and conventional. Furneaux is (of course, representing Winter’s opposite) small, puny, uncannily intuitive, often devious and unconventional.



- Summary by Kirsten Wever