Mrs Stein Solves a Crime 2 - The End (Pages 58 - end)

 RATING: VERY GOOD

SPOILERS!!!

I have enjoyed this novella as we get to know Esther Stein more. Solving this crime teaches her a lot about herself.

Esther starts suspecting her son-in-law when she learns that the money he got from selling the horse and carriage is exactly what Mrs Varley had in the tin box in the bank. If George stole that money, he may have sold the horse and carriage to replace the money. When Esther talks to Annie, the younger woman says that maybe George was going through financial difficulties because he had bought stocks which may not have produced much money. Esther thinks she can have a look at George's study.

Esther returns to Hetty's house after looking after her grandson, and while the child is having his dinner, she asks the butler to open the study. There are huge heaps of documents and Esther goes through them meticulously. What she discovers is worse than she thought. George is spending his money on paying the bills for the Palace Hotel where Esther guesses he has a mistress. The name of the person in the rooms in the hotel is Lucia Messina.

When Hettie comes home, Esther tells her daughter everything, and Hetty is shocked and outraged. What Hettie wants is first to talk to the Fisks, and both mother and daughter go to their home, and they confirm that Konrad suspected George but didn't dare to tell the Steins straightaway as George is their son-in-law, and Konrad may lose his job as a consequence. 

After leaving the Fisks, Hettie is determined to confront George, and they travel to the hotel. When they burst into the room, they find George with his lover. He eventually admits that he took the money but put it back. Then Hettie notices the earrings that Lucia is wearing and they are the ones taken from the bank, so she makes the woman give them to her.

At the end of the book which takes place weeks after that confrontation, Esther tells Annie that George has granted Hettie a divorce without protests. Herman intervened when he returned, and George didn't have any other option than accept Herman's demands. Esther has learnt that George treated Hettie and Georgie horribly; he blamed her for not having another child, and he criticised Georgie for being a weakling. Now things are better for the child as she has become friends with Jamie, Ian and Emmaline. Besides, her grandmother discovered that the reason why Georgie had difficulties reading was because he needed glasses. And now he is going to the grammar school where the children from the boarding house go and also one of his cousins.

This was short but very good. I love these stories and characters.