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In a heartbeat your ordinary life is transformed when a British law firm writes to
inform that you have been named the sole and undisputed heir to an immense
fortune, a manor estate, and a hereditary title by a British uncle you never
knew existed and is about to die. In a letter and audiotape, Lord Arthur Reynold Hanover urges you to hurry to England and tell no one of your inheritance.
He has enclosed an expense cheque and valid first-class transportation vouchers, all of which he says you may keep if you choose not to accept his invitation.
Lord Hanover’s correspondence reveals that he has minutely followed your entire life, amazing you with knowledge of intimate details you’d never shared with anyone.
Shocked yet fascinated, you research his life and career.
From the Internet, a BBC documentary and other sources, you discover that Hanover Manor
is a mammoth estate, with
one spectacular, breathtaking room after another—a blaze of gold, silver,
brass, marble, wood, exquisite fabrics and tapestries, wood carvings and
furniture, antiques and artwork. From gossipy sites devoted to the doings of the British nobility, you learn that Lord Hanover, a lifelong bachelor who reportedly sired no offspring, is a world-renowned inventor-scientist who frequently collaborates with another British noble,
Lord Dennis Rollinsby, an experimental physicist. Your uncle is also reputed to be a consummate host whose manor galas rival Disneyland spectacles.
Everybody quoted on the subject of Arthur Hanover speaks highly of him. The next day, you receive another huge shock when you attempt to call your long-lost uncle.
James Farnsworth, the manor’s butler,
coldly informs you that Lord Hanover passed away at a Swiss sanitarium three weeks ago.
“You’ll no doubt be coming,” he says and abruptly hangs up.
At that, you make secret preparations to visit the estate and claim your inheritance and title.
You are met at Heathrow by an elderly driver named Stephen,
who whisks you away in a Bentley limousine to the Hanover estate.
Since his son used to work at the manor,
Stephen is a fount of gossip about the household.
He says you should strongly beware of Farnsworth and chef
Arnaud Le Clercq, and particularly of the Farnsworth’s consort and second-in-command,
Adrienne Van Scoy. By the end of the journey, you feel like a character in an Agatha Christie mystery:
the intended victim.
A chilling thought—since you did honor your deceased uncle’s request:
nobody back home has any idea where in England you are or why you went.
