Dartmoor explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Murder and Investigation

  French systematically investigates the disappearance of Berlyn and Pyke, testing the breakdown theory and examining the car.

• Deception and Secrecy

  The possibility that the car breakdown was faked to cover a murder is explored.

• Nature and Environment

  The Dartmoor landscape, with its bogs and remote terrain, plays a key role in the mystery.

Characters to notice

• Inspector French

  Consults Sergeant Daw, investigates the car and the moor, tests the breakdown theory.

• Sergeant Daw

  Assists French, recounts the night of the disappearance, and accompanies him on the drive.

• Colonel Domlio

  Mentioned as the owner of the Veda Company and a reclusive insect collector; French interviews him.

• Makepeace

  Garage owner who bought Berlyn's car; French and Daw visit him to inspect the vehicle.

• Mrs. Berlyn

  Mentioned as having sold the car to Makepeace after her husband's disappearance.

• Mr. Berlyn

  One of the missing men; his disappearance is central to the investigation.

Key passages

• “French saw that in order to get the information he required he must confide in someone who knew the locality.”

  French realized he needed to trust a local informant to gather the necessary details.

  French decides to consult Sergeant Daw for local knowledge.

• “If the breakdown was genuine the affair was an accident, but if it was faked—why, then we are on to a murder.”

  The case hinges on whether the car trouble was real or staged; if staged, it points to murder.

  French explains the core of his theory to Daw.

• “What if one murdered the other?”

  French suggests that one of the missing men may have killed the other.

  French proposes a possible murder scenario.

• “A promising theory had gone west and he was left as far from a solution of his problem as when he took it up.”

  A hopeful lead had failed, leaving French no closer to solving the case.

  French's frustration after the theory collapses.