The Case of the Missing Assam

Thirty chests of Assam tea, sold without the senior partner's authority. The records are clean. The buyer paid in good faith. No one will speak.

Section I

The Scene

Victorian newspaper-style illustration for The Case of the Missing Assam, set at Hervey, Coke & Crane, tea-merchants, Mincing Lane.

Hand-drawn case map for The Case of the Missing Assam, showing Hervey, Coke & Crane, tea-merchants, Mincing Lane. — The ground in question.

Setting: Hervey, Coke & Crane, tea-merchants, Mincing Lane
Time: Wednesday, second week of February 1894
Weather: Heavy yellow fog by the river; the warehouse smelling of pitch and tea-dust
Atmosphere: Tall slatted windows above stacks of chests; the dry, peppery scent of Assam in the rafters; a clerk's pen scratching from below.

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