Tom Sawyer, Detective
Twain returned to Tom and Huck one more time in 1896, this time as a tight little mystery novel. The boys travel down to Arkansas to visit Uncle Silas and Aunt Sally Phelps, the same family from the end of Huckleberry Finn, and they walk straight into a murder case involving stolen diamonds, a pair of feuding twin brothers, and a corpse that may or may not be who everyone thinks it is. Huck narrates, as in the previous book, but the tone is lighter and the social commentary is mostly set aside. The plot moves through a courtroom finale where Tom Sawyer delivers the kind of dramatic reveal he was always going to deliver if Twain let him. The book was apparently inspired by a real Danish case Twain read about. It is short, breezy, and not the place to begin with Twain. If you have already read the other Tom and Huck books, though, it is a fun final visit with familiar voices.
About the Author
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the banks of the Mississippi. Most of his fiction would later draw on that childhood, sometimes directly. He worked as a printer’s apprentice, then…
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Listen to Tom Sawyer, Detective Audiobook Free
Listen to Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain free online. The full audiobook (2 hr 8 min, 11 chapters, read by John Greenman) streams free on this page.
Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapter I An Invitation for Tom and Huck | 10:12 | |
| 2 | Chapter II Jake Dunlap | 8:33 | |
| 3 | Chapter III. A Diamond Robbery | 11:30 | |
| 4 | Chapter IV The Three Sleepers | 7:52 | |
| 5 | Chapter V A Tragedy in the Woods | 5:36 | |
| 6 | Chapter VI Plans Secure the Diamonds | 10:21 | |
| 7 | Chapter VII A Night's Vigil | 8:12 | |
| 8 | Chapter VIII Talking with the Ghost | 9:42 | |
| 9 | Chapter IX Finding of Jubiter Dunlap | 10:28 | |
| 10 | Chapter X The Arrest of Uncle Silas | 6:50 | |
| 11 | Chapter XI Tom Sawyer Discovers the Murderers | 39:10 |
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