Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery

by Theodore Goodridge Roberts

"Rayton: A Backwoods Mystery" by Theodore Goodridge Roberts is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around the peculiar happenings in the settlement of Samson's Mill after the arrival of Reginald Baynes Rayton. During a friendly poker game, a marked card bears two unsettling red crosses, causing distress among the players and encapsulating the community in an atmosphere punctuated by superstition and suspicion. At the start of the narrative, we are introduced to Rayton and several residents of the settlement engaged in a poker game. When young David Marsh receives a card marked with red crosses, Jim Harley's curious behavior raises doubts among the players. Harley's agitation leads him to counsel Marsh to stay away from his sister, Nell, igniting a rivalry. Afterward, David faces a more immediate crisis as he suffers a canoe accident in the Teakettle River, which leaves him with a broken arm, intensifying the anxiety surrounding the card's supernatural implications and intertwining the lives of the characters with themes of love, rivalry, and hidden motivations in this rural setting.