The Mammon of Righteousness

Name: The Mammon of Righteousness
Rating: 2.5 (5 reviews)

by P. C. Wren

First published 1930

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2.5(5)

Coxe and a mysterious box draw a group of apparently respectable people into a conflict over money, possession and the stories they tell to justify themselves. What begins as a material puzzle develops into a moral one, because each attempt to claim, conceal or explain the box reveals another layer of self-interest and fear.

Wren treats greed not as an obvious vice confined to criminals but as something that can wear the language of duty and righteousness. The novel combines mystery with social satire, testing whether legal ownership, public virtue and moral entitlement are ever the same thing. Suspense comes from the object itself, but the sharper danger lies in the rationalisations it provokes.