Private Demon

On a dark and stormy night, a great historian destroys the career of a rival, then kills him to hide his guilt. He becomes a prey to suspicion and to the relentless pressures of his own conscience. A tense climax of detection and confession comes when his observant housekeeper discovers the murder weapon hidden in an old trunk.

Shortly after he is told he can expect a Nobel Prize for his lifelong research on the people of ancient Chaytor, Professor Jerimiah Soames is confronted by a young instructor, David Porter, who’s also researched Chaytor and who points out a major flaw in the older man’s work. In a rage, Soames stabs him to death with a Chaytorian knife and makes it appear that Porter had been mugged in his car. The police are convinced this is what happened, but the dead man’s wife isn’t.

During a terrible storm one night, a famous history expert ruins another historian's job, then murders him to cover up what he did. He starts feeling paranoid and his guilt eats away at him. The exciting ending happens when his sharp-eyed housekeeper finds the weapon he used to kill the man hidden inside an old chest.