“It was a bright, well-dressed morning in early May, and the Swifts were in the middle of a funeral. The House looked very fine. The lawns had been swept clean of leaves, the hedge maze had been trimmed, and the statues had been scrubbed behind the ears.”

The novel’s opening sentences establish the story’s distinctive blend of the spooky and the whimsical. The narrator sets a playful tone through details like the statues that “had been scrubbed behind the ears,” while the funeral adds a somber, eerie element. The descriptions of the day as “well-dressed” and the Swifts’ ancestral home as “very fine” are examples of personification that add character to the novel’s setting. Lincoln capitalizes the word “house” throughout the story when referring to the family estate, which adds to the personification and the residence’s significance as a symbol of the Swift family. The house also fits generic conventions because many detective novels take place in isolated manors in the English countryside.

“Once more, we gather. I, Inheritance Swift, Archivist, having consulted my books, and interpreted the signs, and checked everyone’s availability, hereby call the Swift Family Reunion! We return to the House of our House, to strengthen our bonds, to keep the peace between us, and to search for our lost fortune—as we have done decades prior, and will do decades hence, for as long as our names are spoken.”

Aunt Inheritance’s announcement at the start of the reunion uses a formal tone and ornate diction to convey the Swift family’s fascination with language and tradition. For example, the majestic phrase “as long as our names are spoken” reflects the Swifts’ conviction that their illustrious family name and their unique tradition of naming their members through