Customer Reviews

Where There's A Will

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Where There's a Will was first published in 1912. It's an old-fashioned American love story set in a "take the waters" style of health resort.

The narrator Mini is the spring-girl, and in keeping with her bright red hair, works hard, speaks her mind and makes the place go. She's the real doctor in the establishment, knowing just how many glasses of water every guest should drink, and the proper course of baths for each.

The natural spring water is secretly doctored with a pharmacopoeia of ingredients and smells like medicine. Mini learned how from her father, now deceased, who was the guiding spirit of Hope Springs before her.

When the story opens, the estate has just been left to the grandson of the previous owner - on one condition. Young Dick Carter must come back from his wanderings and run the business successfully for two months - or the property goes to charity.

When Dick fails to show up on the day of the deadline, Mini and Dick's other supporters hire a drifter to impersonate him. In fact Dick does arrive in time, one minute to midnight, but the fake Dick Carter (Alan Pierce) has already been presented to all and sundry.

Complications arise thick and fast. Mr. Pierce, though penniless, is an educated gentleman and won't follow orders. Dickie has secretly married an underage wife. Her sister is engaged to marry a prince, and any sort of scandal could scotch it.

The plot is a merry muddle of love stories and intrigues. I enjoyed it, with reservations. The vintage farce was almost too farcical for me, and I'd probably recommend Rinehart's mysteries before this novel. But as a curious slice of life in bygone America, the book is definitely interesting.