In the novel The Man in the Brown Suit, Anne Beddingfeld is the main protagonist in the novel. She is the daughter of the famous archaeologist Professor Beddingfeld who died suddenly at the beginning of the story with debts, leaving Anne penniless.
Anne travels to London hoping to find a job but is unsuccessful until she becomes the key witness in the death of a man who apparently (out of fright or shock) fell to his death on the tracks of a Tube station. Later, this death is linked to another one, that of a woman who had come to view a large vacant house with a view to renting it. Also linked is a mysterious man in a brown suit who have also come to view the house. Anne believes that she has found an important clue at the scene of the first man's death. The police do not seem to be interested so, sensing an opportunity for herself, she barges into the office of a newspaper baron Lord Nasby asking for a job because she has a clue which could unravel the mystery of the man in the brown suit. Nasby does not offer a job immediately but encourages her to continue her investigation, saying that she would be offered a job if she turned in anything publishable. Thus begins her adventure which forms the main plot of the book.
Part of the book comrpises Anne's first person account of her progress, and also her wry observations of people and the ways of the world.