A Self-Made Thief

Hulbert Footner

A strange and inescapable force lures Frank Heberdon, socially prominent young lawyer, on to life of crime, and he finds his lovely rescuer in a denizen of the underworld where they join forces. The development of Franks criminal career and the way he goes from theft and blackmail to drugs and finally murder makes as thrilling and absorbing a tale as Hulbert Footner ever wrote with a smashing surprise at the very end.

Dangerous Cargo

Hulbert Footner

Richard Austin Freeman, the doyen of the scientific division of detective writing is best known for his character Dr. John Thorndyke. A close and careful investigator and the outstanding medical authority in the field of detective fiction, R. Austin Freeman not only tested the wits of the reader but also inspired many modern detective forensic methods. Shuttlebury Cobb is a completely different sort of book. In it Freeman demonstrates his sense of humor and whimsy as he follows the strange and always comic adventures of the hero of the title who finds himself caught up by chance in the quest for a mysterious treasure. Charting a series of adventures set in many strange scenarios, Mr. Shuttlebury Cobb is led through the dark and twisted streets of London where he meets a highly gifted stranger, enters secret chambers, and finds a magic mirror. Cobb engages with a secret code and a castaway in a delightful collection designed to while away the hours.

Death of a Celebrity

Hulbert Footner

Many guys wanted the playwright, Gavin Dordress, to die. Especially on the night of his party. Gail Garrett and Bea Townley openly quarreled for the main role in the play. The next morning Gavin Dordress was found shot to death, a chessman imprinted on his forehead, and nearby a letter of farewell that sounded suspiciously like one of his stage characters speaking. Then a new and amazing hint hastened the seemingly hopeless hunt.

Easy To Kill

Hulbert Footner

The pioneering creator of the inverted detective story, R. Austin Freeman was a popular Edwardian author of novels and short stories featuring Dr. Thorndyke, a pathologist-detective. Freemans detective and mystery tales offered an innovative approach to the genre, selling thousands of copies on both sides of the Atlantic. Robert Hawke is a man on the run. After returning from business in London, he finds that a sworn enemy, Will Colville, has been shot dead and the murder weapon belongs to Hawke. But Hawke protests his innocence and is persuaded to go on the run until enough evidence is found to prevent his arrest and conviction. So begins an unwilling adventure where Hawke finds himself setting sail with a vibrant cast of men, casting off for unknown waters and strange islands. And as Hawke embarks on his exotic voyage, enemies abound in the most unlikely of places.

Jack Chanty. A Story of Athabasca

Hulbert Footner

In this tightly plotted novel, we follow the bizarre career of a man who loathes criminals. After Humphrey Challoner finds his wife killed by the bullet of a robber in his home, he vows to catch the man. Mr. Challoner is a wealthy savant, and he saved the fingerprints of the robber as well as some of the robbers strange hair which Challoners wife had in her hand. For twenty years Humphrey hunts for the killer, in the process revenging himself on Londons criminals class in a surprising and gruesome fashion. This Freeman work is not a Dr. Thorndyke mystery. Instead, it is the disturbing account of how a man wreaks vengeance on the miscreant who murdered his wife in a bungled robbery attempt. It also poses the question of how a moral society should deal with criminals.

Madame Storey

Hulbert Footner

"When Rogues Fall Out incorporates some wonderful conundrums to hoodwink and hinder the cleverest of crime readers. This book contains three interconnected stories. In the first, a respectable collector of antiques falls victim to temptation. In the second a police inspector is found dead in suspicious circumstances in a railway tunnel. This section includes an interesting essay on the early use of fingerprint evidence. The third is a classic locked room mystery where someone has been making use of a sealed room in a remote country house. All three are resolved together in the last few pages. The rogues of the title include three very different men engaged in stealing and fencing high-quality jewelry. One is a working-class robber; one a refined antiques dealer turned fence; and one a mysterious middleman with the appearance of a gentleman.

Madame Storey Intervenes

Hulbert Footner

Author Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) brought the excitement of the 1920s and 1930s to Madame Storey's cosmopolitan adventures, moving away from Edwardian and Victorian flavors of the mystery genre. Beautiful and aloof. Her secretary/narrator/companion is Bella Brickley. Rosika lives near Gramercy Park in NYC and has a pet monkey. She seems to solve cases by use of good guesswork, "practical psychology" and fortuitous prior knowledge of certain facts or people.

Murder Runs in the Family

Hulbert Footner

Lance McCrea lived in a boarding house. There he met a girl he fell in love with. But their relationship is hampered by a powerful person. Lance tries to find out why this powerful man has some kind of hold over her. When he faces the man down, he finds he has been murdered. Of course, he is not the murderer but is a prime suspect anyway.