Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was a contemporary of many big names in American fiction straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, but today hes almost completely forgotten. The selections in Mike Flannery On Duty and Off book include three humorous stories, Just Like a Cat, The Three Hundred and Fleas Will Be Fleas, by this American humorist, whose first success, Pigs is Pigs (1906), remained his greatest. Nevertheless, the Mike Flannery stories are among his best. Just Like a Cat is a story of Mikes problems when a dead cat arrives at the express office where he works. Mike tries to think of a word to replace dead in his report and that sets off a series of problems for him. The further stories of Mike Flannery, a character made famous as the agent of the Interurban Express Company in Butlers short story, Pigs is Pigs.