Martin Hewitt, Investigator is a collection of late Victorian short stories linked by the protagonist, Martin Hewitt. This book chronicles seven of Hewitts cases, and gave rise to his reputation as Englands second-best-detective. They are tales of impossible to solve crimes that Hewitt was able to crack by piecing together a few clues where the police detectives had failed. Like the Holmes stories, the author did not want the detective to talk about his own cases in the first person, so he created a sidekick who does the writing, the journalist Brett. Unlike Holmes, however, Martin Hewitt runs an investigative business, is a very personable gentleman, works well with the police force and easily makes friends. Novel and imaginative in subject matter, meticulously plotted, and smoothly written, these stories will captivate mystery lovers.