"Farce of a Very Light Order"

THE FLIGHT OF FAVIEL.
By R. E. (Robert Ernest) Vernède (1875-1917).
Henry Holt and Company.
1912. 318 pages.
Online HERE, HERE, and HERE.
[a.k.a. THE PURSUIT OF MR. FAVIEL]

Here's one with a great premise that should have been better. Wikipedia says the author, known to posterity as a poet, "died after being wounded by machine gun fire" in World War One:

[Excerpts] . . . it does not make any difference what type of story you are going to write, whether a Richard Yea-and-Nay or a Dolly Dialogue, a Moonstone or a Brewster's Millions, the principle is the same: it is your duty, in any case, to get the biggest value out of your germ idea, whether it is tragedy or the lightest of farces. In fact, the book which suggested this line of thought is farce of a very light order: The Flight of Faviel, by R. E. Vernède.  . . . The book leaves an abiding impression that a good deal more could have been made of its opportunities, if the author had chosen to build it less at haphazard. — Frederic Taber Cooper, "The Question of Full Value and Some Recent Novels," THE BOOKMAN (October 1912; go to page 201, left center)

Category: Detective fiction (barely)