"It Means That the Murderer Is Aboard Now!"

THE SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY was comprised of high-quality British comic books with more than the usual attention to plot and character, basically precursors to the graphic novels (HERE) of today; Comic Vine (HERE) characterizes them this way:

   Super Detective Library [S.D.L.] was a digest sized, 68 page comic with painted covers and black and white interiors that ran from 1953 to 1960 and appeared twice a month. It featured a rotating roster of detective and science fiction stories from English, Canadian and American artists and writers, and an artistic and writing style that you don’t see anymore. Most issues were original stories and art, however they would from time to time fill the S.D.L. with reprints of newspaper strips such as America’s Rip Kirby.

We intend to feature a few of the titles in the Super Detective Library, but if you want to browse the entire collection, go to Comic Book Plus (HERE), where at the moment they have 124 books available.

In today's story Rick Random, the first detective of the spaceways, has his hands full as . . .

"Crime Rides the Spaceways."
Super Detective Library No. 37, 1954.

Graphic novel (64 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE) and Comic Book Plus (HERE).

     "It's murder, Captain. The man in Cabin 4."

You'd be fully justified if you think of And Then There Were None as you read our story . . . .

Principal characters:
~ Anna Martin:
  "Stateless Female: Died, Duember 2003 A.D."
~ Black Glove:
  "I will judge who is to blame."
~ Franks:
  "Murder! I'm not getting mixed up in that."
Suspects and potential victims:
~ John Ordway, Isabella Mancini, Carl Fliedman, Julie Jason, Otto Mayer, Kurt Listgaard, Inga Haussen, Colonel and Mrs. McCloud, and Vance Lane, captain of the "Stellar."
The sleuth:
~ Rick Random of the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation:
  "Eight passengers and a crew of six! One, a murderer."

Typo: "the altitude of the spacer".

References:
- For decades good old Venus, enshrouded in impenetrable clouds, could be anything a writer might imagine, from a desiccated desert to a giant swamp swarming with dinosaurs; see Wikipedia (HERE) for the imaginary Venus and (HERE) for what science tells us now.

- "the R.T.": Usually written "R/T"; short for Radio Telephone or Transmitter. (Wikipedia HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You—A Doctor Who Is Supposed To Heal, Not Kill"

"Medical Murder."
By Norman A. Daniels (born Norman Arthur Danberg, 1905-95).

Artist unknown.
First appearance: Popular Detective, December 1945.

Short short story (7 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "In fact, coincidence had nothing to do with it unless it waltzed around in the shape of a wizened little guy who didn't look where he was going."

A very ill man dies while under Peter Frayne's care, which would normally not excite too much comment, but in this case the deceased is someone Frayne has said publicly that he wouldn't mind seeing dead, with all the circumstantial evidence pointing towards murder by lethal injection. You don't need much imagination to see how the police view things, so it's up to the doctor to effect his own cure before he becomes a victim of the state . . . .

Main characters:
~ Allard:
  "Me, I'm just a big lunkhead never looking where I'm going."
~ Jack Whiting:
  ". . . was dead. Very, very dead."
~ Robinson:
  "I'm no doctor, but I think I know a dead man when I see one."
~ McCauley:
  ". . . was known to be one of the shrewdest and most relentless men on the force."
~ The detective:
  "This guy a patient of yours, Doc?"
~ Elaine:
  ". . . had chosen the easier road."
~ Martha:
  "She phoned you, Lieutenant, and set the stage for this."
~ Dr. Peter Frayne:
  "You don't think I'm a good doctor, but I think I'm a pretty good detective."

Typos: "stethescope" [twice]; "I'm coming to"; "the cheap litle hotel".

References and resources:
- "an overdose of morphine": A useful drug that has acquired a bad reputation because of chronic abuse: "Morphine is a pain medication of the opiate family that is found naturally in a number of plants and animals, including humans. It acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to decrease the feeling of pain. It can be taken for both acute pain and chronic pain and is frequently used for pain from myocardial infarction and during labor." (Wikipedia HERE).

- If you've never heard of Norman Daniels (which would mean you've managed to miss an awful lot of good pulp fiction), then see the standard background sources: Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the GAD Wiki (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE). Daniels might have intended Dr. Peter Frayne to be a series character, but we don't know of any other stories featuring him.
- We've had several encounters with uberpulpster Daniels (e.g., HERE and HERE) and anticipate many more. (Note: Any links to the Pulpgen website are problematic at best.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sometimes It's Much Easier to Catch a Smart Crook Than a Dumb One"

"Bait."
By Roy L. Clough, Jr. (1921-2006?).
Illustration by [Paul] Orban (1896-1974; HERE).

First appearance: Astounding Science Fiction, June 1951.

Reprints page (HERE).

Short short story (7 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archive (HERE; scroll to magazine page 66) and Archive.org (HERE).

     "I know, it embarrasses me too; but I can see the news value in a burglar who is so clever he can repeatedly outwit the best mechanical and electronic protective devices."

Twenty-four "jobs" and Chief Davis is forced to entertain an unhappy idea as to who's doing it, but it's a conclusion that, given the touchy state of interplanetary relations, no one on Elus or Earth will be happy with. There's only one thing to do as far as the wily Chief, under strong political pressure to get results, can see: set a trap—but in order for it to work, reasons the Chief, this trap will have to fail . . . .

Principal characters:
~ Police Chief O'Neil Davis:
  "Here we have an interesting situation—the perfect burglar, from a criminal point of view, apparently a member of a race that is completely and psychologically incapable of knowingly committing a dishonest act."
~ Security Commissioner Morley:
 "And a touchy and sensitive race at that, to whom the merest mention of the possibility of dishonesty of one of their race would be a mortal insult."
~ "The Ghost":
  "A very clever lad."

Typos: "then a dumb one"; "pentathol".

References and resources:
- "Martian days being twenty-six Earth-hours long": In fact: "The average length of a Martian sidereal day is 24 h 37 m 22.663 s (88,642.663 seconds based on SI units), and the length of its solar day is 24 h 39 m 35.244147 s (88,775.244147 seconds). The corresponding values for Earth are currently 23 h 56 m 4.0916 s and 24 h 00 m 00.002 s, respectively. This yields a conversion factor of 1.02749125170 days/sol. Thus Mars's solar day is only about 2.7% longer than Earth's." (Wikipedia HERE). "Edgar Rice Burroughs described, in The Gods of Mars (1913), the divisions of the sol into zodes, xats, and tals. Although possibly the first to make the mistake of describing the Martian year as lasting 687 Martian days, he was far from the last." (Wikipedia HERE).

- "he spilled it all under a shot of pentathol [sic]": "Sodium thiopental is an ultra-short-acting barbiturate and has been used commonly in the induction phase of general anesthesia. . . .Thiopental is still used in places such as India as a truth serum to weaken the resolve of a subject and make the individual more compliant to pressure. Barbiturates decrease both higher cortical brain function and inhibition. Some psychiatrists hypothesize that because lying is more complex than telling the truth, suppression of the higher cortical functions may lead to the uncovering of the truth. The drug tends to make subjects verbose and cooperative with interrogators; however, the reliability of confessions made under thiopental is questionable." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE).

- Biographical information about Roy L. Clough, Jr. can be found in the comment below; here's FictionMags's bibliographical data for him:
  (1) "Bait," (fiction), Astounding, June 1951 (7 pages; above)
  (2) "Is Germany’s Secret Weapon the Rocket Plane?", (article), Sky Raiders, October 1943
  (3) "It Didn’t Come from Mars," (article), Astounding, November 1954
  (4) "It Might Have Happened," (column), Sky Raiders, June 1943
  (5) "Social Obligation," (fiction), Fantastic Adventures, March 1951 (5 pages; online HERE)
        Reprinted in Fantastic Adventures (U.K.) #12, 1952
  (6) [Letter], Astounding, January 1951.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I Killed Dominic"

"It's a Wise Cadaver."
By David Goodis (1917-67).

First appearance: New Detective, July 1946.

Short short short story (4 pages).
Online at Archive.org starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE).

     "I'm telling you that I got this case all figured out and I'm ready to earn my pay check as soon as you put the revolver away."

Dominic is dead; that much is certain. Who murdered him, though? Calotta is very curious: "I want to find out who killed Dominic, because whoever did it knows what I want to know." There's nothing more dangerous than a criminal who's been swindled by one of his "associates" . . . .

Main characters:
~ Dominic:
  ". . . was stretched out on the floor . . ."
~ Three frightened women and a frightened old man:
  "These three girls are all tenants in this place. The old guy is the printer who set up the phoney newspaper story."
~ Calotta:
  "With a face like that, Renner thought, a man couldn't stay honest."
~ Renner:
  "I don't get it."
~ Reid:
  "I called you a moron. I wasn't kidding about that."

Typo: "wait for you to came back".

Resources and references:
- "off the Asbury Park beach": The oceanfront of Asbury Park, which is part of New Jersey, "was ranked the sixth-best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium." (Wikipedia HERE).
- "making his way down the fire escape": A phenomenon found almost entirely in big cities: "A fire escape consists of a number of horizontal platforms, one at each story of a building, with ladders or stairs connecting them. The platform and stairs are usually open steel gratings, to prevent the build-up of ice, snow, and leaves. Railings are usually provided on each of the levels, but as fire escapes are designed for emergency use only, these railings often do not need to meet the same standards as railings in other contexts. The ladder from the lowest level of the fire escape to the ground may be fixed, but more commonly it swings down on a hinge or slides down along a track. The moveable designs allow occupants to safely reach the ground in the event of a fire but prevent people from accessing the fire escape from the ground at other times (such as to perpetrate a burglary or vandalism)." (Wikipedia HERE).

- The ownership claims of one of David Loeb Goodis's stories was tied up in court for years after his demise, becoming "a landmark decision in intellectual property rights and copyright law"; see Wikipedia (HERE). The story in question was filmed as Dark Passage in 1947 with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall; see Wikipedia (no apparent spoilers HERE, but WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- According to FictionMags, Goodis's short story output in many genres began in 1939 and ran to 1958, with about a dozen appearing posthumously.
- This is our first encounter with David Goodis, but we're pretty sure it won't be the last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Someone Infinitely Clever Behind All This"

AS FAR AS we can determine, this was the one and only adventure of . . .

"Ray Holmes: Scientific Detective."
By Anonymous.
Artist unknown.
First appearance: Fantastic Adventures, May 1939.

Comic strip (3 pages).
Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

     "That looks like brutal murder to me!"

What could have been a perfect locked room murder turns into a fiasco for the killer when the unexpected happens, in this case the intervention of a reticent smarty-pants scientific detective  . . . .

Principal characters:
~ Dr. Jensen:
  . . . concludes it was heart failure.
~ Major Ackley:
  ". . . bring your prisoner."
~ John Hammond:
  "Manager - Atlantic Space Terminus"
~ Milton Berge:
  "Came to beg for reinstatement!"
~ Ray Holmes:
  "Clue here somewhere."

References:
- An attribute of carbon dioxide plays an important role in our story's plot: "CO2 is an asphyxiant gas and not classified as toxic or harmful in accordance with Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals standards of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe by using the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals. In concentrations up to 1% (10,000 ppm), it will make some people feel drowsy and give the lungs a stuffy feeling. Concentrations of 7% to 10% (70,000 to 100,000 ppm) may cause suffocation, even in the presence of sufficient oxygen, manifesting as dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness within a few minutes to an hour." (Wikipedia HERE).

- Long before space probes went there to nail down the fact, Venus's atmosphere had already been determined spectroscopically to be largely composed of carbon dioxide: "The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth. In 1761, Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov observed an arc of light surrounding the part of Venus off the Sun's disc at the beginning of the egress phase of the transit and concluded that Venus has an atmosphere. In 1940, Rupert Wildt calculated that the amount of CO2 in the Venusian atmosphere would raise surface temperature above the boiling point for water. This was confirmed when Mariner 2 made radiometer measurements of the temperature in 1962. In 1967, Venera 4 confirmed that the atmosphere consisted primarily of carbon dioxide." (Wikipedia HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Our Killer Apparently Panicked"

EDWARD D. HOCH was a writer's writer, able to take even cliched situations and make them interesting. While Hoch excelled at the locked room problem, he could also handle the police procedural with equal dexterity, a prime example being . . .

"Bullets for Two."
By Edward D. Hoch (1930-2008).

First appearance: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Annual #2 (1972).

Short short story (9 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "It covered your wound, but it also told me you weren't shot where they found you."

Establishing a plausible alibi about one's whereabouts is always a problem for the criminal hoping to get away with it, but alibi-busting is just what smart cops like Captain Leopold, even with a bad cold, do best . . . .

Main characters:
~ Bill Adams:
  "His name was Bill Adams, and he had already killed three people."
~ Jimmy Biggers:
  "Am I going to die?"
~ Gloria Rame:
  "Suddenly this masked man appeared from somewhere with a gun. I screamed . . ."
~ Andy Augustine:
  "Not by me!"
~ Captain Leopold:
  "If a man's confessing to three murders, he doesn't rig an elaborate plot to cover up a fourth."
~ Lieutenant Fletcher:
  "You cleared up both shootings at once."

Typo: [line skip] "The voice them all".

Resources:
- Edward Dentinger Hoch used two aliases when he was publishing his Captain Leopold stories (nearly 90 of them) beginning in 1961: Stephen Dentinger 6 times and his own name for the rest; Leopold's final adventure appeared in EQMM in 2007.
- Wikipedia (HERE) and Mike Grost's Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection (HERE) have much more about Ed Hoch and Captain Leopold.
- We have encountered and will continue to encounter Edward D. Hoch's fiction; our latest featured another Captain Leopold story, "The House by the Ferris" (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I Put My Vibra-pistol on the Console Where It Would Be Within Easy Reach"

"The Good Ship Lookoutworld."
By Dean R. Koontz (born 1945).
Illustration by Ralph Reese (born 1949; HERE).

First appearance: Fantastic Stories, February 1970.

Short story (13 pages).
Online at Archive.org starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE).
(Parental caution: Some strong language.)

Not the 'Lookoutworld' but basically the same idea.

     "There were seven bodies on the floor. Seven skeletons, really. Six against one wall, one against the other. They were all missing their skulls . . ."

While love and hate rank among the strongest motivators of humanity, third place easily goes to money. The problem, of course, is that going after it without at least some forethought can almost certainly get you killed . . . .

Principal characters:
~ Damon Coltrain:
  "I had never been a salvager, and the thought had just never occurred to me."
~ Petro Cabelroni of the House of Cabelroni of Los Delos:
  "He was determined to get revenge. But he needed money first."

Typos: "the edge of Known Spce"; "Pete changd camera angles"; "The fusion driv"; "No trace of a fourteenth spyere"; "We popped out of hpyerspace"; "Whey they started out"; "rathr than to go down"; "layed down."

References and resources:
- "ypsilon Sagittarii": There being no such Greek alphabet letter as "ypsilon," unless our author meant either "epsilon" or "upsilon," we conclude he made up this star—but not the constellation. (Wikipedia HERE).
- "Vultan, that heavily clouded planet that circles dangerously close to Sirius": "The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius is recorded in some of the earliest astronomical records." (Wikipedia HERE). As for Vultan, although recent observations are sketchy, it could exist: "Effectively, there are almost certainly no additional bodies in the Sirius system larger than a small brown dwarf or large exoplanet."

- "The fusion engine will get us there fast": "A fusion rocket is a theoretical design for a rocket driven by fusion propulsion which could provide efficient and long-term acceleration in space without the need to carry a large fuel supply. The design relies on the development of fusion power technology beyond current capabilities, and the construction of rockets much larger and more complex than any current spacecraft." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE).
- Information about Dean Ray Koontz is plentiful on the Interweb: his own webpage (HERE), Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the ISFDb (HERE), and the IMDb (HERE; 19 writing credits).
- When it comes to space salvage adventurers, our favorites are still Cleve Cartmill's Jake Murchison, Helen Wall, and Co.; see our post featuring them (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A Brain-wave, a Brain-wave"

ONE OF DOROTHY SAYERS'S lesser known characters was Montague Egg, salesman extraordinaire. In today's story he gets an early start on crime when he encounters . . .

"Murder in the Morning."
By Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957).
First appearance: The Passing Show, March 11, 1933.
Reprinted in Creasey Mystery Magazine, August 1960.

First collected in Hangman's Holiday (1933).

Later collected in Dorothy L. Sayers: The Complete Stories (2002).

Short story (12 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archive (HERE; scroll down to text page 4/PDF page 6).

     "The salesman who will use his brains will spare himself a world of pains."

While investigating the prospect of a sale, to his dismay Montague Egg discovers that his latest potential customer won't be available—ever—due to having been murdered in his own kitchen by a person or persons unknown. The local police know that Monty is a prime suspect, and Monty knows they know. As with quite a few bungled attempts at getting away scot free with a crime, however, it all comes down to a matter of timing . . . .

Major characters:
~ Humphrey Pinchbeck:
  ". . . [was found] stretched on his own kitchen floor, with his head battered to a pulp."
~ Theodore Barton:
  ". . . [had] a certain air of rather disreputable magnificence about him."
~ Bowles:
  ". . . had not seen any other person in the kitchen, but had an impression that before he knocked he had heard two men's voices talking loudly and excitedly."
~ Mrs. Chapman:
  ". . . identified the accused . . ."
~ Millicent Adela Queek:
  "He isn't guilty at all. I know he isn't."
~ Detective-Inspector Ramage:
  ". . . unless we can prove collusion (which doesn't seem likely, seeing the kind of woman she is), that washes that out."
~ The garage proprietor:
  "He had filled so many tanks before and since. But in the matter of the clock he was definite. It kept, and always had kept, perfect time, and it had never stopped or been out of order since it was first installed."
~ The other garage proprietor:
  "It used to hang over the door. But I took it down last Sunday."
~ Montague Egg:
  "I've discovered a coincidence. Let's check up on it. Do you mind? 'Don't trust to luck, but be exact and verify the smallest fact'."

References and resources:
- "his smart trilby": "A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the 'brown trilby' in Britain and was frequently seen at the horse races. The traditional London hat company Lock and Co. describes the trilby as having a 'shorter brim which is angled down at the front and slightly turned up at the back' compared to the fedora's 'wider brim which is more level'. The trilby also has a slightly shorter crown than a typical fedora design." (Wikipedia HERE).
- "his own Morris": Monty's car was probably a Morris Minor. "The Morris Minor is a British car that made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1972 in three series: the MM (1948 to 1953), the Series II (1952 to 1956), and the 1000 series (1956 to 1979). It was the first British car to sell over a million units and is considered a classic example of automotive design, as well as typifying 'Englishness'." (Wikipedia HERE).
- "he opened the bonnet": "In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car (known as the 'roof' or 'top' in the US). In many motor vehicles built in the 1930s and 1940s, the resemblance to an actual hood or bonnet is clear when open and viewed head-on; in modern vehicles it continues to serve the same purpose but no longer resembles a head covering." (Wikipedia HERE).
- "And lighting-up time on June 18th was 10.20, according to my diary": "In the United Kingdom, there is a legally enforced lighting-up time, defined as from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, during which all motor vehicles on unlit public roads (except if parked) must use their headlights." (Wikipedia HERE).
- Known universally as the creator of Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy Leigh Sayers gave up detective fiction for more "serious" pursuits; see Wikipedia (HERE).
- Monty Egg earned his own page in Wikipedia (HERE).
- Here are all of the known Montague Egg short stories (FictionMags data):
  (1) "The Poisoned Port," The Passing Show, February 25, 1933; also as “The Poisoned Dow ’08”.
  (2) "Sleuths on the Scent," The Passing Show, March 4, 1933
  (3) "Murder in the Morning," The Passing Show, March 11, 1933 (above)
  (4) "One Too Many," The Passing Show, March 18, 1933
  (5) "Murder at Pentecost," The Passing Show, March 25, 1933
  (6) "Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz," The Passing Show, April 1, 1933
  (7) "Bitter Almonds," The Passing Show, June 30, 1934
  (8) "False Weight," The Passing Show, July 28, 1934
  (9) "The Professor’s Manuscript," The Passing Show, October 20, 1934
  (10) "A Shot at Goal," The Passing Show, February 2, 1935
  (11) "Dirt Cheap," 1936.
- You might find Dorothy Sayers's comments on detective fiction, "A Sport of Noble Minds" (1929), of interest; we featured it (HERE) nearly three years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Policeman Makes a Singularly Inefficient Criminal"

WITH SO MUCH CONTROVERSY these days about the role of the policeman in society, we decided to consult a publication from a hundred years ago to see how they were perceived then. Since all men are fallible and, in many cases, all too corruptible, you shouldn't be surprised at the title of today's article below, but you might be surprised at the title above:

"Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: The Policeman As Criminal."
By C. O'Mahony (?-?).

Illustrations (8) by A[rthur] Ferrier (1891-1973; HERE).
First appearance: The Wide World (U.S.), November 1920.

Article (7 pages; 9 illos).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "They have strewn their path with clues, and, not content with this, have broken all the rules which the average criminal observes for his own sake."

When it comes to breaking the law they've sworn to uphold, duplicitous policemen consistently ignore Holmes's admonition to Watson: "You see, but you do not observe." In other words, these eight men seem to have learned nothing from their experiences as law officers; if they had, they would never have been caught.

The malefactors:
~ T. H. Montgomery:
  "For weeks before the murder he was always considering his plans . . ."
~ Charles Becker:
  ". . . was a rich man when he committed murder by deputy."

  Also see Wikipedia (HERE).
~ John Meiklejohn, William Palmer, and Nathaniel Druscovich:
  "Here was another dramatic situation, and one denied to the dramatist or novelist, because so wildly improbable."
  Also see Wikipedia (HERE).
~ Major Frederick Beswick:
  ". . . was a soldier with an honourable record, whose downfall was due to living beyond his means."

~ Constable Cook:
  "It was an instance of a romance developing into a sordid tragedy . . ."

~ George Vaughan:
  ". . . when the redoubtable sleuth appeared on the scene at the psychological moment and captured them, they did not suspect that he had been the influence that had tempted them to disaster."

References and resources:
- "the first aboard Mme. Patti's ship": Adelina Patti (1843-1919) "was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. Patti remains one of the most famous sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the unmatched quality of her bel canto technique." (Wikipedia HERE).

- "Vidocq": "Eugène-François Vidocq (1775–1857) was a French criminal turned criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder and first director of the crime-detection Sûreté nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency. Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department. He is also regarded as the first private detective." (Wikipedia HERE).

- "The Vidocq method had been out of favour in England since the time of Jonathan Wild": "Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683–1725), was a London underworld figure notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited crimefighter entitled the 'Thief-Taker General'. Wild simultaneously ran a significant criminal empire, and used his crime fighting role to remove rivals and launder the proceeds of his own crimes." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE).

- "Sir Robert Peel": "Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, FRS (1788–1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–35 and 1841–46) and twice as Home Secretary (1822–27 and 1828–30). He is regarded as the father of modern British policing, owing to his founding of the Metropolitan Police Service." (Wikipedia HERE, HERE, and HERE).

- "a letter to Croker": "John Wilson Croker (1780–1857) was an Irish statesman and author." (Wikipedia HERE).
- FictionMags's only other credit for C. O'Mahoney is "One of America’s Most Notable Criminals, Doctor Webster of Harvard," an article referencing (THIS) 1849 crime, in

Detective Story Magazine, June 29, 1920.

- For more true crime see the John Kobler articles that we featured (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~