"R . . . E . . . F . . . U . . . L"

"Secret League of Six."
By Don Wilcox (Cleo Eldon Wilcox, 1905-2000).
First appearance: Fantastic Adventures, August 1941.
Short story (13 pages).
Online at SFFAudio HERE (PDF).

"Who were the five members of the telepathy league, and why had Frank Hammond, who could really read minds, been invited as the sixth?"

Finding himself with time to kill, a young custodian of antiquities answers a want ad in a Cairo newspaper asking for people with genuine telepathic talent to become part of a centuries old group that perpetuates "highly developed arts of mental transfer." He doesn't know it, but he's about to encounter something even more outré than mind-reading—not to mention a pretty girl who sends concealed messages in her teacup.

Principal characters:
~ Frank Hammond (an assistant curator of a mid-western museum): "Some natural musi-cians, you know, make some discoveries about piano playing without taking lessons—and that's what had happened to me in this telepathy business."
~ The (unnamed) narrator (who's in "the story-writing business"): "Think it over, my friend. And don't forget what I said about the new insights that telepathy is bound to bring us."
~ Miss Winthrop ("a very lovely English girl"): "Perhaps you have more finesse at mind-reading than I."
~ Lamar (a "nondescript one-armed Arab"): "You still believe that thoughts can be transmitted directly from one brain to another? How far do your mental powers go?"

There's nothing like a hobby. Especially when you feel as though it's releasing some natural talent that you knew all along you had, but never got to use properly.

Resources:
- Background info about our author (who also turned out Western stories) is HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
- A general article about mental telepathy is HERE, while a skeptical one is HERE.

The bottom line: "If you could read my mind, love, What a tale my thoughts could tell."
— Gordon Lightfoot

Three One-Shots from COLLIER'S

Here's a small collection of one-page crime and mystery stories from Collier's Weekly, circa 1928:

"Behind the Door."
By Percival Wilde (1887-1953).
First appearance: Collier's Weekly, February 4, 1928.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at UNZ HERE.

"Honest to God, I didn't croak nobody!"

In even the darkest places, eventually the truth comes to light.

Principal characters:
~ Benny: "By inclination, by aptitude, by a love of the art which was so intense that he was usually engaged in scrawling on every flat surface within reach, he was a wielder of the pen, an expert in the production of signatures warranted to defy any but the closest inspection."
~ Robison: "Wife and eleven children starving at home eh? Is the gun loaded?"
~ Holloway: "He who sells what isn't his'n, he must buy it back or go to pris'n!"
~ Police captain: "It's almost enough."

Resources:
- Percival Wilde was a multimedia phenom in his day, as these sources attest: Wikipedia HERE, GAD Wiki HERE, FictionMags HERE, and the IMDb HERE.

~ ~ ~

"The Witness."
By Percival Wilde (1887-1953).
First appearance: Collier's Weekly, August 11, 1928.
Reprinted in EQMM, April 1948.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at UNZ HERE.

"His weapon leaped into view, but a revolver in the hands of one of his assailants spoke first."

When a bank robbery ends with an old man being gunned down, the A.D.A. knows that he has only one hope of nailing the gang.

Principal characters:
~ Cicoletti: " 'Witnesses? Witnesses? Well, who are the witnesses?'  There was no mistaking the threat."
~ Troon, the assistant district attorney: "You're thinking, aren't you, that once you know who they are, you'll see to it that they won't open their mouths? Yes, Cicoletti, that's what you're thinking! But this time you've left a witness who can't be bulldozed! You've left a witness who can't be intimidated! You've left a witness who saw just what happened, and who is going to tell it to the jury in the same way!"

~ ~ ~

"The Coward."
By Henry Altimus (?-?).
First appearance: Collier's Weekly, August 4, 1928.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at UNZ HERE.

"This isn't an ordinary crime; it's almost a matter of executing justice, and the sooner it is done the better."

Sometimes the easy way out isn't easy—or the way out.

Principal characters:
~ Aldrich: "When you call these men gunmen, what exactly do you mean?"
~ The newspaper man: "I mean that they are professional criminals. They are ready at any time to commit any crime, from murder down, for a consideration."
~ Dusty: "I stepped in and I was just goin' to let him have it when I noticed his shoulders move—shiverin' like."
~ Sam: "Fer the love o' Mike, Dusty, why not?"

Resource:
- The author's story list at FictionMags is HERE.

The bottom line: "Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away." 
― Thomas Fuller

"As Close Together As the Tapping of Three Keys Under the Fingers of an Expert Typist, but a Thousand Times More Vicious, Came Three Pistol Shots"

"The Gatewood Caper."
(a.k.a. "Crooked Souls").
By Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961).
First appearance: The Black Mask, October 15, 1923.
First collected in The Big Knockover (1924).
Reprinted in EQMM, May 1953.
Short story (13 pages).
Online at SFFAudio HERE (PDF).

"[One of] the best specimens of that purely American type of detective story which, to quote Raymond Chandler, have their bases in fact, 'take murder out of the Venetian vase and drop it into the alley,' are not afraid of the seamy side of things, deal with violence and melodrama and brutality and gangsters and rackets — and feature that untarnished and honorable common man, the detective-hero of the rough-tough, guts-gore-and-gals, blood-bludgeon-and-bust school . . ." — From Fred Dannay's EQMM introduction

What would seem to be a simple kidnapping turns into a prime specimen of Murphy's Law—for the kidnappers.

This was the second (or was it the third?) story that Hammett published in The Black Mask featuring the Continental Op (the first was "Arson Plus"), but this time he used his own name and not the "Peter Collinson" byline. Eventually Hammett would produce thirty-seven Continental Op adventures.

Comments: If you've watched many movies or TV shows with the same plot, you'll probably figure it out fairly early; remember, though, that Hammett was there first. (Hint: As a for-instance, one movie that "borrowed" the same idea is described HERE, with SPOILERS.)

Principal characters:
~ The Op (nameless): Senior operative for the Continental Detective Agency.
~ O'Gar, Lusk, and Thode: Detectives with Continental.
~ Harvey Gatewood: A captain of industry with a volatile temperament ("a czar from the top of his bullet head to the toes of his shoes").
~ Audrey Gatewood: Harvey Gatewood's daughter ("a wild, spoiled youngster who hadn't shown any great care in selecting her friends — just the sort of girl who could easily fall into the hands of a mob of highbinders").
~ The building superintendent.
~ "Penny" Quayle: Goes by the name of Theodore Offord ("a con man who had been active in the East four or five years before").

Resources:
- Both The Thrilling Detective (HERE) and Wikipedia (HERE) have background articles about the Continental Op; see FictionMags (HERE) for a complete story list.
- The Big Knockover merited a Mystery*File article HERE; you can buy it HERE.

- ONTOS has had previous encounters with Hammett HERE and HERE.

The bottom line: "I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father."
   — Shakespeare

"Nobody Missed It at First"

"A Subway Named Möbius."
By A. J. Deutsch (1918-69).
First appearance: Astounding Science Fiction, December 1950.
Anthologized many times (see HERE).
Filmed in Argentina in 1996 (HERE).
Short story (15 pages).
Online at SFFAudio HERE (PDF with 2 illustrations) and HERE (PDF, no illos).

"At Park Street you get off the surface car underground and walk downward to get on the elevated. A few more complications and inversions and — maybe a fine research program?"

As far as we can tell, this is the author's only piece of fiction (how much editor John W. Campbell interfered with or contributed to the story isn't known); everything else Deutsch published was of a technical scientific nature. Even so, it's a classic and a favorite of anthologists worldwide.

When Number 86, the Cambridge-Dorchester subway train serving greater Boston, goes missing, it's three days before the realization sets in that, to say the least, something has gone horribly wrong:

By mid-afternoon, it was clear to the police that three hundred and fifty Bostonians, more or less, had been lost with the train.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Principal characters:
~ Roger Tupelo, Harvard mathematician: "This is a very hard thing for anybody to under-stand, Mr. Whyte. I can see why you are puzzled. But it's the only explanation. The train has vanished, and the people on it. But the System is closed. Trains are conserved. It's some-where on the System!"
~ Kelvin Whyte, the General Manager of the line: "And I tell you, Dr. Tupelo, that train is not on the System! It is not! You can't overlook a seven-car train carrying four hundred passengers. The System has been combed."
~ Gallagher, the motorman on Number 86.
~ Dorkin, Number 86's conductor.

"But a network with infinite connectivity must have an infinite number of singularities. Can you imagine what the properties of that network could be?" After a long pause, Tupelo added: "I can't either."

Resources:
- A. J. Deutsch's solo SF outing has earned him entries on Wikipedia HERE, the SFE HERE, and MathFiction HERE (SPOILERS).

- If you're topologically minded (and who isn't these days?), Wikipedia has articles about the Möbius strip HERE and the Klein bottle HERE, both being copiously illustrated, thank good-ness.

- Number 86 can be analogized to the legendary Flying Dutchman, about which see HERE.

The bottom line: "Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip? To get to the same side."
   — Sheldon Cooper

"He Was As Dead As an Old Cigar Stub"

Tough guy private eye Mike Dobson enjoyed a short-lived career in the pulps, apparently appearing in only three stories:

   (1) "Doom on Sunday," G-Men Detective, November 1948 (below)
   (2) "Satan Holds the Key," Popular Detective, November 1948 (below)
   (3) "The Mayor Is Dead," Popular Detective, May 1949.

Like so many PIs of the era (and our own, too, ask Joe Mannix), in just about every case Mike would get conked on the coconut at least once, be distracted (and/or deceived) by one or more beautiful women, and engage in lethal gunplay—all in a day's work for your average pulp gumshoe. What makes him different from the usual private eye, though, is that he enjoys a cordial relationship with the police of Center City, being good friends with the Commission-er and on speaking terms with the rest of the force, a consequence of his father having been mayor for twelve years.

(1) "Doom on Sunday."

By B. J. Benson (?-?).
First appearance: G-Men Detective, November 1948.
Short story (10 pages).
Online at the Pulpgen Archive (HERE).

When Officer Muldoon stops Mike Dobson on the highway, imagine their surprise when they discover this:

There was a body on the back floor. It was the body of a man, and he was as dead as an old cigar stub. He was jack-knifed in there with his head pushed up against his knees. A black stain had spread over the back of his gray suit. Three or four holes had been punched in there and it didn't take an expert to see that they had been made by bullets.

Principal characters:
~ Mike Dobson, PI: "You know I don't like people bloodying up my car and using it for a hearse."
~ Detective Lieutenant Pete Gillis: "After all the favors I've done him. After all the business I've thrown his agency."
~ Officer Muldoon: "I wouldn't do that, Mr. Dobson. You have only a private license. I'll call in."
~ James R. Westcott: Due to circumstances beyond his control (he's dead), he is unlikely to say much.
~ Fred Westcott: "Don't talk to me about the police. If they had any kind of a police force in Center City the thing never would have happened. It never would have happened in Hamilton. I hate to think I'd have to live in this city and depend on them for anything."
~ Lawrence Corliss: "But why? Why would anyone want to kill him?"
~ Mrs. Corliss: "You're crazy."

Dobsonisms:
   "I don't think anything. You might as well know that this is no time to get sensitive. This is murder. We can't afford to be polite."
   "All we need is a big haystack and a needle."
   "The moment my foot crossed the threshold there was a click and the lights went out. I hit the floor fast. At the same time my arm flicked up to my shoulder holster and came up with my gun. Off to my right there were two bright flashes and two loud staccato reports. I sent three rounds quickly in that direction, my .38 booming in the closeness of the room. At the same time I started to roll away. Something came down in the inky blackness and exploded in a blaze of light. That was all. . . ."
   "His body was up against the wall as though he was thrown there like a sack of potatoes."
   "She was a big flashy blonde in her early thirties. She was well-stacked if you liked them built when meat was cheap. She had long eyelashes which could never have been the real thing."
   "I started to duck but I was a little too late. I felt it come down on the side of my head. I had a whole slew of Fourth of July fireworks all to myself . . ."
   "I never saw such people. They go plumb crazy when they see firearms."

Typos: "A looked at it." - Picture caption: "The gun went of in the air."

~ ~ ~

(2) "Satan Holds the Key."

By B. J. Benson (?-?).
First appearance: Popular Detective, November 1948.
Short story (14 pages).
Online at the Pulpgen Archive (HERE).

Chapter I - "Killer On A Rampage"
Chapter II - "Brass Candlestick"
Chapter III - "Slater Remembers"
Chapter IV - "A Trap Is Sprung"

Principal characters:
~ Mike Dobson: "You're a big man in this city, Mr. Dobson. You have big connections."
~ Mr. Greer: "The wrinkled old man behind the cashier's grill. . ."
~ Eddie Balkus: "A skinny little fellow, with small mean eyes and a long nose. A nervous little guy."
~ Lieutenant Pete Gillis: "One of these days I am going to quit this homicide business and get me a job as custodian in a public library."
~ Raymond Asher: "The elevator starter, a big fleshy man of about forty."
~ Lydia Earnshaw: "She was wearing the same maroon uniform but it did more for her than it did for Asher. She was small and round and cuddly with baby blue eyes and an innocent look on her round face. She flashed me a big smile."
~ Mildred Case: "I don't care about any reward. I mind my own business."
~ Detective Sergeant Truro: "Boy, this one's a beaut. Let me know if you find anything. Let's have some cooperation this time."
~ Mrs. Troy: "This sinful city."
~ Arthur Slater: "I mean the whole thing has been too slick. Those things don't happen just like that. Someway, somehow, you contributed to it unknowingly. You did something which, in itself, was unimportant."
~ Valerie Clements: "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, Dobson. Your hat's over there."

Dobsonisms:
   "I like to work alone and I don't like to make too much money. I might get soft and start to slip."
   "I dropped at the sound of the first shot and clawed for my gun. As he swung the gun to me, my own was out spitting flame. He shot at the same time, the bullet whining off the steel cashier's grill near my head. Mine caught him full in the neck. As he started to fall, I had another going in to make sure. He dropped heavily to the floor, the jewelry spilling from his bulging pocket."
   "What do I do? Buy a ouija board?"
   "She moaned again. I lifted her head gently. But as I did, she gave a gasp, some blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, and she was gone."
   "I eased my gun out of the holster and moved over to the curtain. I kept feeling I was doing it all wrong. I started to turn around but I never quite made it. There was a step behind me—a slight, slithering sound—and something hard came down on the  back of my head and exploded in a blaze of white sparks. I saw the faded carpet come up to meet me as I went out. . . ."
   "Go ahead. Slap it on. I can use it. It goes well with my headache."
   "I play things alone because I get better results that way. If I stick with cops, everything's got to be strictly legal. You can't do it in private work and get results."
   "Tomorrow night the cops are going to take you in and talk to you. They have ways of making you say things."
   "Look out there. In the doorway across the street you'll see a tall guy who looks like the Washington monument with ears. His name's Murphy. He's a cop. He's been on your tail steady since Tuesday. You go home and stay home."
   "I went by her. Her perfume smelled like thirty dollars an ounce."

Mike Dobson's third case happened here.

Resources:
- Whoever this "B. J. Benson" was, he or she published 22 stories using that monicker between 1948 and 1951, and vanished thereafter; see FictionMags's list HERE.

The bottom line: "If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button."
   — Sam Levenson

"Jules Gervaise Is, If I Do Not Err, the Name of a Detective"

"The Accusing Shadow."
By Harry Blyth (1852-98; pen name: Hal Meredeth).
First appearance: The "Halfpenny Marvel", October 6, 1894.
Reprinted in Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection (1992).
Novelette (39 pages).
Online at SFFAudio HERE (PDF).

Our story actually appeared in No. 48.

"I am glad I have no Sexton Blake with me. He would inevitably ride a bicycle, plunge into a stream, or stop an engine in full career, before he got to the end of this business."

The wedding date has been set, and the father of the bride couldn't be more pleased; but when the groom disappears from a train he never traveled on, some people stand to lose considerably because of it while, as you may surmise, others stand to profit from it. Only a French detective intent on retirement ("I shall raise my cabbages") will be able to find a missing man, solve a murder, squelch an insurrection, foil several attempts at fraud (including a forced marriage or two), and in the end reunite two young lovers.

Principal characters:
~ Jules Gervaise ("of Paris"): Described as "the most astute of cosmopolitan detectives, the expertest unraveller of mysteries, the most profound of observers, a terror to evil-doers . . . thin, wiry, alert, and wonderfully keen-eyed."
~ Saul Lynn: Indebtedness blinds him to the obvious.
~ Daisy Lynn: Saul Lynn's daughter ("a fair, sunny creature"), betrothed to George Roach; as Gervaise archly notes, their wedding "will include that rare combination of a love-match enveloping a business necessity." If only it were that straightforward . . .
~ George Roach: For him it really is the last train to Glasgow.
~ Rupert Peel: A former rival for Daisy's affections and (surprise!) the one she really loves.
~ Felix Sark: He learns a lesson about boiling pitch.
~ The (unnamed) chief of the French secret police: Anxious to export criminals and revolutionaries ASAP.
~ Julia Barretti: The "infamous English adventuress" with a good memory for shadows.
~ Madame Ollivier: Not her real name.
~ Den Lockier: Not her real name's brother; he carries a gun and doesn't hesitate to employ it.
~ Lord Sellford: Conspicuous by his absence.

Gervaiseisms: Smoke from a jacket alerts Gervaise to the presence of blood; he recommends photographing bootprints; he recognizes the evidentiary value of burned ashes in a fireplace; and in normal conversation he is able to detect when someone is attempting to learn a new language. Quotes: "One may plunder a man, yet not condescend to pick his pockets." - "It savours of madness for me to pursue this case, for I shall not get even the husks of thanks for my pains." - "I think it better for the police to discover such things for themselves." - "I shall not be the first detective who has set out in chase of such airy and unsubstantial nothings."

Felicitous phraseology:
A warehouse: "It appeared to have been accidentally jammed in between two larger build-ings, and it wore a constant look of pain, as though suffering from the tightness of the squeeze."
A cashier: "The bottoms of his trousers showed a marked tendency to creep up to his knees, while his sleeves were absolutely eager to get about his neck. He had a hairless, parchment-like face, and his eyes might have been of glass for all the expression there was in them."
A reception: "Light streamed from every window, while inside all was colour, movement, and melody. The very air seemed rich with delight and harmony."

Resources:
- Making a far bigger splash than Jules Gervaise (one of many detectives to rush in after the Sage of Baker Street's precipitous plunge) was "the poor man's Sherlock Holmes," Sexton Blake; our author made history with that character:

The first Sexton Blake story was "The Missing Millionaire." Written by Harry Blyth (under the pen-name Hal Meredeth) it appeared in the story paper The Halfpenny Marvel Number 6, on 20 December 1893. He appeared in a few more stories by Meredeth. — "Sexton Blake," Wikipedia

As for Gervaise, possibly the prototype of Hercule Poirot:

Blake's first associate from The Halfpenny Marvel No. 6 ("The Missing Million-aire") is the Frenchman Jules Gervaise, who gives him the first recorded case. By issue No. 7 ("A Christmas Crime") they set up an investigative firm together. In the third story in issue No. 11 ("A Golden Ghost") Gervaise is not mentioned. — "Sexton Blake," op. cit.

- Volumes have been written about Blake, including a fine account by researcher Jess Nevins, who says:

. . . Blyth, who died in 1898, only wrote a few Blake stories and was not respon-sible for the stories which gave rise to Blake's enormous popularity. Really, the creator of Blake isn't so important as the character itself; after all, the character and franchise has passed through so many hands that credit for the character should go to the writers in toto, rather than just to its creator. — Jess Nevins, The Sexton Blake Page

- Some info about Harry Blyth is HERE, FictionMags has more HERE, and Derek Hinrich has a very readable page ("Sexton Blake's Partner," with a few SPOILERS) discussing Jules Gervaise HERE.

The bottom line: "I've given my memoirs far more thought than any of my marriages. You can't divorce a book."
   — Gloria Swanson

February's Top 5

Through determined research we've determined that these are last month's most-read ONTOS postings, as determined by you, the, uh, determined reader, as well as those from a year and two years past:

February 2016

(1) Four Dr. Feather Mysteries - HERE
(2) "The Trunk Had a Nice Corpse in It" - HERE
(3) "Ashes to Ashes" - HERE
(4) "All Life Depends on Carefully Balanced Murders" - HERE
(5) "A Terrific Haymaker Sent the Detective Crashing into the Office Furniture" - HERE

February 2014

(1) "A Book Remarkable for Completeness, Accuracy, and Infallible Soundness of Judgment" - HERE
(2) "A Chastened and Far More Palatable Character" - HERE
(3) Not Quite So Idiosyncratic - HERE
(4) A Defense of the "Puzzle Novel" - HERE
(5) Surely You've Heard of Bernard Capes - HERE

February 2015

(1) "Life Can Never Be Staid or Humdrum In a Community Where a Detective May Turn Out to Be a Murderer Or a Corpse Or, Stranger Still, a Detective" - HERE
(2) "S. S. Van Dine Was Born of a Nervous Breakdown" - HERE
(3) "A Few of the Recent Changes in the Police Novel, Which Do Roughly Correspond to Changes in the Social History of Our Time" - HERE
(4) "His Methods Would Be Useful If Detectives Were Only Mindreaders" - HERE
(5) "Never in the Long History of Fiction Has There Been a Figure Comparable to Sherlock Holmes" - HERE