Famous detective stories

Front matter

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Introduction

Originally planned as a companion volume to “ Famous Ghost Stories,” which has seemed to strike a responsive chord with the reading public — this collection of “ Detective Stories ” speedily proved to the editor its right to exist on its own account. At the same time there is a subtle bond of sympathy between ghost and detective tales. Both deal with the problem of mystery; both stimulate the imagina¬ tion. With the former class, the mystery may never be solved; while with the latter, its solution is a ne¬ cessary ingredient.

However, as the work upon the detective tales progressed — involving the reading of many times the number of stories included within this volume — the editor was impressed more and more with the richness of this particular vein of literature. And he believes that every reader will share the feeling. Even those readers who have already been in the habit of perusing a good detective yarn to pass away the time — and the number of such readers is legion — may not have stopped to consider the wealth and high quality of literary output falling under this general title. Since the time of Edgar Allan Poe, who is regarded as the father of the school, the list of writers has included some of the ablest masters of the short story.

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INTRODUCTION

Because Poe was the pioneer, we have begun the present series with his famous “ The Purloined Let¬ ter,” which may be paraphrased as “ the triumph of the obvious.” Poe’s genius in this line was abun¬ dantly demonstrated in his “ Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and was first recognized by the French, more than one of whom frankly imitated him. Perhaps the ablest of his disciples in France was Gaboriau, whose outstanding character is M. Lecoq. The latter’s adventures fill several large volumes, which have long since passed through several English editions; the most popular being “ File No. 113 ” (alluding to the number of a criminal case on the police docket). We have been forced by space lim¬ itations to quote only one chapter from this book, but it is a complete episode in itself, and reveals Lecoq’s powers of reasoning and deduction — a method that was raised to the nth power by Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. It is true that Holmes fleers somewhat ungraciously, in one of his adven¬ tures, upon the more ponderous Lecoq, but their modus operandi is essentially the same. In “ A Scandal in Bohemia ” we witness a typical adventure of Dr. Watson’s astute friend.

In his “ New Arabian Nights,” Stevenson turned his hand at adventures of involved plot and counter¬ plot, although without the guiding genius of a cen¬ tral sleuth. One such story touched, as are all, by the magic of his inimitable style, is here included.

Among more recent writers, Sax Rohmer has at¬ tracted wide attention in England and America by the grotesque and bizarre types he presents. In his

INTRODUCTION vii

“ Fu-Manchu ” tales, however, his detectives regu¬ larly get the worst of it. The same is true of the “ Raffles ” stories by E. W. Hornung, where we find the amateur cracksman “ putting it all over ” the detectives pitted against him. Perchance this was a natural revolt on the writers’ part against the cock¬ sure methods of our friend Sherlock.

A still later group of detectives, however, “ pre¬ serve the traditions.” We believe they would be a match for the audacious Raffles and all his gang. Craig Kennedy, the scientist is one; Lawrence Rand, another; Arsene Lupin, who is a logical descendant of the French school, another; Cleek, still another; while the gentler sex is represented very creditably by Violet Strange, whose creator, Anna Katherine Green, has given us some of the best recent ex¬ amples of mystery story in America.

It has been such a distinct pleasure to gather all these celebrated characters together — to watch them work in company, so to speak,— that we believe the reader will share a responsive thrill. It would be a hardened reader, indeed, who does not feel his pulses tingle before he follows one of these breathless adventures very far. And so without further ado — reader, we would present these Famous De¬ tectives. Meet the new ones; greet the old ones of your acquaintance. All are worth while.

Finally, a collection such as this has been made possible only through the generous cooperation of both authors and publishers. Our sincere acknowl¬ edgments and thanks are due to Anna Katherine Green and Arthur B. Reeve, for personal assistance;

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INTRODUCTION to Robert M. McBride, for permission to use the story by Sax Rohmer; to the publishers of the Metropolitan Magazine, for the Broughton Bran¬ denburg story; to Charles Scribners’ Sons, for the Hornung material; to Doubleday, Page & Com¬ pany for extracts from the works of Maurice Le Blanc and Thomas W. Hanshew; and to Harper and Brothers for other kind permissions.

J. W. McS.

Montclair , N. J May 13, 1920.

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