Holmes and Watson were not the only ones foiling the plans of villainous masterminds in Victorian and Edwardian England. The years 1890-1914 were a golden age for English magazines, and the success of the Holmes stories spawned countless imitators. The 15 tales in this anthology introduce readers to such sleuths as Jacques Futrelle's dazzlingly intellectual genius Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, aka the Thinking Machine; Carnacki the Ghost Finder, detective of the occult created by legendary horror writer William Hope Hodgson; Eugene Valmont, a sophisticated and urbane French detective who lives in exile in London and uses his Gallic wit and wisdom to solve mysteries; November Joe, Hesketh Prichard's Canadian woodsman who uses his powers of observation to bring villains to justice; Craig Kennedy, a scientific detective created by the American writer Arthur B. Reeve, who uses new technological advancements like X-rays and microphones to solve Crime, Mystery & Thriller; and Hagar of the Pawn Shop, Fergus Hume's feisty gypsy woman who investigates strange stories associated with the objects that customers bring to her London shop.
