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1Mysterious Disappearance

By Louis Tracy

Lady Dyke disappears mysteriously, and barrister and hobby detective Claude Bruce appears to be one of the last persons to have seen her. A short time later a dead body is found in the river, and Bruce follows the trails. Who is Sydney H. Corbett? Why did the Lady's maid disappear shortly after her Lady? And what business did Lady Dyke have at Sloane Square? If Bruce can find the answer to these questions, he will find the solution to the mystery. (Introduction by Carolin)

2Silent Barrier

By Louis Tracy

Charles K. Spencer is a well-to-do young American mining engineer. Drinking his water in a hotel in London one day, he overhears a conversation between two young women, one of whom is to go to Switzerland. He decides to play "fairy godfather" and send the other girl there as well, also to further her career as a writer for a scientific journal. However, the girl is shadowed on her journey by the mysterious Mr. Bower. Convinced that Bower is a rogue, Mr. Spencer decides to follow them to protect the girl... (Summary by Carolin)

3Albert Gate Mystery

By Louis Tracy

A new case for barrister and hobby detective Reginald Brett: The imperial diamonds were sent by the Sultan to London, to be cut in Albert Gate mansion by experts, all the while under the especial protection of the British government. One morning, however, the Turkish officials are found dead in the house, and the diamonds have vanished - despite the strict measures taken to protect them. The first suspicion falls on Jack Talbot, a young secretary at the Foreign Office, in whose charge this mission was, because he also disappeared without a trace on the same evening. Convinced that Talbot is innocent, his friend Lord Fairholme turns to Reginald Brett for help... (Summary by Carolin)

4Stowmarket Mystery, or, a Legacy of Hate

By Louis Tracy

Another case for Reginald Brett, barrister and hobby detective: David Hume-Frazer is in some trouble. He was the prime suspect in the murder case of his cousin, Alan. Though he was never convicted, suspicion clings to him, and he wishes his name to be cleared before he marries his fiancé, Helen Layton. <br>The case is baffling: Alan was murdered with a Japanese knife on his own grounds, in front of the library windows -- in the same place, where four of his ancestors already died "in their boots"...

5Postmaster's Daughter

By Louis Tracy

A charming mystery story set in the early 1900s which is as much about the townspeople, sleuths and other colorful characters as it is about the murder. Filled with comic antics of Scotland Yard fellows, local police, and residents of the town, keeps the murder ever elusive. The "whodunit" is maintained until the very end and the laughter keeps going even after the mystery is solved. (Summary by Sharon Kilmer)

6de Bercy Affair

By Louis Tracy

A beautiful French actress with concealed origins and a clandestine involvement with a group of anarchists is brutally murdered in London. Circumstances lead Scotland Yard to several suspects, including her wealthy American fiancé, a couple of the anarchists, and even a respected “Yard” detective. The search for the killer sets off an absorbing mystery with an interesting cast of characters and plot twists. Gordon Holmes is a pen-name of Louis Tracy (1863-1928), a British journalist and prolific writer of fiction. (Lee Smalley)

"The "Mind The Paint" Girl, by Louis Tracy, is a delightful novelization of Sir Arthur Pinero's sparkling comedy now having a successful New York run.... Mr. Tracy has caught the very spirit of the drama and has told its story with much of the same vivre that has packed the theatre and made it impossible to get seats except several weeks in advance. It is the story of the meteoric rise of a lovely young musical comedy actress whose song "Mind the Paint" put London at her feet and the opportunity of placing several British coronets on her head." Note that we also have the play itself available here at Librivox. - Summary by Bookseller Magazine of 1912

8Bartlett Mystery

By Louis Tracy

This is a fast-paced mystery, set in New York City, has two or three really interesting ("round") characters, a solid plot, no cheap plot-twists, two full-fledged sub/urban battles and some real surprises. <br> <br> Winifred Bartlett, a beautiful and poor orphan, suddenly finds herself homeless and out of a job. Prince Charming (nee Rex Carshaw) comes on to her by accident and begins to take an interest. As strange, apparently unconnected disasters continue to batter poor Winnie, Rex and two police detectives (the most interesting characters in the book) probe the causes and forces threatening the dear girl's well-being and, ultimately, her very life and liberty. It turns out that it is Winifred's close resemblance to her mother, who died long ago in Vermont, that threatens certain powerful interests in contemporary (1913) New York. <br> <br> An unusually large cast of bad guys - each with a different motive for getting rid of Winifred - includes a US Senator, and unsuccessful book binding supervisor, an influential NY society belle, and gun-slinging Western gangster "Mick the Wolf.” The mystery becomes increasingly complex with every new assault on the girl's well-being, and the efforts of the NY police and the ever-faithful Rex. - Summary by Kirsten Wever

9Number Seventeen

By Louis Tracy

The number Seventeen refers (at first) to the London apartment of a young widow who is strangled (off-scene) at the beginning of the book. Her neighbor, novelist Frank Theydon, joins with millionaire-philanthropist James Forbes to bring the murderer to justice. In the end, we discover that there is another sinister meaning to the number seventeen.<br><br> The international theme is dominant, beginning with a discussion of the possible danger posed by advances in air technology: will such advances bring the weapons of war to the skies – as submarines bring them to the seas? (The book was written before World War I.) This theme dominates the book, whose Asian “bad guys” represent the so-called Yellow Peril (widespread fears that the growing powers of Japan, China and other Asian countries posed great threats to the west).<br><br> “The law” is here represented by Scotland Yard’s Chief Superintended Winter and his friend, enemy and side-kick, Inspector Furneaux. Winter is big, burly, friendly, straight-forward and conventional. Furneaux is (of course, representing Winter’s opposite) small, puny, uncannily intuitive, often devious and unconventional.<br><br> - Summary by Kirsten Wever

10Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley

By Louis Tracy

At the country estate of Mortimer Fenley, artist John Trenholme works at an oil painting of Sylvia, the financier’s beautiful ward. She has just emerged from the lake where she swims every morning. A sharp rifle shot shatters the pastoral calm, and Fenley lies dead at the mansion entrance, four hundred yards away.<br><br> Enter Scotland Yard, in the form of Scotland Yard’s Winter and Furneaux, nicknamed “The Big ‘un and The Little ‘un.” Winter, Chief Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department, is big, burly and genial – certain to soothe the anxious and calm the excited. He methodically gathers, sorts and sifts the available evidence and examines the known facts for patterns that might suggest theories of the crime. This knowledge is the basis of deductive method by which he uncovers, in Tracy’s words, “the only sound conclusion from ascertained facts.”<br><br> Meanwhile, the diminutive and high-strung Detective Inspector Charles Furneaux uses his uncanny instincts and startling intuitions to unravel the mystery inductively. He talks to people, provoking emotional reactions, triggering tempers, seeking out sensitive spots. In this way he builds psychological profiles of the main characters. He uses this knowledge to guess how, under various circumstances, they would probably behave. His intuition then suggests how, in the actual conditions of the murder, they really did behave.<br><br> In less than 36 hours Winter and Furneaux unravel the mystery, a mild crush blooms into a full-fledged romance, real-estate changes hands, an earlier crime is solved, and more. - Summary by Kirsten Wever

11Late Tenant

By Louis Tracy

This is primarily a romance. It is one of the earliest works of the British journalist and prolific author, Louis Tracy, publishing under the pseudonym of Gordon Holmes. Tracy is best known for his later mysteries, including <a href="https://librivox.org/the-albert-gate-mystery-by-louis-tracy/">The Albert Gate Mystery</a> and <a href="https://librivox.org/the-postmasters-daughter-by-louis-tracy/">The Postmaster’s Daughter</a>.<br><br> The story involves two passionate love stories – one tragic, the other just budding – wrapped in a mystery … with supernatural overtones, as well as a fair bit of classically British tongue-in-cheek humor. - Summary by Kirsten Wever