mysteries

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Some Pinkertonia

January 5, 2010 by jedediah | 3 comments

While working on The Manual of Detection, I did a good bit of research into the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. My own Agency’s logo (an open eye) and motto (”Never Sleeping”) were adapted from those of the Pinkertons, and intended in part as a nod to that outfit’s influence on the conception of my fictional mystery-solving organization. Both found their way onto the hardcover edition of the book, and that design, by Glenn O’Neill, was just voted best crime fiction cover of 2009 over on The Rap Sheet blog.

The Pinkertons have a fascinating history. Allan Pinkerton, founder of the agency, served as security to President Lincoln during the Civil War, and prevented an assassination attempt. (He wasn’t there at Ford’s Theater that other time.) The Pinkertons earned a degree of infamy during the events of the Homestead Strike of 1892. They were feared by outlaws, and were hired to track Jesse James as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There is, according to this wikipedia article, a federal law still on the books which prohibits Pinkerton employees from working for the United States government.

What I didn’t know until recently was that Allan Pinkerton published several collections of real-life detective stories, “transcribed from the Records” of the Pinkerton Agency. All are in the public domain, and have been made available in electronic editions at feedbooks.com. I’m looking forward to reading these, and I wish I’d known about them a few years ago. In the preface to one volume, Mr. Pinkerton writes:

If there be any incidental embellishment, it is so slight that the actors in these scenes from the drama of life would never themselves detect it; and if the incidents seem to the reader at all marvelous or improbable, I can but remind him, in the words of the old adage, that “Truth is stranger than fiction.”

Indeed. Feedbooks also has on display some of the wonderful old cover designs for those books. Of particular note—to me, at least—is the cover of The Expressman and the Detective, with its green cover and gold foil never-sleeping stare. And for reasons which anyone who’s read The Manual of Detection will understand, the title The Somnambulist and the Detectives came as a fine surprise.

The paperback design for my book is quite different—“Magritte noir,” I’ve been calling it. The paperback will be available from Penguin on January 26th, and I’ll have more to say about it soon.

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The Blue Book of Crime

August 4, 2009 by jedediah | No comments

A mysterious package arrived in the mail recently. It contained nothing but a slim hardcover volume, blue with black lettering: The Blue Book of Crime: Finger Prints, Secret Service, Crime Detection.

It is, if you will, a kind of Manual of Detection, only it was published in 1936 by the Finger Print Publishing Association, and authored by the esteemed Mr. T. G. Cooke, F.P.E., Director of the Institute of Applied Science, formerly Director and Official Editor of The International Association for Identification.

F.P.E., in case you’re wondering, stands for Finger Print Expert.

The usefulness of this book is immediately apparent. It contains information on the history of the fingerprint profession and on the life and work of the average “secret service man,” as well as descriptions of some real cases. Furthermore, it exhorts us to “PROTECT THE INNOCENT; CONVICT THE GUILTY.” I think anyone lucky enough to possess a copy of this book will feel inclined to do just that, and may even want to study with The Institute of Applied Science, which, according to the last page of the book, has been “training students by mail in the profession of secret service and identification continuously since June, 1916.”

Why do I call this package mysterious, apart from its contents? For this reason: the sender is unidentified. No note, no name in the return address—just my own address, written in big block letters which I’m sure would prove resistant to the efforts of all but the most skilled F.D.E. (Forensic Document Examiner).

I have only one clue to go on: an Atlanta, Georgia postmark. Assuming I know my benefactor, this narrows the list to several suspects.

  • The copywriter. The similarities between the copywriter and the F.P.E. are well documented: both care about the finer details and are concerned with matters of identification. This copywriter also writes fiction, which is very suspicious behavior.
  • The poet. The poet is an A.C.S. (Agatha Christie Specialist), so naturally she’s a prime suspect. She moved to Atlanta recently, so might feel inclined to browse used bookstores and send some of the more instructional findings to old friends, to make sure they don’t forget about her.
  • The other poet. The other poet, I’m told, is engaged to the previously mentioned poet. Of particular note is the fact that he used to be a carnival employee.

I have little else to go on, so please let me know of any promising leads. And in case you need to identify fingerprints, I urge you to refer to the following illustration:

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