New Yorker Robert Pagebrook travels to Virginia to visit relatives. The Civil War has ended and family ties are in order to be re-established. All goes well; the family relationships are as they should be, perhaps even better than expected. Unique character studies develop as Pagebrook finds himself in a financial predicament, becoming indebted and with no resources available, as his bank back home has dissolved. It is up to Robert Pagebrook to find a way to prove to his kin that he is still a Man of Honor.

Evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men and many nefarious schemes are hatched by these gangsters, mob bosses and super villains. But thankfully, equally brave, talented detectives are there to track them down and thwart their twisted plans. These six stories, along with two "true fact detective shorts" were in the magazine Hooded Detective, January 1942. Are they well written? well, no, but they are fun. Here are a few of the blurbs: "They had expected spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, but were served instead, hot lead, with a little bit of blood on the side...

The world knows the fate of the classic lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony, so there is no need to announce a spoiler alert. Georg Ebers was a German Egyptologist who deftly applied his comprehensive knowledge of Rome and Egypt into a fictionalized account of the ill-fated romance between the Egyptian Queen and her Roman lover Mark Antony.

The stabbing death of a beautiful young woman in a London park at night and the disappearance of her sister; a shocked and heartbroken young suitor; a terrified landlady and her simple husband; a recently unemployed man, the narrator, who is requested to investigate the crime; and the mysterious title character who, as his name suggests, has a devilishness about him in his psychic ability to read minds and to perform other supernatural acts. These are some of the individuals in this inventive, absorbing mystery by the prolific and popular British author, B. L. Farjeon. There are really two mysteries here: the murder and the strange – person? – known as Devlin.

THE PERMANENT HUSBAND, also published as The Eternal Husband, is a psychological novella by the acclaimed Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The plot revolves around the intense and complex relationship between Velchaninov and Trusotsky. Velchaninov, the protagonist, is a former lover of the recently deceased wife of Trusotsky, the title character. Some critics have ranked this novella among Dostoeyevsky’s best works because of its style and structure. Alfred Bem has called it "one of the most complete works by Dostoyevsky in regards to its composition and development. – Adapted from Wikipedia An excellent commentary may be found here.

The year 18-- was a momentous one in Great Britain. Not only did the nation receive most of the world's royalty for months on end, but the well-to-do gentleman, Simon Carne spent much of the social season in London. On friendly terms with royalty, sponsored into society by Lord Amberly, formerly viceroy of India, Carne's horse won the Derby and his Yacht the Queen's Cup. But at the same time, a serious of notorious swindles, thefts and other crimes plagued London and the surrounding environs. The mysterious detective Klimo, did a thriving business by attempting to resolve the crimes...

Once Carolyn Wells began, or re-invented her writing career, 'The Clue' was her initial book which strayed from children's writings into mysteries and detective stories. It is also when we are introduced to her most famous of detectives, Fleming Stone. On the eve of her wedding day, Madeleine Van Norman, a beautiful young lady who is soon to come into her family fortune is found dead, apparently stabbed with an ominous blood-stained letter opener found nearby. There is nobody within the household...

In the second book of the Mary Louise Gay mysteries, Mary Lou and her best friend Jane are thrilled to be spending a whole month of their summer together at Shady Nook. But when suspicious fires threaten their relaxing holiday, they jump into their sleuthing ways to find the culprit. With so many interesting residents in this small town, they have their work cut out for them! - Summary by Cari Shorrock

The Dark Other is a horror novel by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The novel concerns Patricia Lane who is in love with Nicholas Devine, a quiet and gentle writer. Devine undergoes sudden changes becoming cold and calculating. Frightened by this, Lane consults psychologist Dr. Carl Horker who rescues her from Devine. Devine again attacks Horker, and overcomes him. He is then shot by Lane and rushed to a hospital where a surprise is found.

Malcolm MacPhail has lived, for all of his twenty or so years, in a fishing village on the north coast of Scotland. He lives with his grandfather and, though he has never met his parents, has no curiosity about the details of his birth. However, others in the town have their own curiosity, and their own suspicions, about where this highland man and his infant grandson came from, those twenty or so years ago. When the local marquis and his daughter come to live in their grand estate just outside the town, unoccupied for many years, events begin to move which introduce to them the humble Malcolm, and which may shed some light on Malcolm's past while changing the course of his future.

A widow has been murdered in the home of a relative on a foggy night in London town when all residents were off on to the theatre, and one to run an errand involving the title bauble. Who done it? Old dark house mystery full of period cliches is pulp fun for the new year. - Summary by Matt Pierard

The Pink Shop operates outside the limits of the law by a mysterious woman concealed under a black veil. Follow the twists and turns as you unravel the secrets hidden behind the closed doors of The Pink Shop. Ask yourself: what would you give to retain eternal beauty?

This is a 1913 collection of ten short detective stories by a not well known writer. Jack Lanagan is a police reporter for a daily newspaper in San Francisco, who has the confidence of the chief of police and access to all sorts of levels of city life. - Summary by David Wales

Young Dr Ellis, a struggling new physician, is enjoying a quiet evening smoking and enjoying conversation with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news - her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back. They investigate the body thoroughly, but find no real clues to his assailant except for a mysterious series of markings, scrawled in blood on the dead man's sleeve. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins

"The Hemlock Avenue Mystery" is one of a series of mysteries written by Lily Augusta Long using the pseudonym Roman Doubleday. A lawyer is accused of killing a rival lawyer, both having battled in court on numerous occasions. A newspaper reporter following the case is bent on determining the facts behind the murder. As it happens, there are two women also suspected of participating in the crime, and a third who was apparently utterly unconscious of what had occurred. It's up to the reporter turned detective to unravel the clues, few as they are. - Summary by Roger Melin

"Baseball Joe" Matson's great ambition is to become a professional baseball pitcher. The Baseball Joe series follows his career as he seeks to attain his goal. In this fourth volume, Joe accepts a contract to play baseball professionally, and leaves Yale to play on the Pittston team for the Central League, a "bush league" in the professional baseball hierarchy. Joe's career is helped by "Pop" Dutton, a famous pitcher now down on his luck, and hindered by a rival pitcher on the team, while at home, Joe's father is blinded by a chemical accident, and requires an expensive operation, which, if successful, will regain his sight...

Fresh from school, mistreated and neglected by her father and stepmother, sixteen-year-old Dawn consents to marry a friend of her father's whom she has only met, but the wedding does not go as planned. Scared and confused, she runs away after the ceremony. Many adventures follow lovely and resourceful Dawn on her journey to becoming an independent woman. - Summary by karlkzumich

Olive Schreiner was a South African writer and intellectual born in 1855 to missionary parents in the Eastern Cape. She was one of the earliest campaigners for women's rights. She was also very critical of British Imperialism in her homeland and particularly of their racist policies against the Boers, Jews, Indians and the Black races of South Africa. As a result of her public support for the Boers, all her manuscripts and her house were burned during the Anglo-Boer War and she was interned in a concentration camp for several years...

It is early in the days of radio, and amateurs are using it more and more, and using it illegally. Enter Curlie Carson, who has the job of tracking down the miscreants. Sounds boring. You wouldn't expect high speed car chases, kidnapping, double dealing, and maybe even murder.

A deserted house with a troubled past. A mysterious countess who captivates everyone with her wealth and beauty -- well, almost everyone. An equally mysterious derelict who holds a secret to the countess's past. A fresh crime that threatens to ruin a promising young doctor. A plucky young governess determined to save him. Who will prevail?

The opening scene takes place in a hospital ward where two patients lie, apparently dying, when a man enters and offers a proposition to one of them. The story then shifts to another town where, years earlier, Polly Earle’s mother died of unknown causes and her father disappeared, leaving Polly, a small child, parentless and penniless. Raised by neighbors, Polly is now a beautiful young woman engaged to be married. A stranger arrives and makes an unsettling request of Polly. Doctor Izard, an intensely private person who had attended her mother, becomes involved. Anna Katherine Green, a prolific and popular mystery writer, was considered to be "The American Agatha Christie".

Join Rough and Ready for his adventure on the streets of New York City. Working as a newsboy, Rough and Ready tries to support himself and his sister on his meager earnings. Unfortunately, their stepfather is seeking to kidnap little Rose, getting an education is hard work, swindlers are trying to trick him out of his money, and thieves are planning nefarious deeds. Luckily for Rough and Ready, he makes some good friends along the way. Summary by Tori Faulder

Mysteries abound in this crime novel by Fergus Hume. Mr. Fanks, detective of Scotland Yard, is not all he seems, for when off-duty, he assumes his real identity of Octavius Rixton, well-to-do idler. When the scent of a murder reaches him, he is instantly Mr. Fanks and on the pursuit. A guilty looking innkeeper nicknamed Queen Beelzebub and a suspicious doctor named Renshaw further complicate his beginning investigation, and he finds the body is a man with a tattoo on his arm that has been partially obliterated by a knife. Where no one is as he seems the mystery can only deepen before its solution. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins

A ghost story and love story all at once, set in medieval Portugal. Don Ruy is in love with Dona Leonor, but her husband has guessed his feelings and hatches a plan. Don Ruy rides right into a trap, but on the way, a dead man joins him and saves his life. - Summary by Carolin

In order to recover her health, Mildred Keith goes to visit her mother's extended family, the Dinsmores, in the South. Mildred makes new friends while at Roselands, learns important lessons and grows in her faith in Christ.

Vicki Barr is a popular mystery series for girls published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1947 to 1964. This book is volume 12 of The Vicki Barr Air Stewardess Series. When a shipment of priceless gold doubloons being transported on her flight from New York to Tampa goes missing, Federal Airline's stewardess Vicki Barr is unwittingly dragged into a sinister conspiracy spanning two countries. Vicki faces a determined group of criminals willing to go to any lengths to stop her from discovering their secret...

While visiting their friend, Florence, at her home in Mexico, Jo Ann and Peggy noticed a barred window which has no opening into any of the rooms of an ancient adobe house. Curious to find out what it is, the girls tried to investigate but no one seems eager to help them. Undaunted, the girls made plans to get there only to encounter dangers and find a thrilling discovery. - Summary by Mary Escano

A Deal with the Devil is a classic tale with a humorous twist. We find that on the night preceeding his 100th birthday Grandpapa, a cantankerous yet loveable sort, has made a deal with the devil, which his granddaughter, in part, will pay. - Summary by Angelique G. Campbell

Arnold Bennet's masterly novel is a gritty tale about a bookseller whose life and love of a woman are afflicted by miserliness. It is set in London's characterful Clerkenwell district shortly after the First World War. - Summary by Anthony Ogus

Young Pat Glendon is twenty-two years old, weighs two-hundred and twenty pounds, has never drunk alcohol nor tasted tobacco and knows little of city life. He’s all muscle, moves with cat-like grace and possesses great stamina and strength acquired from living natural in the wilds of northern California with his father. Young Pat is a natural at prize-fighting. In addition to his brawn he has speed and a natural instinct for the sport. His father, a former heavyweight prize-fighter himself, has trained Young Pat and believes it is time for the boy to take on the heavyweight world...

Bealby is the comical story of the escapade of a thirteen-year-old boy when he rebels against his placement as a steward's-room boy in the great house of an estate named Shonts and flees—not, however, before thoroughly upsetting a weekend party where the nouveau riche couple renting Shonts is entertaining the Lord Chancellor. - Summary by Wikipedia

Call Mr. Fortune is a collection of short stories which introduce Reginald Fortune. Reggie, like his father, is a physician. The son applies his diagnostic skills to crime-solving. As he is not a civil servant, he is free to represent the government, the accused, or the injured.