THE CHRONICLES OF MICHAEL DANEVITCH OF THE RUSSIAN SECRET SERVICE.
London: Chatto & Windus, 1897. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 1-304 + 8-page undated publisher's catalogue and 32-page catalogue dated "Feb. 1897" inserted at rear, original decorated dark blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in silver, all edges untrimmed. First edition. Most of the stories are cases of the celebrated Russian detective related to fellow detective Dick Donovan. The last story, "The Clue of the Dead Hand," features detective Peter Brodie who investigates a murder and a simultaneous mysterious disappearance in Scotland at Corbie Hall, "a strange, weird sort of place ... [with] an eeriness about it that was calculated to make one shudder." This story belongs as much in the (rationalized) ghost story genre as the detective story. It also involves a case of male impersonation. [Reference: Glover and Greene, Victorian Detective Fiction 111. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 34. Hubin (1994), p. 240]. Several small stains to front and rear cover, an attractive, nearly fine copy (28924). Item #28924
Price: $275.00