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The Sleuth of St. James's Square
Sir Henry Marquis, the Sleuth of St. James's Square, shines in these sixteen unique mystery and crime stories from Melville Davisson Post.
Sir Henry Marquis, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard, embraces the latest and greatest scientific methods of crime detection ranging from dactyloscopic (fingerprint identification) bureaus to photographie mitrique, and he has ample opportunity to utilize his skills in a range of mysterious scenarios ...
In the first story, The Thing on the Hearth a scientist is found dead in a locked room by his servant, and when Sir Henry comes to investigate, it appears that there may have been a visitor from ... somewhere else involved in this mysterious death. The Reward finds Sir Henry perusing the memoirs of a US Secret Service agent. Sir Henry helps look for a woman with a large sum of money who has gone missing from nearby his hotel in The Lost Lady. In The Cambered Foot, the sleuth is on his way to investigate a murder when he gets caught up in another mystery entirely. Then, The Wrong Sign and The Hole in the Mahogany Panel peek into the past through a diary of one of Sir Henry's own ancestors.
These stories and many more make up the unexpected, clever, and thoroughly absorbing mysteries featured in this collection.
Full contents:
The Thing on the HearthThe RewardThe Lost LadyThe Cambered FootThe Man in the Green HatThe Wrong SignThe Fortune TellerThe Hole in the Mahogany PanelThe End of the RoadThe Last AdventureAmerican HorsesThe Spread RailsThe Pumpkin CoachThe Yellow FlowerSatire of the SeaThe House by the Loch
Sir Henry Marquis, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard, embraces the latest and greatest scientific methods of crime detection ranging from dactyloscopic (fingerprint identification) bureaus to photographie mitrique, and he has ample opportunity to utilize his skills in a range of mysterious scenarios ...
In the first story, The Thing on the Hearth a scientist is found dead in a locked room by his servant, and when Sir Henry comes to investigate, it appears that there may have been a visitor from ... somewhere else involved in this mysterious death. The Reward finds Sir Henry perusing the memoirs of a US Secret Service agent. Sir Henry helps look for a woman with a large sum of money who has gone missing from nearby his hotel in The Lost Lady. In The Cambered Foot, the sleuth is on his way to investigate a murder when he gets caught up in another mystery entirely. Then, The Wrong Sign and The Hole in the Mahogany Panel peek into the past through a diary of one of Sir Henry's own ancestors.
These stories and many more make up the unexpected, clever, and thoroughly absorbing mysteries featured in this collection.
Full contents:
The Thing on the HearthThe RewardThe Lost LadyThe Cambered FootThe Man in the Green HatThe Wrong SignThe Fortune TellerThe Hole in the Mahogany PanelThe End of the RoadThe Last AdventureAmerican HorsesThe Spread RailsThe Pumpkin CoachThe Yellow FlowerSatire of the SeaThe House by the Loch
- GenresMysteryShort Stories
101 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1920
7 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Melville Davisson Post
180 books10 followersMelville Davisson Post (April 19, 1869–June 23, 1930) is an American author, born in Harrison County, West Virginia. He earned a law degree from West Virginia University in 1892, and was married in 1903 to Ann Bloomfield Gamble Schofield. Their only child, a son, died at eighteen months old and Mrs. Post died of pneumonia in 1919.
After the death of their son, he left law practice and went on an European tour with his wife. Upon return from Europe, he began writing short stories and became America's highest paid short story writer. He was an avid horseman, and died on June 23, 1930, after a fall from his horse, and was buried in Harrison County. His boyhood home, "Templemoor", is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of 1982.
Although Post's name is not immediately familiar to many in this era, his stories are available through Gutenberg and many collections of detective fiction include works by Post. There is a case to be made for these stories to be among the finest of detective fiction in America. No less than Ellery Queen and Howard Haycraft both praised Post's writing as among the finest of American detective writing.
Post's best-known character is the mystery-solving, justice dispensing Virginian backwoodsman, Uncle Abner. Post also created two other recurring characters, Sir Henry Marquis and Randolph Mason. He also wrote two non-crime novels. His total output was approximately 230 titles.
After the death of their son, he left law practice and went on an European tour with his wife. Upon return from Europe, he began writing short stories and became America's highest paid short story writer. He was an avid horseman, and died on June 23, 1930, after a fall from his horse, and was buried in Harrison County. His boyhood home, "Templemoor", is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of 1982.
Although Post's name is not immediately familiar to many in this era, his stories are available through Gutenberg and many collections of detective fiction include works by Post. There is a case to be made for these stories to be among the finest of detective fiction in America. No less than Ellery Queen and Howard Haycraft both praised Post's writing as among the finest of American detective writing.
Post's best-known character is the mystery-solving, justice dispensing Virginian backwoodsman, Uncle Abner. Post also created two other recurring characters, Sir Henry Marquis and Randolph Mason. He also wrote two non-crime novels. His total output was approximately 230 titles.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 23, 2014
The sleuth who lives in a large house in St. James's Square, London, is Sir Henry Marquis, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard. He also owns a country mansion and a villa on the French Riviera and internal evidence suggests he was educated at Rugby’s famous public school and Oxford University. He previously ran the English secret service in the India-Burma border area and had also been busy in unspecified places in Asia, although there is reason to suppose he is familiar with Mongolia. Sir Henry belongs to the Empire Club in Piccadilly and apparently goes to the opera now and then.
He is enthusiastic about scientific methods for solving crimes, mentioning dactyloscopic (fingerprint) bureaus and photographie mitrique in particular, but also laments lack of “intuitive impulse” in the men under his command. However, not all the cases in this collection of short stories are solved by deduction or even intuitive impulse, and indeed one or two end in triumph for those on the wrong side of the law. Oddly enough, although Sir Henry is the titular sleuth, in some stories he is not directly involved and in a couple he is referred to only in passing.
He is enthusiastic about scientific methods for solving crimes, mentioning dactyloscopic (fingerprint) bureaus and photographie mitrique in particular, but also laments lack of “intuitive impulse” in the men under his command. However, not all the cases in this collection of short stories are solved by deduction or even intuitive impulse, and indeed one or two end in triumph for those on the wrong side of the law. Oddly enough, although Sir Henry is the titular sleuth, in some stories he is not directly involved and in a couple he is referred to only in passing.
July 15, 2025
A difficult collection to rate, because it has a combination of flaws (for me, predominating) and strengths.
The biggest flaw for a 21st-century audience is the author's evident disgust at the existence of Asian people. Though he's not a big fan of anyone who's not a well-off WASP, actually; anyone who's poor or foreign (or a villain, but that's often a subset of the other two categories) gets called a "creature" or, sometimes, a "human creature," and the implication is not a positive one.
This is the case even when the narrator is theoretically a diarist from the American colonial period; the voice is always the same, even though we have multiple (theoretical) narrators in the various stories, often first-person but sometimes third-person. The sleuth of the title provides a common thread, but often quite a slender one, and rarely does any sleuthing. A good many of the stories are recounted to him, or by him, about crimes that were committed somewhere else or even in a different time, and in the investigation of which he had no involvement. In one story, the only connection to him is that he's briefly mentioned as having given directions to the person who's informing the central character of the circumstances of her father's death. This doesn't help to develop him as a character, and I didn't feel like I knew him at all by the end, because I'd hardly seen him do anything, and most of what he said was reading out the writings of other people.
Not all of the stories are mystery stories as such, either, though most have a twist at the end which changes the reader's perspective on the preceding events. The twists are often clever, though of course some are weaker than others.
The Gutenberg edition has numerous uncorrected scan errors. I'll send them in at some stage as errata.
Overall, a miss for me, and I don't see where the enthusiasm for the author from his contemporaries came from. It doesn't quite make it to my 2025 recommendation list, even in the lowest tier.
The biggest flaw for a 21st-century audience is the author's evident disgust at the existence of Asian people. Though he's not a big fan of anyone who's not a well-off WASP, actually; anyone who's poor or foreign (or a villain, but that's often a subset of the other two categories) gets called a "creature" or, sometimes, a "human creature," and the implication is not a positive one.
This is the case even when the narrator is theoretically a diarist from the American colonial period; the voice is always the same, even though we have multiple (theoretical) narrators in the various stories, often first-person but sometimes third-person. The sleuth of the title provides a common thread, but often quite a slender one, and rarely does any sleuthing. A good many of the stories are recounted to him, or by him, about crimes that were committed somewhere else or even in a different time, and in the investigation of which he had no involvement. In one story, the only connection to him is that he's briefly mentioned as having given directions to the person who's informing the central character of the circumstances of her father's death. This doesn't help to develop him as a character, and I didn't feel like I knew him at all by the end, because I'd hardly seen him do anything, and most of what he said was reading out the writings of other people.
Not all of the stories are mystery stories as such, either, though most have a twist at the end which changes the reader's perspective on the preceding events. The twists are often clever, though of course some are weaker than others.
The Gutenberg edition has numerous uncorrected scan errors. I'll send them in at some stage as errata.
Overall, a miss for me, and I don't see where the enthusiasm for the author from his contemporaries came from. It doesn't quite make it to my 2025 recommendation list, even in the lowest tier.
November 27, 2016
The Sleuth of St. James's Square is a collection of short mystery stories, each with a different protagonist and not related to each other in any way except that each are about some sort of mystery, rarely dealing with murder. I believe that the Sleuth is Sir Henry Marquis. I didn't see his involvement playing much of a role in the book. A rather odd way to present stories, in my opinion.
The writing is very Victorian so somewhat archaic in style. The stories start off rather vague and lacking in direction which I suppose is the writer, Post's, style. It takes a few pages to come to realize what the actual mystery is. For most of the tale one is wondering what is going on or about to happen. However they all quickly converge into a crystal clear and profound, if abrupt conclusion at the very end.
All in all, a quick, and, if not Holmes or Lord Wimsey or Father Brown, still an enjoyable read.
The writing is very Victorian so somewhat archaic in style. The stories start off rather vague and lacking in direction which I suppose is the writer, Post's, style. It takes a few pages to come to realize what the actual mystery is. For most of the tale one is wondering what is going on or about to happen. However they all quickly converge into a crystal clear and profound, if abrupt conclusion at the very end.
All in all, a quick, and, if not Holmes or Lord Wimsey or Father Brown, still an enjoyable read.
March 5, 2015
A group of short mysteries. One of them is very odd and puzzling.
February 7, 2018
1.5 stars. I'll start this by saying I did enjoy the blunt subversion in The Thing on the Hearth, and the twist of The Last Adventure. But on the other hand, when the theme of the former showed up in three stories in succession, it was getting a bit much, and all in all I felt like most of the stories erred on the side of predictability. The fact that the book shows its age heavily and not very favorably, clichés and all, doesn't help either.
(Though maybe it's sleep deprivation making me this cranky, I don't know.)
(Though maybe it's sleep deprivation making me this cranky, I don't know.)
March 18, 2023
Parts are good
Some of these short stories are very good. Some are marred by racism, which, even though common at the time, detracts significantly from these gothic tales.
Some of these short stories are very good. Some are marred by racism, which, even though common at the time, detracts significantly from these gothic tales.
May 12, 2012
The title of this collection is a little misleading, since the sleuth in question, Sir Henry Marquis, is not really the focus of the book—he's more like a slight connecting element between the varied stories. In only a few is he the active investigator; in some he's listening to other people tell a story and in some cases he is only briefly mentioned in the narrative. He never really emerges as a fully formed character.
The stories themselves are pretty unique—they're not all formal whodunits. A lot of them are winding narratives about some unusual incident, with a twist at the end that explains what was the actual crime or mystery. There's a recurring theme in several of explorers or scientists in search of some mythical treasure or discovery, while a few of the stories are connected with World War I. Three of the stories, supposed to be read from an old diary, feature a setting and detective extremely similar to Post's Uncle Abner mysteries. "The House by the Loch" has a flavor that again reminds me of Chesterton's Father Brown stories, though this time it's more in the setting and atmosphere.
A couple of the tales ("The Thing On the Hearth" and "The Spread Rails," particularly) are a little long-winded, taking quite a bit of time to get to a pretty simple point. But while these stories may not exactly come up to the superb Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries, they're still very good reading, and Post's writing is beautiful—I'd give it a fourth star for that alone.
The stories themselves are pretty unique—they're not all formal whodunits. A lot of them are winding narratives about some unusual incident, with a twist at the end that explains what was the actual crime or mystery. There's a recurring theme in several of explorers or scientists in search of some mythical treasure or discovery, while a few of the stories are connected with World War I. Three of the stories, supposed to be read from an old diary, feature a setting and detective extremely similar to Post's Uncle Abner mysteries. "The House by the Loch" has a flavor that again reminds me of Chesterton's Father Brown stories, though this time it's more in the setting and atmosphere.
A couple of the tales ("The Thing On the Hearth" and "The Spread Rails," particularly) are a little long-winded, taking quite a bit of time to get to a pretty simple point. But while these stories may not exactly come up to the superb Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries, they're still very good reading, and Post's writing is beautiful—I'd give it a fourth star for that alone.
October 3, 2016
My feelings are very mixed on this book.
The plot ideas were good, but I kept getting lost. “Who’s saying this, again?”
Also, after a while his characters seem to stereotype. His most common criminal is an “obese” “oriental creature” or someone with elements of that.
I prefer mystery books where I can deduce the ending yet the ending not be OBVIOUS (Red House Mystery, Mystery at No. 39 New Pine, Secret Adversary, etc.), so I was disappointed when this book didn’t reveal the “Clue”(yes, I understand that stuff is really hard to get just right because I’m writing my own precious (“my preciousss” as Gollum would say. :D) mystery book ). The stories did have pieces of info which I will probably never use but are still interesting.
Also, there’s quite a bit of unwanted words (mostly d_ but also some taking God’s name in vain).
This book took me long time to finish mostly because I only got into it half-way through (the first story was just WEIRD).
I might read more by MDP because I know he can write better than this. I’m just not sure. . . Agatha Christy's and Thorndyke are much better.
The plot ideas were good, but I kept getting lost. “Who’s saying this, again?”
Also, after a while his characters seem to stereotype. His most common criminal is an “obese” “oriental creature” or someone with elements of that.
I prefer mystery books where I can deduce the ending yet the ending not be OBVIOUS (Red House Mystery, Mystery at No. 39 New Pine, Secret Adversary, etc.), so I was disappointed when this book didn’t reveal the “Clue”(yes, I understand that stuff is really hard to get just right because I’m writing my own precious (“my preciousss” as Gollum would say. :D) mystery book ). The stories did have pieces of info which I will probably never use but are still interesting.
Also, there’s quite a bit of unwanted words (mostly d_ but also some taking God’s name in vain).
This book took me long time to finish mostly because I only got into it half-way through (the first story was just WEIRD).
I might read more by MDP because I know he can write better than this. I’m just not sure. . . Agatha Christy's and Thorndyke are much better.
February 6, 2024
Pretty Dire To Be Honest
I listened to the audiobook version of this title. Only “The Cambered Foot” was worth listening to, both the story and the narration was spot on. (Female narrator, who wasn’t credited).
The other (male) narrators made the mediocre stories worse. Either too slow, stilted or lacking in character/emotion.
I think that it doesn’t help that it was hard to discern which voice was the English man! All of the stories narrated by the female narrator, highlighted the paucity of the stories, as she was by far the superior narrator and she couldn’t save the tales (except for the previously mentioned one). Many of the stories begin in the middle of a scene/sentence or conversation. It makes it hard to figure out and follow - you have no idea who the characters are, or what the setting is…
It’s good that this is an Unlimited free title with Audible, I’m sure that many people did not finish this audiobook. I persevered, but do not recommend it.
I listened to the audiobook version of this title. Only “The Cambered Foot” was worth listening to, both the story and the narration was spot on. (Female narrator, who wasn’t credited).
The other (male) narrators made the mediocre stories worse. Either too slow, stilted or lacking in character/emotion.
I think that it doesn’t help that it was hard to discern which voice was the English man! All of the stories narrated by the female narrator, highlighted the paucity of the stories, as she was by far the superior narrator and she couldn’t save the tales (except for the previously mentioned one). Many of the stories begin in the middle of a scene/sentence or conversation. It makes it hard to figure out and follow - you have no idea who the characters are, or what the setting is…
It’s good that this is an Unlimited free title with Audible, I’m sure that many people did not finish this audiobook. I persevered, but do not recommend it.
Want to read
March 29, 2025Read so far:
*The thing on the hearth--
*The reward (aka Five thousand dollars' reward)--
The lost lady--
*The cambered foot--
*The man in the green hat--
*The wrong sign--
*The fortune teller--
*The hole in the mahogany panel--
The end of the road--
The last adventure--
American horses--
*The spread rails--
The pumpkin coach--
The yellow flower--
Satire of the sea--
The house by the loch --
*The thing on the hearth--
*The reward (aka Five thousand dollars' reward)--
The lost lady--
*The cambered foot--
*The man in the green hat--
*The wrong sign--
*The fortune teller--
*The hole in the mahogany panel--
The end of the road--
The last adventure--
American horses--
*The spread rails--
The pumpkin coach--
The yellow flower--
Satire of the sea--
The house by the loch --
February 4, 2010
Charming little mystery adventure. Each of the chapters has its own neat little puzzle.
April 11, 2014
Short stories which are really little puzzles rather than mysteries
August 22, 2014
Different
These were some pretty good stories by an author I had never heard of. I feel sure that more of his books will be on my reading list.
These were some pretty good stories by an author I had never heard of. I feel sure that more of his books will be on my reading list.
February 29, 2016
Short stories in early twentieth century style with Sir Henry of the CID.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews