Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1926

Notes: On the street of Carlovia, the rebels come into the open and are promptly rounded up by the King's allies who have all dressed in green masks in order to recognise one another. Tinker hands over the reins of power to the real King, who now has the full support of his people. Clodie is appointed as the King's financial advisor while Darro, Sarjo and the rest of the rebel leaders are banished to France. Blake and Tinker return to London, having brought another case to a satisfactory conclusion.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆ A rambling, heavily padded plot drags this story down. On the positive side, the protrayal of a country riddled with suspicions, plot and counter plot is rather effective and, of course, the Balkan setting is very relevant to the times.

Notes: Tinker drops in to visit his friends Fane, Manners, Pye and Bindley at Calcroft School and, due to a storm, ends up staying the night in their dorm room. He meets a pupil he's never encountered before, the chatty, disaster-prone, but popular Wilberforce Stott, who falls foul of the new school cad, Fifth Former Martin Roath.

Trivia: This serial follows on from THE CITY OF MASKS which ran in THE NELSON LEE LIBRARY from issues 537 to 552.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Bindley confronts Roath over his bullying of Stott but Tinker pulls him away before a fight breaks out and the boys agree to deal with the cad some other time. With his friends called to class, Tinker is left alone, so after telephoning to Baker Street to inform Mrs Bardell that he won't be home until the following day, he rides his motorcycle into the village and has coffee in the tuck shop. Bindley — having completed an errand for his house master — meets him there and, as the evening draws in, they head back to the school. On the way, Tinker's bike runs out of petrol, so they are forced to push it. A car comes at them, there are three loud reports, it loses control, then crashes into a telegraph pole. Its occupant is killed. Tinker and Bindley call the police. Once the matter is in official hands, they return to Calcroft to join their friends for a feast. However, it is interrupted by the arrival of Police-sergeant Siler of the local constabulary and now Bindley learns what Tinker already knows — that the crash was caused by the driver being shot three times.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Tinker is summoned to the form master Mr Pycroft's office and is accompanied there by Police-sergeant Siler. The inspector of police is present and takes the youngster's statement. Tinker finishes with an assertion: the sniper shot the wrong man. He then catches an eavesdropper, an unpopular young sneak named Beilby. The boy is dismissed and immediately starts to spread news of the murder around the school. Tinker gives the inspector a list of the clues he spotted that led him to deduce that the victim was a crooked bookmaker who, after incurring the wrath of a race course gang, stole the car. That night, before he turns in, Tinker spots Beilby creeping out of the school.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Unable to sleep, Tinker discovers that, though it's two-thirty in the morning, Beilby has yet to return to the school. He and Fane set out to search for the young rascal and find him in the shed, asleep in the sidecar of Tinker's motorcycle. Deciding not to wake him, they are about to go back to the dormitory when they spot Roath sneaking back into the grounds. The next day, the inquest into the murder names the victim as James Burton Aggsby and the killing is assumed to have been committed by a gambling gang. Detective Dedgard of Scotland Yard is among the officials attending and, afterwards, he meets with Tinker and quizzes him over his assertion that the wrong man was killed. Tinker claims that it is merely a notion. He then catches the next train back to London. In a local newspaper, he reads that, in a nearby village, a man was pinned under his own car after crashing it. He was taken to hospital, was found to have lost his memory, and his identity could not be established. He then escaped through a window wearing just hospital pyjamas and has not been seen since. Tinker notes from a poor photograph that the patient resembles Aggsby.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Detective Dedgard visits Baker Street and questions Tinker about his idea that the murdered man was mistaken for somebody else. The youngster can't explain himself but, when Dedgard has gone, Blake suggests that the man who was found pinned under his car in a neighbouring village might have been the intended victim. He and his assistant drive to where the car is being kept and Blake sends Tinker to examine it. While the youngster is doing so, Martin Roath's uncle shows up and questions the constable on guard who opines that the driver — the man who lost his memory — drowned in the river that runs beside the hospital. Blake, meanwhile, speaks with Calcroft's headmaster and subsequently fills the position of the school's retiring gym master.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Tinker goes into town and runs into Beilby, who borrows half a sovereign from him with no intention of paying him back. Meeting with Fayne, Bindley, Pye and Manners, Tinker takes them for a drive in his car. Upon examining the exterior of the hospital from which the mystery patient had escaped, Tinker notices that a stone is missing from the wall that separates the premises from the river. That evening, he and Blake dine at a nearby hotel. It appears to have just one other customer, it being Martin Roath's uncle, whose apparent wealth appears rather incongruous in the small country hotel. The man watches as, having dined, Blake and Tinker take a boat and row to the spot opposite the gap in the hospital wall.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Unaware that they are being observed, Blake and Tinker drag the river until they find hospital pyjamas that have been weighed down by the missing rock. When a paving slab is dropped from a bridge into their boat, the craft sinks and they have to swim for it. Blake, however, clings to the pyjama jacket. They return to Calcroft. The next morning, a newspaper reports that Mrs Aggsby, newly widowed, has received £500 through the post. Blake theorises that it was sent by the murderer of her husband who is seeking to ease his conscience. Tinker attempts to get his money back from Beilby but the sneak defies his efforts.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Roath’s uncle comes to the school and chats with with his nephew, who subsequently shoots off at high speed on his motorcycle. Tinker meets with his friends who show him the page of a newspaper they found in the school grounds. On it, there is a photograph of Sexton Blake. A telephone call is received from the hospital. Blake has been involved in a car crash, having collided with Martin Roath. Tinker races to see him and, while he's at his guv'nor's bedside, Roath senior enters the ward, introduces himself to the detective, promises to pay for the damage to Blake's car, then departs. Returning to Calcroft village, Tinker heads to the shop but is caught in a sudden downpour.

Trivia: From a newspaper in the story: "Photographs of Mr. Sexton Blake, the famous private detective, are extremely rare. The one we present to our readers was enlarged from a snapshot taken aboard the White Star liner, Majestic. Sexton Blake's amazing knowledge of criminals and their ways and his almost uncanny skills in solving the darkest and most baffling mysteries of crime have made his name a household word in both hemispheres."

How times have changed: Sexton Blake smokes cigarettes while lying in a hospital bed!

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: At the village shop, Tinker encounters a short man with a blonde beard. When a horse passes outside, the stranger rushes out and attacks its rider. The assailant is beaten to the ground and his intended victim gallops off. The bearded individual scarpers, Tinker pursues, but is punched to the ground and his quarry gets away. The young detective discovers the handle of a riding crop lying in the road. It has the senior Roath's initials engraved into it. Tinker finds Blake and Dedgard at a quayside inn and notes that an expensive steam yacht is being towed in to dock. While Dedgard goes to order food, Tinker tells Blake what has occurred and the detective asks whether the bearded man resembled Aggsby. Tinker answers in the affirmative, realising that this means that Roath's attacker was probably the escaped hospital patient. Blake recalls that the younger Roath had been absent from school on the night of the murder. Dedgard returns and informs them that the steam yacht is the Southern Lilly, which belongs to Roath. Tinker leaves the inn but, when he sees eight men come ashore from the yacht and enter the place, he returns to it in time to see Blake and Dedgard being attacked by the gang. He joins the fray but, as the noise of the fight attracts attention from the neighbouring saloon, a smoke bomb is thrown and under cover of the resultant fog, the assailants escape. It is now clear that the elder Roath is their enemy; that he showed his nephew the newspaper photograph of Blake, which caused the youngster to panic and crash into the detective when he subsequently saw him; and that whatever game is being played is now reaching its climax. This is further suggested when the boy is taken out of hospital by his uncle.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Tinker searches Martin Roath's dorm room but finds nothing of interest. Upon exiting, he encounters Beilby, who is sleepwalking. He watches the youngster climb out over the school gate and, a few minutes later, return. Tinker sets off for a nocturnal meeting with Blake near to the Roath property. The detective informs him that he's discovered that the bearded man is calling himself Nathan Smith and was, until yesterday, lodging at a house in the village. Blake thinks that, with the yacht having arrived, Smith will try to confront Roath before he sails away. The latter's car arrives at the house bringing a doctor for Martin Roath, who's condition, after crashing into Blake's car, has apparently worsened. As Blake and Tinker watch, they spot that someone else is doing the same. It is Smith. When Roath releases a mastiff into the grounds, the detectives beat a rapid retreat. They see Smith racing for the gate with the hound on his heels. As the man comes through, Blake slams the portal in the dog's face. He and Smith face each other, revolvers drawn. Another man looms out of the darkness and covers Tinker. Smith and his cohort make their escape.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Blake sets off to track down Nathan Smith but before he can do so he spots the Southern Lilly setting sail. He reports to Tinker that Roath has made his getaway. They go back to the Roath property and there find the doctor tied up in Martin Roath's room. Tinker states the case: Roath had himself made up as the doctor so he could leave the house without being challenged by Smith. When the doorbell rings, the butler, who is baffled by the whole affair, answers it while Blake and Tinker conceal themselves. The caller is Smith. He pulls a gun and forces his way in. Blake and Tinker overpower him. He tells his story: how Roath cheated him out of hundreds of square miles of ranch land in South America and then had him enslaved by Indians. After he escaped, Smith traced Roath to England and threatened him. His enemy arranged to meet him to make amends but, in fact, tried to assassinate him. The wrong man — Aggsby — got shot, which is where Tinker entered the game. Blake lets the two men go. The next morning, he receives a letter from Martin Roath. The youngster confesses to accidentally shooting Aggsby while trying to stop his uncle from killing the driver he thought to be his foe. Blake decides to allow the Roath's to flee and take their chances with the pursuing Smith.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer. This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 553 (1936).

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Notes: 'A strange story of Waldo, the Wizard.' This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 683 (1939).

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Notes: This case takes Blake to Ceylon and features Cavendish Doyle.

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Notes: This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 563 (1937).

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Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: 'A story of adventure and amazing Detective Work in Yorkshire, featuring David Manisty — Press photographer.'

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie.

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Notes: This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 536 (1936).

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Notes: Story features Basil Wicketshaw.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 532 (1936).

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Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: American agent Bryant Kennedy asks Sexton Blake to investigate the European side of an illegal immigration operation being conducted by Caesar Lorraine, an Afro-Caribbean millionaire known as the Black Emperor. In New York, Marie Galante has inveigled her way into Lorraine's affections. She is surprised to find that his human cargoes are being shipped by Doctor Huxton Rymer. Lorraine explains to Galante and Rymer the details of his people, drugs and alcohol smuggling enterprises, then the doctor takes him out to his tramp steamer to witness the unloading of immigrants, who are subsequently distributed around the city. Two of them make their way to the home of Bryant Kennedy, where they remove their disguises and reveal themselves to be a Sexton Blake and Tinker, both having boarded Rymer's ship at Genoa. Now, plans are made to raid Lorraine's establishments. However, the Black Emperor has a spy in Kennedy's household, and when the raid begins, it is blocked at every turn by hordes of his supporters; a stunning show of black power that leaves the law enforcement agencies reeling. Blake spots Galante at the head of the mob and realises that an even bigger game than suspected is afoot. The case develops further when Eileen Parker, the daughter of a wealthy family, is kidnapped and held for ransom. Disguising himself as a Jamaican half-caste, Blake infiltrates Lorraine's inner circle and is tasked with driving the captive to a remote farmhouse. The Black Emperor, Galante and Rymer all travel in the car. When they reach their destination, Rymer suddenly knocks Lorraine unconscious. Blake is ordered to oversee the engine of a launch that Rymer and Galante use to take Lorraine and Miss Parker to the ship. Afterwards, when the detective is left alone with the crooked doctor, he is able to overpower him, ties him up, and goes to Bryant Kennedy's house to raise a force of lawmen. Immigrants are rounded up and, with that side of the business attended to, Blake resumes his disguise and returns to Galante. The Voodoo Queen is already, by this point, taking possession of the Black Emperor's vast financial resources. Blake reveals to her his true identity, demonstrates that her game is up, and forces her to divulge the secrets of Lorraine's crooked empire. In return, she and Rymer are given twenty-four hours in which to flee. Galante asks Rymer to come with her to Haiti but he opts to return to Mary Trent in England.

Trivia: Blake plants packets of cocaine in Rymer's pockets in order to have him arrested!

The cover illustration demonstrates the limitations of Arthur Jones's draughtsmanship. He was an excellent colourist with a fine eye for atmosphere ... but his ability to draw figures left much to be desired

Rating: ★★★★☆ Though G. H. Teed was undoubtedly among the very best of the Blake writers, his language in this story — while typical of the period — is painfully racist for modern sensibilities.

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: A story of the great rubber boom, featuring the boys of Calcroft School.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 620 (1938).

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Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: This issue collects together the previously serialised episodes that appeared in the NELSON LEE LIBRARY issues 557 to 566 at the start of this year. See those issues for the review.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Splash Page. This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 604 (1937).

Trivia: According to this story, Tinker's real surname is actually Tinker! Of course, this is nonsense, as it later becomes a well-established fact that the youngster's full name is Edward Carter.

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Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: Sexton Blake attends an auction and gets into a bidding war for a pair of painted slippers rumoured to have belonged to Marie Antoinette. He wins them and suddenly finds himself beseiged by offers for them from two sources: Mrs Otto Huntington, who is staying at the Hotel Venetia and who has employed Doctor Huxton Rymer to assist her; and the man whom he had originally bid against. Blake begins to suspect that there is more to the slippers than their face value. This is confirmed when a French gem dealer visits him and tells him that two stolen diamonds are thought to have been smuggled into Britain in the auctioned-off belongings of a murdered French count. Unknown to Blake, Philippe the Fox has been connected to that murder, and the criminal is currently in London with his cohort Flash Brady. The detective finds hidden compartments in the heels of the slippers but they are empty. He decides to visit Mrs Huntington at the Venetia but finds her stabbed to death. Meanwhile, Nirvana turns up at his Baker Street home and warns Tinker that Philippe and Flash are on their way. The youngster drives them away with a loaded pistol but while he is so engaged, Nirvana makes off with the slippers. Blake's assistant goes to the Venetia to find his guv'nor but spots Philippe and follows him to a warehouse where he witnesses him trying to force information out of a man named Jules. Unfortunately Tinker is spotted, knocked unconscious and pitched through a trapdoor. After reporting to Detective-Inspector Thomas, Blake returns home and finds Nirvana there. She explains that her sister, Marie, was behind the detective's rival bidder and is now trying to steal the slippers from Blake. Nirvana, though, has put them in a safe place. She also tells him where Tinker is and the two of them set out to save him. Meanwhile, Rymer confronts Flash Harry and informs him that he has enough information to frame Flash and Philippe for the murder of Mrs Huntington, though he knows the crime was actually committed by Jules, who used to be valet to the French count. Rymer forces Flash and Philippe to search for the diamonds. Blake and Nirvana find Tinker under a wharf; he is unconscious and has a broken arm. As they are rescuing him, two men appear and are held at gunpoint by Sexton Blake: Jules and his henchman. The police arrive, led by Thomas, and take the pair into custody. Tinker is driven to hospital. Blake goes with Nirvana to visit her sister, Flash and Philippe. He finds Rymer with them. He tells them that the game is up and that the diamonds were found hidden in the warehouse. After extracting a promise from them not to harm Nirvana, Blake leaves, as does Rymer, who realises that he won't be making any fortunes today.

Trivia: Sexton Blake is apparently a collector of relics thought to have belonged to Marie Antoinette.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: The man who impersonated Professor Jason Reece, the president of the Criminals’ Confederation is found to be an actor and mimic named Mayenson. He mysteriously warns Sexton Blake to be careful to use the right key. The detective discovers a key among the actor’s confiscated possessions but the man refuses to tell him what it unlocks. Blake is invited to a Society event; a ball being hosted by a Scandinavian composer named Sven Holveg. There, an explosion causes all the lights to go out. In the darkness, Blake is set upon and the key removed from his pocket. However, he afterwards reveals that it was a copy that he’d had made, and that it was sufficiently different to the original as to not fit the lock for which it was intended. An urgent appeal arrives at Baker Street from Lord Crumloch, who is resident at the isolated Crumloch Castle in Scotland. Blake’s help is required, though the telegram does not explain why. The detective drives with Tinker to the castle knowing full well that he is stepping into a trap. He is greeted there by Holveg, who reveals himself to be a disguised Reece. Supported by a gang of Confederation men, Reece secures the key and tells Blake that it will unlock the strong box in which the Confederation’s fortune is stored. Blake, however, had arranged back-up in the form of Detective-Inspector Coutts, Dirk Dolland, and a force of Scotland Yard men. They arrive and battle the crooks. Reece manages to escape but leaves the key behind.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Blake, Tinker and Dirk Dolland realise that the fugitive Professor Jason Reece has arranged to hijack the bullion-carrying ship, Andillaria, by replacing its crew with men from the Criminals’ Confederation. Catching up, in a speedboat, with the vessel after it has departed from Southampton, Blake and his companions board it, unaware that the crooks have been forewarned of their coming. When they explain to the captain that his ship is in danger, he doesn’t believe them. Blake escapes a couple of attempts on his life but can do nothing but wait for developments. They come in a thick fog, when a small, ageing battleship draws alongside and Confederation men cross from it to the Andillaria. Professor Reece comes aboard and oversees the transfer of the bullion to his vessel. He and his men make a successful escape after blowing a hole in the Andillaria’s hull. Blake and his friends help the crew and passengers to get aboard the lifeboats. The detective vows revenge.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: The ship in which Professor Reece escaped in the previous adventure has become trapped in Arctic ice. After learning from an Eskimo messenger that Ysabel de Ferre has taken control of the Criminals’ Confederation, Reece leaves aboard the gold (stolen in the previous story) to be guarded by Captain Welkinson and sets off south with the Eskimo. Meanwhile, Sexton Blake, Tinker and Dirk Dolland, after being abandoned at sea, are picked up and taken to a remote coastal town. In its bay, there is another ship, which Blake hopes will carry them to civilisation. He goes aboard, and finds its Confederation crew in captivity, having been hijacked by de Ferre and John Fade. The ship had been due to pick up Reece’s gold, but De Ferre intercepted it, and has learned the location of the rendezvous. She now heads there, travelling north with Fade and twelve Jorsicans. In the icy wastes, the three groups—de Ferre and Fade, Blake and his companions, and Jason Reece—come together when they are forced to shelter from wolves in an isolated cabin. De Ferre takes Reece prisoner and resumes her trek toward the trapped ship, where he will be forced to sign the bullion over to her. Blake and his allies, meanwhile, are left at the hut without any means to leave until the winter snows ease up. John Fade, however, secretly supplies them with ammunition and snowshoes, to enable them to hunt. Instead of using them for that purpose, Blake, Tinker, and the Bat set off in pursuit of De Ferre. En route, they witness a distant explosion. Hurrying to investigate, they find themselves at the coast, and discover that the Confederation ship has exploded, its cargo of bullion sunk beyond reach. But what caused this disaster, and where are Reece, the duchess, and John Fade?

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Splash Page.

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Notes: Having survived the miseries described in NIRVANA'S SECRET (UNION JACK issue 1,159, 1925), Nirvana's mother is frail but on the road to recovery. Determined to help her, Nirvana manages to escape from her sister, Marie, and takes service — under an assumed name — as a maid at Trenton Park, a house in Devonshire. Her employer, Lady Fosdick, allows her a cottage to live in with her mother and a nurse. Two months later, Philippe the Fox and Flash Brady arrive in the village of Trenton on nefarious business and Philippe has a chance encounter with Nirvana. He threatens to reveal her whereabouts to Marie unless she arranges for him to gain access to Trenton Park. This she does. After he burgles it, she is discovered in the grounds by Lady Fosdick, arrested as an accomplice, and remanded pending trial. Nirvana sends a plea for help to Tinker via telegram. He arrives in the village, listens to her story, and vows to help. After receiving a warning from Philippe, Tinker sends a telegram to Blake, requesting his presence. The detective drives down in the Grey Panther. Meanwhile, Philippe and Flash are planning the original job that had brought them to Devonshire. They have wangled invitations to Colonel Cranwell's house-party at his home, the Grange, and intend to burgle it. As Blake exits the Trenton police station, having just interviewed Nirvana, he sees the colonel — with whom he is acquainted — driving past with the two crooks on the back seat of his car. The detective goes to Trenton Park where he helps the local police with a fingerprint recording device that he himself helped to invent. Lady Fosdick accedes to his request that Nirvana's mother and her nurse be allowed to stay on at the cottage but does so on the condition that he recovers her stolen jewels within a week. Blake contacts Cranwell, informs him that two of his guests are crooks, and arranges to be concealed in the Grange. Two nights later, he and the colonel catch the burglars red-handed at the safe. Lady Fosdick's jewels are found in Philippe's luggage. Blake gives the two men a chance to run for it with a twenty-fours hours start providing they guarantee not to reveal Nirvana's whereabouts to Marie, he then hides the Fosdick jewels and allows the local police inspector the prestige of finding them in return for leniency for Nirvana. When the young girl is again brought before the court, Colonel Cranwell is the magistrate, Blake is the defending lawyer, and all the charges against her are dropped. Tinker gives her money to help her and her mother to relocate.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: This issue has the biggest giveaway in UNION JACK history: by handing copies to five friends, the reader could send off for a seven-inch tall bust of Sexton Blake sculpted by Eric Parker. The bust is illustrated on the front cover. The featured story is a fictionalised account of the bust's creation and history.

For the purposes of this story, Eric Robert Parker is transformed into Cedric Robert Barker, an artist whose works, including his bust of Sexton Blake, are being systematically destroyed by a mysterious assailant. When Barker disappears and a dead woman is found in his studio, Detective-Inspector Galloway takes up the case, blocking Blake's access to the studio. However, there's enough of a trail to lead Blake to Paris where he learns that Barker once abandoned art to pursue a career in dancing with a girl called Nita Verlieff. She, it turns out, has been paying people to destroy Barker's art to drive him back to her, as her own career has suffered since he abandoned the dance halls in favour of the studio. Blake also discovers that it is Verlieff who lies dead in Barker's studio. Finally gaining access despite Galloway's objections, the detective searches the crime scene and discovers evidence that suggests the woman was shot from outside. The murderer was injured during his getaway and now lies in hospital. Blake gets a signed confession in time to save the just-captured Barker from gaol.

Trivia: There is a laboratory in Blake's Baker St. apartment.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ There's a very nice twist in this tale, making it not only a "whodunnit?" but also a "how-was-it-done?" There's also plenty of solid investigation work. Unfortunately, however, there's not a great deal of adventuring and this case pales by comparison to the great detective's more exotic tales.

Notes: Sexton Blake and Tinker are enjoying a fishing holiday in Canada with their New York agent, Bryant Kennedy. The latter receives news that a mysterious financier known as Kane the Cunning has been murdered during a period in which he was indulging in extraordinary activity on Wall Street. While he was making millions — and destabilising the economy — someone crept into his office and snapped his neck. A notorious gangster known as the Bowery Tar Baby was seen leaving the scene and is being hunted by the police but Blake doesn't think he's the murderer ... the criminologist recognises in the victim's broken vertebrae the handiwork of the Black Eagle. Kennedy identifies Kane the Cunning as Lefty Lorraine, a former gangster who vanished from the city some time ago. The killing, Kennedy suggests, is probably connected to a vendetta. With Strang the Silent returning from Europe to stabilise the markets, Blake, Tinker and Kennedy set out to hunt for the Tar Baby. Despite Kennedy receiving a death threat, they infiltrate New York's "Hell's Kitchen" and, after surviving a gunfight, are presented to a gang boss named Sweeney who has with him the Tar Baby ... and the Black Eagle! Sweeney admits that he'd sent the Tar Baby to kill Lorraine. The Tar Baby says he'd gone to do the job but had found the man already dead. The Black Eagle confesses to the killing. He tells them that Lorraine had been one of six convicts on Devil's Island with whom, when he was incarcerated, he'd had an ongoing feud. They had given him such trouble that, upon learning of their release, he'd vowed to track them down and take his revenge. Lorraine was the first of them. The Black Eagle tells Sweeney to hold Blake, Tinker and Kennedy captive until the morning while he makes his escape and to then release them so they can give evidence that will prove the Tar Baby innocent. The affair ends with Blake vowing that he will eventually settle the score with the Black Eagle.

Trivia: Strang the Silent is John Strang, who first appeared in THE YELLOW SPHINX Union Jack issue 512 (1913) and later featured in SCOUNDRELS ALL; OR, STRANG THE SILENT Union Jack issue 613 (1915).

This appears to be the commencement of a new campaign by the Black Eagle ... five men remain upon whom he has vowed revenge. This issue, however, marks his last appearance. We never learn whether Sexton Blake ever settled the score.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ An oddly flat story from G. H. Teed in which not a great deal occurs by Blake standards.

Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer and takes place in the Far East. This is possibly a reprint of The Case of the Jade-Handled Knife (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 1st series, issue 360, 1924).

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Notes: In New York, confidential agent Ruff Hanson receives a visit from an actress, Haseena. She is engaged to Wally Adams, the son of a rich financier, but is being blackmailed by en ex-lover, Hector Folair, who has some florid letters she once wrote to him. Hanson visits Folair and challenges him. The lights go out. Hanson shoots. A lariet drops around his neck, chokes him, and he loses consciousness. When he regains his wits, he finds Folair dead — not from a bullet but by means of a long pin thrust into his brain. Hanson recovers the love letters and escapes before the police arrive. Some hours later, he is visited by Willard Barr, the Steel King, who asks him to investigate a Syrian Prince named Ali Khan. Khan is romancing Barr's sister, Annabel, and the Steel King isn't keen on the match. Hanson attends a party at which Khan is present. The occasion has been arranged to celebrate the engagement of Wally Adams and Haseena, so the confidential agent takes the opportunity to hand Haseena's letters back to her. When she writes him a receipt, he realises that the letters had never been written by her. Next morning, he discovers that she has left the city without paying his fee. Annabel Barr has also left the city with Ali Khan, bound for Syria. With a promise of a hundred thousand dollars in payment from Willard Barr, Hanson sets off for Syria to bring her back. There, in a hotel, he meets Splash Page, who has been sent to Syria by the Daily Radio to report on the brewing uprising against the French. Page is contacted by a Beduin who turns out to be a disguised Sexton Blake. The detective has come to Syria with Tinker at the behest of the British government; his mission is to capture the leader of the revolt: Abu Shaitan. When the rebellion begins, Blake manages to overpower Shaitan and take him to a safehouse. Hanson, who during the fighting, recognised that Abu Shaitan and Ali Khan are one and the same man, follows. There is a stand-off between the two detectives: Hanson wants to take Shaitan to America; Blake has been ordered to deliver him to Palastine. Blake offers to lead Hanson to Annabel Barr in return for custody of the prisoner. This is agreed and done. However, when Shaitan attempts to escape, Hanson shoots him dead. Blake is subsequently able to explain the events surrounding the death of Hector Folair and how they relate to Shaitan. He and Hanson part company as firm friends.

Trivia: Part one of this story is recounted in first-person by Ruff Hanson. Part two is told by Splash Page, Tinker and Hanson.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: While observing the spot in the Arctic where the ship used by Professor Reece has sunk, Dirk Dolland injures his ankle, preventing him, Sexton Blake, and Tinker from hiking the fifty miles back to their hut and supplies. Elsewhere, despite John Fade's objections, Ysabel de Ferre ejects Jason Reece from her party and leaves him to fend for himself on the ice — a death sentence! Then, however, a flare is seen in the sky. Blake's group, de Ferre's, and Reece all surmise that there are survivors from the ship, who may have taken possession of the gold bullion it was transporting. They all make toward the source of the flare. Reece encounters Blake & co. He theorises that his lieutenant, Welkinson, who had been guarding the ship, has betrayed him and is attempting to flee with the treasure. The president of the Criminals' Confederation proposes a temporary truce, to which the detective agrees. They move on, and come to where Welkinson is camped with twenty fellow mutineers. All are shocked to see Reece alive, and immediately the majority fall in with him, abandoning Welkinson, who is taken captive. Reece dominates the men, and when de Ferre leads an attack, her Jorsicans are easily overpowered. Reece leaves Welkinson imprisoned in ice and forces his prisoners — which now include Blake and Tinker — to haul gold-filled sleds across the ice. It is an exhausting southward-bound journey of many weeks during which they are flogged remorselessly. An eskimo tribe is raided and slaves taken to assist, but this proves Reece’s undoing, for during a blizzard, Blake persuades the eskimos to rebel. A fierce battle breaks out. Under cover of the driving snow, Reece and his supporters flee, leaving the bullion behind, but taking Ysabel de Ferre with them. Blake reveals to John Fade that he overheard that Reece intends to marry the Black Duchess, thus making himself ruler of Jorsica!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: Story features Splash Page. This is part one of a story that highlights Pedro.

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Notes: Story features Splash Page. This is part two of a story which highlights Pedro.

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Notes: Story features Professor Kew and Count Ivor Carlac. Note that this issue is dated for two weeks.

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Notes: This story is very unusual in that it is recounted in first person by Zenith the Albino. It was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009).

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: An Eskimo drags Blake and the rest to a cave for shelter. While they sleep, Jason Reece returns, reclaims the gold, and gains a head start. He completes the long journey to Canada and from there summons reinforcements. In a New York nightclub, a member of the Criminals' Confederation forces a crooked cabaret artist to marry the dissolute son of a millionaire, who is besotted with her. By this means, she will gain access to the millionaire's yacht, the Aphrodite. She is ordered to sail it to Newfoundland for a "honeymoon," there to rendezvous with Reece. Meanwhile, Blake, Tinker, and John Fade have made it to the city (Dirk Dolland is in hospital recovering from his wounds) and are on the lookout for Confederation activity. They have a brief but violent encounter with the "newly-weds." The next morning, the wedding is announced in the newspapers, with photographs. Blake recognises the couple and realises the Confederation connection. The detective and his allies set off in pursuit of the yacht. In Canada, a lawman, fooled into assisting Reece, discovers Ysabel de Ferre bound and gagged in a wooden box. He attempts to save her, but the Confederation men shoot him dead, and recapture her. They take her aboard the Aphrodite. The yacht is suddenly attacked by a destroyer but, as a fog descends, manages to evade it. Days later, as it approaches the Scottish coast, the yacht is hailed by a Norwegian ship, which has a sick man aboard who needs to be taken ashore. Reece agrees to provide that service when he learns that he is being addressed by a priest. He asks whether, in return, the man will perform a wedding ceremony. This is agreed, and Reece is married to a heavily drugged de Ferre. Then, however, the destroyer reappears. In a bid to escape it, Reece runs the yacht ashore. Abandoning the gold and his wife, he flees. Blake, on the destroyer, asserts that a Norwegian cannot legally perform a marriage inside the three-mile limit. De Ferre is free!

Rated: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Professor Kew.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: Story features Professor Kew and Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Having evaded Sexton Blake in Scotland, Professor Jason Reece makes his way to the house of a member of the Criminals' Confederation only to find it rented out to a man named Brandman. The latter is in severe debt after succumbing to the charms of an actress, Irma Desmoynes, who has now thrown him over in favour of Crown Prince Boris of Slavonia. Irma has so beguiled the prince that he has brought the Slavonian crown jewels to London for her to wear in secret. Reece schemes to steal them and commissions Chick Chapman, a safecracker, for the task. Chapman, however, injures his hand, so asks his old associate Dirk Dolland to step in. The Bat accepts the commission but the job quickly goes wrong. Irma catches him cracking her safe and rouses the household. Dolland fights his way out only to be confronted by Detective-Inspector Coutts. He shoots the Scotland Yard man dead, gets clear with the jewels, and finds shelter at Chapman's place. The crook is not there, and the next morning, Dolland discovers him dead in a cupboard. Irma visits Sexton Blake and commissions him to recover the jewels. Dirk, meanwhile, attempts to leave Chapman's flat but finds himself held at gunpoint by Professor Reece. The Confederation president condemns him for interfering, believing that Chapman—whom he had executed—played him false by bringing Dolland in on the game. The Bat is taken to a secret location where a meeting of the Grand Council of the Criminals' Confederation, British Branch, is convened. He is put on trial by the gathering of masked men, and when the jewels are found to be paste, is sentenced to death. Then, one of the men removes his mask—it is Sexton Blake! The place is surrounded by police! Reece has been tricked! The crooks flee into the arms of the law. Coutts appears and declares them all caught. He has, however, blundered. Reece, slippery as ever, has evaded capture. The whole circumstance of Dolland's return to crime and Coutts's demise is revealed as a clever set-up … but it has been only partially successful.

Trivia: Mrs. Coutts is described as a stout, grey haired woman.

When Robert Murray Graydon first introduced Jason Reece, he was described as tall. In these final few yarns, written by H. H. Clifford Gibbons, he is described as short. Probably, the author mixed the character up with his predecessor and brother, Mr. Reece.

Rating: ★★★★★ The penultimate tale in the Confederation saga performs a thoroughly entertaining act of trickery on both the villains and the readers!

Notes: Part one of a two-part story. Professor William Steele of the British Museum tasks Sexton Blake with the recovery of a skull, believed to be that of Shakespeare, which has been sold to an unidentified American. In New York, the man in question, Senator Lexington Clay, visits Ruff Hanson and states that, having been blackmailed over his possession of the relic by a jealous collector named Dr Homer Lennox, he has decided to return the skull to England. In the role of guardian, Hanson accompanies Clay only to discover that Lennox is voyaging on the same ship. They arrive in London and Hanson goes to visit Blake, who is amazed to find his case solved before he's even lifted a finger. However, the artefact is stolen from the safe at the Venetia Hotel and finds its way to Lennox. Hanson breaks into the collector's London residence and steals it back but, moments later, and without his knowledge, Lennox is shot dead. Blake and Detective-Inspector Coutts discover evidence of Hanson's presence. When Steele is summoned to Clay's room at the Venetia, he hears that Hanson is there. Coutts races to the hotel and charges the American private detective with murder. Hanson escapes and goes on the run. Clay presents the skull to Steel. Blake realises that he must identify Lennox's killer in order to prove his friend's innocence.

Trivia: Blake has known William Steele since his 'Varsity days.

Parts of this story are recounted by Ruff Hanson.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Accused of murdering Homer G. Lennox (see the previous issue), Ruff Hanson has escaped from Detective-Inspector Coutts and is on the run. Coutts reveals that tests of the bullet that killed Lennox have shown that it's exactly the same calibre as those used by Hanson. Meanwhile, the man in question meets with a fellow American, a con-artist named Samuel T. Livsy, admired and trusted by Hanson for his "honourable" code of conduct. Tivsy has rented an isolated manor house in north Wales. However, he currently has business that prevents him from going there, so Hanson takes his place, adopting Livsy's identity. In the early hours, he is awoken by screams of terror. After climbing from his bedroom window into the grounds, Hanson is confronted by a cackling old madwoman who claims that the screams are that of the manor's ghost. The following morning, he realises that the place belongs to the brother of Freddie Lakeleigh. Searching for the source of the screams, he is attacked by two thugs — Jim and Jake — and has his true identity exposed. He is imprisoned in a secret cellar where Miss Lennox, who has been kidnapped, is also being held. Hours later, he manages to escape from his cell and liberates the girl. She tells him who murdered her father and Hanson determines to catch the killer. He takes the mansion's car and, with Miss Lennox, sets off for London. In that city, Sexton Blake has disguised himself and burgled Freddie Lakeleigh's lodgings, taking from them evidence that supports a theory he has formulated. Unfortunately, he is caught in the act. He and Lakeleigh fight, Blake knocks his opponent out, and the police come running, alerted by a neighbour. The detective makes a rapid escape. In Wales, Jim and Jake rob a village bank. As they drive away, Hanson's vehicle enters the street and the local policeman commandeers it. Hanson finds himself in pursuit of his erstwhile gaolers. He runs them off the road and leaves the policeman to deal with the wreckage while he resumes his journey to London. Blake invites Professor Steele, Splash Page, Coutts and Lakeleigh — the latter unaware that Blake was the burglar — to a meeting. He explains how and why the murder of Lennox was committed and lays out the evidence against Lakeleigh. Hanson arrives just in time to witness Coutts making the arrest. Lakeleigh commits suicide by jumping from the consulting room window.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: This case takes Blake to the Far East.

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Notes: Story features Professor Kew and Count Ivor Carlac (this is Kew's final appearance).

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Notes: This is the final episode in the Criminals' Confederation story arc. Sexton Blake intercepts a message summoning all branches of the Confederation to the island of Jorsica. He then learns that a wealthy manufacturer's son has been kidnapped, with a ransom of half a million demanded. Clues lead him to a garage, in the cellar of which the young man was held captive. Further evidence suggests he is now being transported by cargo ship to Jorsica, along with Professor Jason Reece. Blake and Tinker set off in pursuit, taking with them John Fade. On the Mediterranean island, an attempt is made on Fade's life by a member of the Confederation's Chinese branch, which is led by the late Hoang Ho's son, Fan Too. Blake knocks the assassin unconscious, takes his clothes, and with make-up and a wig, turns himself into a fair approximation of the man. He then infiltrates the Chinese headquarters, gains an audience with Fan Too, and renders him unconscious. After tying him up and stealing his clothes, and with his disguise readjusted, Blake masquerades as the Chinese leader. He is escorted to a cave, where the Confederation is meeting, in the heart of the island's volcano. There, he challenges Professor Reece's presidency, but Reece gains support after producing the kidnapped youth, claiming that the ransom will soon be paid. The real Fan Too arrives, having escaped his bonds. For a moment, it looks as if it is all up for Blake… but there comes a distraction—the volcano erupts! The cave collapses, causing the instant death of two hundred leading members of the Confederation. Fan Too and Reece attack each other and plummet into a river of molten lava. Blake and the youth escape by the skin of their teeth. At long last, the Criminals' Confederation is destroyed!

Trivia Tinker's age is given as eighteen.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ While it is wonderful that Robert Murray Graydon returned to finish his great saga (the past few instalments were written by H. H. Clifford Gibbons, due to Graydon's ill health), the climax he provides is a little disappointing. Where is Dirk Dolland? Where Detective-Inspector Coutts? Having played a major role throughout, should they not have been "in at the kill?" Also, it is not Sexton Blake who finally destroys the Confederation, but a natural disaster, which feels rather convenient!

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Nirvana contacts Tinker and tells him that she’s dancing at the Cosmos again. She asks a favour: will he meet her after tonight’s show and escort her home? There is something her sister Marie has planned for her but if Tinker is with Nirvana, she can’t be made to do as her sister intends. Tinker agrees. Meanwhile, Sexton Blake is meeting with Detective Inspector Thomas and Sir Henry Fairfax to discuss a massive counterfeiting operation that has swept across Europe. Sir Henry is convinced that England has become the hub of this criminal enterprise and warns that rumours indicate that Blake is in danger. When Blake leaves Scotland Yard, he is purposely run down by a stolen taxi and ends up in hospital with a broken arm and ribs. Tinker fetches him back to Baker Street and is so preoccupied that he misses his appointment with Nirvana. A prominent banker reports that his son, Terrace Ashton, has been kidnapped for ransom. Thomas tells Blake that Ashton had last been seen at the Monte Carlo nightclub, which he visited after having first gone to the Cosmos. Blake sends Tinker with Thomas to investigate the place. They find that Ashton had arrived accompanied by a young lady and booked a private room. Tinker finds evidence that the young lady was Nirvana. This is a fact he neglects to mention when he reports to Blake. The detective goes over the evidence, lists a number of further points to be investigated, and sends his assistant back to the club. After he’s finished there, Tinker drives in the Grey Panther to the Cosmos, where he questions Nirvana. She refuses to confess her involvement, so he returns to Blake, tells him all he’s discovered, and makes a clean breast of it where Nirvana’s involvement is concerned. Blake advances a theory as to how Ashton was kidnapped. It casts suspicion on a wealthy financier named Augustus Keever who’d booked the private room next to Ashton’s. He gives Tinker a letter outlining the theory to deliver to Sir Henry and warns that the commissioner’s response will likely put Nirvana in danger of arrest. He offers his assistant a space of time in which to do as he sees fit with regard to that circumstance. After taking the letter to Scotland Yard, Tinker meets with Nirvana again. She joins him in the Grey Panther and directs him to an isolated shack where Ashton is tied up, unconscious. Tinker rescues the young aristocrat unaware that he and the girl have been seen by Keever. Meanwhile, Blake suggests to Fairfax that Marie, Philippe the Fox and Flash Brady night be holed up at their old headquarters. The commissioner leads a raid on the place. Marie and Philippe escape but Flash Brady is killed. Tinker delivers Ashton to Baker Street and, while his back is turned, Nirvana slips away. The next morning, the newspapers report that Augustus Keever has departed for the Continent.

Trivia: This is the first instalment of a story that spans six issues.

Blake has taught himself to write just as well with his left hand as he can with his right.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ This is an intriguing start to the story but it feels rather padded.

Notes: In Paris, Augustus Keever meets a mysterious duke, a senior figure in the criminal gang that is currently operating throughout Europe. They discuss the next phase of their plans, which is to gain control of Britain’s iron, steel, and coal industries. To do this, Keever has established a holding trust, but for the scheme to succeed, it is essential that a company named Middleton Mills and Furnaces joins the trust. Keever returns to London where, in his house, he is keeping Nirvana as an unwilling guest. He tells her that he'll reveal to her the identity of her father if she charms young Harry Middleton. She reluctantly agrees to this. Two weeks later, Sir Caleb Middleton is murdered and robbed of the chemical formulae for a new form of motor oil. Sexton Blake, Tinker and Detective-Inspector Thomas are called to Sheffield to investigate. It quickly emerges that Harry Middleton, who has been in London for some time, returned to Sheffield the same night his father was killed. Unknown to Blake, Harry has fallen head-over-heels in love with Nirvana, whom he believes to be Keever’s niece, and is now almost completely dominated by Keever. When Harry inherits the company, it will be easy for Keever to persuade him to join the trust. Blake, however, soon develops reservations about Harry, so sets Tinker to watch him. When Harry is summoned to meet Keever at the Feder Caves, not far from the city, Tinker follows him and spies on the meeting, during which an infuriated Harry kills two of Keever’s henchmen, having learned that one of them was his father's murderer. Tinker reports back to Blake. The following day, Blake and Thomas explore the cave and discover the bodies and the weapon that had been used against Sir Caleb. At the subsequent inquest, at Blake’s request, Thomas suggests that the two crooks died after quarrelling with each other. The legal case is completed without Harry being implicated or Keever being mentioned. Blake then manages to disentangle the young man from the financier’s clutches. The crooked trust scheme collapses. Tinker raids Keever’s house and rescues Nirvana. Concerned about the influence the beautiful young woman has over his assistant, Blake seeks advice from Mademoiselle Yvonne Cartier. In doing so, he unwittingly draws her into his next confrontation with Keever.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: While being escorted to Paris, political prisoner “Monsieur X” escapes and flees in a plane to England. Sexton Blake traces the plane’s landing spot to north Cornwall. As it happens, Mademoiselle Yvonne is staying in the area, looking after Nirvana. Frequently, while out driving, they have noticed that a car has followed them. Yvonne writes to Blake and alerts him to this fact. She then leads the pursuing vehicle a merry chase towards a derelict house that she has noticed on an old map. When her car breaks down, she and Nirvana take refuge in the building only to discover that the followers—Philippe the Fox, Augustus Keever and their gang—have plans for the building. Captured, the two women watch as pantechnicons deliver furniture and carpets, and the house is made inhabitable. Nirvana’s sister, Marie, arrives. Sexton Blake and Tinker meanwhile, find their way to the residence. Tinker is knocked out by a sentry and taken prisoner. Blake discovers a landed aeroplane, and realises that Marie, Philippe and Keever are working with Monsieur X. The detective and Yvonne’s Uncle Graves hire men from the local village and mount a raid. Monsieur X is recaptured and delivered to France. However, due to the case's political sensitivity, Marie & Co. cannot be charged. Blake, though, has at least got evidence, at last, that Keever is a crook.

Trivia: It is very strongly implied that “Monsieur X” is, in fact, Abdel Karim.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Nirvana and Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: Story features Nirvana and Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: Story features Nirvana and Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel.

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Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel and Fifette.

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Notes: Sexton Blake, Tinker, Pedro and Detective-Inspector Coutts are on the scene when a burglary occurs in a London residence. Blake is attacked and nearly crushed in the vice-like clutches of the invader. He fights free but cannot prevent his unseen assailant from escaping over the rooftops. The crook drops a gold medallion engraved with mysterious heiroglyphics. On the way home, Blake unknowingly has the back of his coat sprayed with scent by a mysterious stranger. At Baker Street, Pedro reacts to the spray by attacking his master. The detective realises that his clothes are the subject of the dog's wrath, rather than himself. That night, an ape climbs in through the detective's bedroom window. He shoots it dead. The next day, hoping for help in translating the writing on the medallion, Blake sets out to visit the explorer John Fade who, with Dirk Dolland, has just returned to England. He finds both men trapped in the cellar of their house. They explain that they were shut in there by an ape which had ransacked their rooms in search of a gem-encrusted idol. Fade tells the detective that he and Dolland had been on an expedition to a remote country named Khurdan in the Himalayas where they'd discovered a tribe of 'missing links'. These were ruled over by an evil man named Dr. Satira who intended to rob the tribe of its precious jewels. After being held prisoner, the adventurous pair had escaped and stolen the idol. Now Satira is on their trail to get it back. That evening, Sexton Blake sets a trap and corners an ape, a 'missing-link' and Satira. The doctor throws a vial of scent at Blake but the detective shoots it and the liquid drenches Satira. The ape goes wild and kills its master before Blake shoots it dead. The missing-link attempts to escape but is captured by the police. John Fade realises that the dead man is wearing a mask — he's an indian, not Dr. Satira at all. The evil ruler of the ape-men is still at liberty.

Trivia: It is stated that Blake raised Pedro from a puppy. This contradicts the way the bloodhound was introduced into the saga. Mrs. Bardell's bedroom is, we are told, right at the top of the house.

This was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009). It was also rehashed as a part of DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 278 as THE SINISTER DR. SATIRA (1938).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: For his birthday, Sexton Blake receives a box containing a deadly green mamba snake. After killing the reptile, he finds a calling card: With the compliments of Dr. Satira. Dirk Dolland and John Fade arrive, followed by Detective-Inspector Coutts who reports that Scotland Yard has received a note from Dr Satira demanding the jewelled-ape idol and the release of the 'missing-link' in exchange for all the jewels he has stolen. Coutts then receives a telephone call to inform him that the missing-link has escaped. Blake is the next to receive a call; from an animal dealer who tells him that he knows where Satira is. The detective and his companions rush to the dealer's warehouse but find that he has been mauled by one of his own panthers. Before he dies, he passes on a message: "— the masked magician." The detective is puzzled by this until he walks past a music hall and spots the billing for 'Mysto, the Masked Magician.' He attends the illusionist and mind-reader's show and, though he cannot see the man's face, he deduces that the performer is Satira from his handwriting. By the second show, Blake and Coutts have surrounded the theatre with police officers. The two men watch the performance and, during the mind reading act, Coutts hands Mysto's assistant a warrant for Satira's arrest. Mysto pulls off his hood to reveal the features of Dr. Satira ... and the theatre is plunged into darkness. In the ensuing panic, the criminal makes his getaway.

Trivia: This adventure begins on Sexton Blake's birthday. Clues to the date: an empty coal-scuttle, a shower of rain, and cold night air — all supporting my assertion that Blake was born in May (see my Sexton Blake timeline).

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Nirvana.

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Notes: A petty criminal named Harry the Nab responds to a 'Wanted' poster by revealing to Detective-Inspector Coutts that he knows where Doctor Satira is hiding. Coutts gathers a squad of men and, accompanied by Harry, Sexton Blake and Tinker, he organises a raid on the house identified by the crook as Satira's base. The suburban house appears empty when they arrive. The police form a cordon around it. Coutts gives Harry a gun and orders him to break in and open the froont door from inside. Harry enters and, after some minutes, the waiting lawmen hear a gunshot and a terrfied scream. They break in and find the house empty — there is no trace of Harry the Nab! The adjoining house is occupied by a deaf, mute and paralysed man named Haines. He is in the process of moving — removal men have been loading goods into a lorry throughout the bizarre events next door. Blake and Coutts ask to search the premises and are given permission by the owner's male nurse. They find nothing. Returning to the scene of Harry's disappearance, they encounter a fresh mystery — now Tinker has vanished too! He has been snatched through a secret door in the fireplace and, bundled in a carpet, is loaded into the removal lorry and driven away. He finds himself in another house, with Harry, confronted by Dr. Satira and his ape-man assistant, Darzu. The doctor injects Harry with rabies bacteria and promises a vengeful henchman named 'Schumann the Slasher' that soon Blake will also be a prisoner. The criminals decamp and relocate to a private mental institution, which they ruthlessly take over. Tinker is imprisoned in one of the cells. He uses a mirror to signal a plea for help in morse code. It's picked up by a boy scout who conveys it via the police to Blake. A raid is organised and Tinker is set free but Satira sets fire to the building. All escape accept Darzu, who falls to his death. As for the evil doctor — his fate remains a mystery.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: With criminals lying low, the festive season looks decidedly boring for Sexton Blake and his guests, Ruff Hanson and Detective-Inspector Coutts, so Tinker works up a scheme with Splash Page to introduce a little excitement to the festive season. Helped by Page's friend, Viscount Rockcliff, and through means of the Daily Radio, a challenge is issued to Blake by The Phantom Crook. He proposes to steal the detective's most valued possession. If he succeeds, Blake must forfeit a cheque of £500 to charity. If he is foiled by the Baker Street sleuth, he himself will donate £1,000. The phantom's first act is to steal a valuable coronet from Rockcliff. While the detective investigates at the Viscount's residence, he receives a message from home informing him of the villain's second crime: the kidnapping of Mrs. Bardell! Unknown to Blake, his worthy landlady has been escorted to Goreham Grange, Rockcliff's country manor, where she is entertained by the Viscount's sister. Blake and Hanson receive a note that sends them to a run-down house where they are captured by cowled figures. Hanson recognises one of them as Viscount Rockliff and so is let in on the joke and taken to the Grange. Blake, meanwhile, is left a prisoner, the plan being that Coutts will be tipped off and will come to the rescue. That evening Coutts, Tinker and Page arrive at the Grange and report that Blake has gone missing. Then the ghost of one of Rockcliff's ancestors appears sending chills up the spines of the gathered friends. While they give chase, Blake appears and reclaims his incomparable housekeeper before joining them all for a huge christmas dinner with explanations for desert.

Trivia: Mrs. Bardell's first name is given as Maria. That's pretty extraordinary at this point in the saga, where it's been pretty well established that she's Martha.

This was anthologised in CRIME AT CHRISTMAS (1974).

Rating: ★★★★★