Further to my previous post, here, I’ve just discovered the following website, here, devoted to Jacque Futrelle. In case it can be of some interest to readers of this blog.
Jacques Heath Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring the “Thinking Machine”, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen. He worked for the Atlanta Journal, where he began their sports section; the New York Herald; the Boston Post; and the Boston American. In 1905, his Thinking Machine character first appeared in a serialized version of The Problem of Cell 13. In 1895, he married fellow writer Lily May Peel, with whom he had two children. While returning from Europe aboard the RMS Titanic, Futrelle, a first-cabin passenger, refused to board a lifeboat insisting his wife board instead. He perished in the Atlantic. His works include: The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906); The Simple Case of Susan (1908); The Thinking Machine (1907); The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908); The Diamond Master (1909); Elusive Isabel (1909); The High Hand (1911); Blind Man’s Buff; My Lady’s Garter (1912); and The Master Hand (1914, posthumous)
Jacques Futrelle’s stories of The Thinking Machine originally appeared in popular newspapers and magazines from 1905 – 1912. They at first were run as week-long serials, with prizes given to readers who solved the mysteries. The swift popularity of the Thinking Machine stories at home and overseas led to Futrelle’s brief but successful career as a detective story writer and novelist. Two collections of selected Thinking Machine stories appeared in his lifetime: The Thinking Machine (1907) and The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908).
“The Thinking Machine” Stories by Jacques Futrelle: “The Auto Cab”; “The Broken Bracelet”; “The Brown Coat”; “The Cast of the Life Raft”; “The Case of the Mysterious Weapon”; “The Case of the Scientific Murderer”; “Convict #97”; “The Cross Mark”; “The Crystal Gazer”; “The Disappearance of Baby Blake”; “Dressing Room A”; “The Deserted House”; “The Fatal Cipher”; “The Flaming Phantom”; “The Ghost Woman”; “The Golden Dagger”; “The Green-Eyed Monster”; “The Grinning God”; “The Haunted Bell”; “The Hidden Million”; “The Interrupted Wireless”; “The Jackdaw Girl”; “The Knotted Cord”; “The Lost Radium”; “The Man Who Was Lost”; “The Missing Necklace”; “The Motor Boat”; “The Mystery of the Studio”; “The Opera Box”; “The Organ Grinder”; “The Perfect Alibi”; “The Phantom Motor”; “A Piece of String”; “Prince Otto”; “The Private Compartment”; “The Problem of Cell 13” (1907); “The Ralston Bank Burglary”; “The Red Rose”; “The Rosewell Tiara”; “The Scarlet Thread”; “The Silver Box”; “The Souvenir Cards”; “The Stolen Bank Notes”; “The Stolen Rubens”; “The Superfluous Finger”; “The Three Overcoats”; “The Vanishing Man”; and “The Yellow Diamond Pendant”. (Source: Based on Goodreads and the official website of Jacques Futrelle).
A Crime is Afoot 