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Tales of Chinatown is a collection of short stories that are all, essentially, situated in London's Chinatown (Limehouse at the time they were written). Similar to Sax Rohmer's collections of Egyptian short stories, they do not all include the same cast of characters, and Fu Manchu is conspicuously absent. Chief Inspector Red Kerry (of "Dope" fame) is a major character in the first narrative two. The third story, which concerns Detective Sergeant Durham and his superior Chief Inspector Red Kerry, is told by a friend of Paul Harley (who is not there). Paul Harley is back in action in the fourth, fifth, and sixth stories. The seventh story is arguably Rohmer's most well-known and strongest work. Even though Kerry is only mentioned briefly, the eighth story is set in his home city of Limehouse. In the ninth narrative, a buddy of Paul Harley (who is once more out of town) is once more entangled in a plot involving intrigue and retribution. The last story has a femme fatale who captivates and seduces every man she encounters. Is it hypnotism, drugs, or pheromones?
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Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (1883 - 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu. Born in Birmingham to a working-class family, Arthur Ward initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time. He worked as a poet, songwriter and comedy sketch writer for music hall performers before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing fiction. Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His doctor and family friend Dr R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. His first published work came in 1903, when the short story "The Mysterious Mummy" was sold to Pearson's Weekly. Rohmer's main literary influences seem to have been Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and M. P. Shiel. He gradually transitioned from writing for music hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox. He published his first book Pause! anonymously in 1910.
