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BAT WING
Occult detective Paul Harley is presented with his toughest case when he is asked to investigate a case of Voodoo magic at an estate in Surrey. He and his partner, Malcolm Knox, are contacted by wealthy land baron, Colonel Menendez, who is convinced that his life is in peril. He is certain that an Obeah threat has followed him from Cuba when a bat wing is found nailed to his door. When Harley and Knox arrive at Cray's Folly they find a household filled with vague menace. Mendendez's cousin, Madame de Stämer, is putting on a brave front, but her companion, Val Beverley, knows that someone has been wandering the halls at night. And why does their neighbor, Colin Camber, hate the Colonel so much? Is there any significance in their shared ties to Voodoo? And can Harley find out what is behind these threats before this case ends in murder?
FIRE-TONGUE
Paul Harley is takes on a new client when Sir Charles Abingdon, a retired bone specialist, appears at his door one evening. Abingdon believes his life to be in danger and asks for Harley's aid. He believes he is being followed though he can get no clear look at his pursuer. A manuscript of his has gone missing, and he has been recently attacked in the street. He asks Harley to dine with him that night and upon arriving, Harley senses an atmosphere of danger but can pick up nothing specific. Sir Charles further confesses that he is distressed by the attentions a distinguished Persian gentleman has been showing his daughter, Phyllis Abingdon. And now, as they sit to dinner, Sir Charles is gripped by a sudden seizure, rasping out the words, "Fire-Tongue….Nicol Brinn," before collapsing into his chair. Harley discovers all too soon that Sir Charles' sudden death isn't from natural causes, and that a larger mystery looms over them all.
About the author
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.
