The Legendary Detectives II: 8 Classic Novelettes Featuring the World

Arthur B. Reeve

Arthur B. Reeve’s (1880-1936) Craig Kennedy, scientific detective, although almost unknown to mystery readers today, was so popular in his own era, that his adventures, beginning in 1912, ran to twenty-five volumes spanning as many years. He also inspired movies, serials and even an early 1950s television series, Crag Kennedy, Criminologist. Craig Kennedy was the most successful of a slew of scientific detectives crowding magazine pages in the early 1900s. With new scientific breakthroughs and inventions being announced every day – wireless telegraphy, the dictaphone, the x-ray, etc. – crime fighters who employed the latest technological marvels to track down evildoers held great appeal for readers. Craig Kennedy shared the pages with Luther Trent, Max Rittenberg, Dr. Thorndyke, Taine of San Francisco, and dozens of other high-powered scientific super-sleuths. Kennedy himself was the brainchild of a series of newspaper articles on scientific crime detection his creator had written, which gives his stories, an additional touch of authenticity.