Shadow, the Mysterious Detective
A Dime-Novel Mystery of Disguise, Pursuit, Hidden Crime, and Criminal CunningBy Francis Worcester Doughty
Length4h 34m
About this audiobook
In *Shadow, the Mysterious Detective*, Francis Worcester Doughty combines the mechanisms of sensation fiction with the emerging conventions of American popular detective narrative. The novel centers on an elusive investigator whose concealed identity, close observation, and strategic interventions transform apparently disconnected incidents into a legible pattern of crime. Doughty's brisk prose, episodic construction, melodramatic reversals, and emphasis on pursuit and revelation place the book within the transitional culture of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century dime fiction, when detective stories increasingly promised readers both thrilling danger and rational explanation. Its fascination with disguise, secrecy, and urban or frontier mobility also reflects a period preoccupied with unstable identities and the limits of official authority. Doughty was a prolific American writer whose career encompassed detective fiction, adventure stories, and Western narratives. Writing for a mass readership, he developed plots designed to sustain suspense across successive episodes while preserving the moral clarity and rapid pacing expected of inexpensive popular literature. His experience in these genres helps explain the novel's fusion of investigative ingenuity with action-driven melodrama, as well as its accessible, visually dramatic storytelling. This book will reward readers interested in the origins of American crime fiction, the history of dime novels, and the literary culture that preceded the fully standardized modern detective story. It is especially valuable for readers who appreciate ingenious plots, masked identities, and the energetic narrative style of early popular fiction.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.6 (69)
Includes Goodreads
GenreMystery and Thriller
Length4 hrs 34 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJul 15, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Wyllard's Weird (Annotated)
2Chapter I. A Murder
3Chapter II. Mat Morris
4Chapter III. Shadow—who Was He?
5Chapter IV. Out of the Lion's Jaws
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6Chapter V. Helen Dilt
7Chapter VI. The Remembered Bills
8Chapter VII. A Happy Moment
9Chapter VIII. A Narrow Escape
10Chapter IX. In the Black Hole
11Chapter X. Favoring Fortune
12Chapter XI. In the Mad-House
13Chapter XII. Shadow
14Chapter XIII. In a Bad Box
15Chapter XIV. Dick Stanton
16Chapter XV. A Fiend in Human Shape
17Chapter XVI. Disappointed Again
18Chapter XVII. Helen's Torture
19Chapter XVIII. Puzzled
20Chapter XIX. In Deadly Peril
21Chapter XX. Still Searching
22Chapter XXI. Fun!
23Chapter XXII. Out of Jeopardy
24Chapter XXIII. Weaving the Net
25Chapter XXIV. "Help Is Here!"
26Chapter XXV. Man or Woman?
27Chapter XXVI. Cornered Criminals
28Chapter XXVII. The Mystery Explained
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