I recently got the third volume of Madame Storey stories from Steeger Books: The Under Dogs: The Complete Cases of Madame Storey, Vol. 3.
The series was written by Hulbert Footner (1879-1944), a Canadian author who wrote for the pulps, as well as books, first westerns, then adventure tales set in the Canadian Northwest, and later detective stories.
Madame Storey is one of the rare groups of female detective stories in the pulps. His Madame Storey series ran for 30 stories in Argosy All-Story from 1922 to 1930.
Most of the stories are novelette length, so there are few recurring characters, and we don’t get much background on many. We meet Madame Rosika Storey in the first story. Her occupation is “practical psychology, specializing in the feminine.” She doesn’t present herself as a detective, per se, as she solves all sorts of human problems, not just those dealing with crime. Other past and current cases are mentioned by name. She is unmarried, probably in her 30s, and well-dressed for the time. We don’t get anything on her background. Oh, and she has a pet monkey, Giannino, who she brings to her office, but it doesn’t play a role in the stories, at least not in these tales.
Her assistant, her “Dr. Watson,” is Bella Brickley, who we are also introduced to in the first story, as we see her get hired after Storey puts in an ad looking for a “woman of common sense” to work for her. Brickley narrates all the stories, and so is our entry into them.
Storey has a cadre of agents working for her, what with the many cases she has. She has the help of one in Paris, and this time Sydney Crider and a couple of others make minor appearances in one story. Crider gets the most time but doesn’t play a big role.
Vol. 3 has the next two stories. Unlike the others so far, not all her clients are women. Her other agents aren’t really used. Mainly only Miss Brickley is helping her in these. Is this a change in how the stories are? We also get an article on Madame Storey by the great Robert Sampson. It came from The Armchair Detective in 1983 and gives a great overview of the characters and stories, with several covers shown.
“The Steelers” (Argosy All-Story Weekly, Aug. 2, 1924) has Mme. Storey and Miss Brickley head off to Paris immediately after the prior story to resume their interrupted vacation. Once on board, the captain comes to them with a problem. He had grown suspicious of a couple that traveled on his ship previously and soon discovered that the two would continuously go back and forth on ships. Clearly, they are up to something, but nothing could be proven.
So he asks if Mme. Storey could look into it. She makes use of Miss Brickley, and they work on figuring out what is going on and expose them. Miss Brickley goes undercover to get close to the wife. And Mme. Storey realizes she knows who the wife is.
So can the two of them figure out the scheme and, better yet, catch them in the act when the action moves to Paris, especially when things turn deadly? But will Miss Brickley be put in danger to accomplish this?
The Under Dogs (Argosy All-Story Weekly, six parts, Jan. 3-Feb. 7, 1925) was cover-featured, and this was used as the cover for this volume. However, the person shown is not Mme. Storey, as you’ll learn from the story, the longest we’ve gotten so far, the first novel. While working on other cases, Storey receives a strange letter that brings her attention to a young woman on trial for theft. She was engaged as a maid and apparently stole a pearl necklace. Strangely, she is being defended by a notable attorney, who doesn’t seem to be doing a vigorous defense. As it is shown she had already been convicted of a similar crime and had escaped from prison, back she goes with an even longer sentence to serve.
But Mme. Storey thinks there is more to it, that she is but a small part of a bigger criminal network. This is proven when she miraculously escapes from prison due to clearly outside help. Then she contacts Storey and wants to reveal all, but just as she is getting near to her office, she is waysided and kidnapped.
The only thing that can be done is for Storey to go undercover into the dark world of the criminal underground, similar to what we see in The Gray Seal. Storey even sets things such that her new identity is known as a thief. Later Brinkley joins her. They are soon able to find out the place where the young lady is being held, where other sinister characters are. And finally, review the two masterminds behind it all. While one, Black Kate, dies before her trial, the other goes to jail.
I look forward to the next volume. I’m not sure how many stories we’ll get, but I think we’ll probably get the next three stories. And apparently, the true mastermind from our last story enacts their revenge against Storey in the next one.
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