We recently got a new collection of stories with Ravenwood, Stepson of Mystery from Airship 27. He was an occult detective who had a short-lived series that ran in the back of Secret Agent X for five issues in 1936. This is the fifth volume.
If you want to read the originals, Steeger Books has a collection, now with a nice, new cover that ties in with collections of other series by Frederick C. Davis.
Ravenwood was orphaned in Tibet when his rich, missionary doctor parents were killed. Rescued by the Nameless One, a Tibetan mystic, he was instructed in the ways of the occult. Returning to New York as a rich playboy (shades of several comic-book and pulp heroes), he works as an occult detective. Ravenwood’s edge is his occult powers, which allow him to see information that is hidden or to know that something will happen before it does.
Recurring characters were few in the original stories. There his valet Sterling (no first name), the Nameless One who lives with Ravenwood in his apartment and (usually) never leaves, and Stagg, a police inspector who usually thinks Ravenwood is involved in the case due to his advanced knowledge, or reluctantly call him in for bizarre cases. All appear here.
Ravenwood: Stepson of Mystery, Vol. 5, gives us three new stories by several authors, along with several nice pieces of interior artwork. We get a novella, a novelette, and a short story.
First up is a novella by Dexter Fabi. In a bizarre case, a Turkish family reports the murder of the patriarch, who is a dealer in Ankara of rare, occult books. His wife, son, and daughter have been living in New York and have not seen him in a while, and he is no longer supporting them financially. They each see him killed by a devilish dervish, but at three different times. But his body is missing. Ravenwood is called in to figure things out. But he finds himself thrown back in time a year and attacked by the dervish in Hagia Sophia. Taking a sword to defend himself, which he still has when he returns to this time, he checks and finds that such a sword was stolen from Hagia Sophia a year ago.
Then the dervish seems to attack The Nameless One. And then the policeman guarding the family is killed. Will he be able to unravel things and somehow bring back the Nameless One?
From Michael Housel, we get a novelette where a family comes to Ravenwood and Inspector Stagg for help. Their adult daughter has fallen under the sway of a man who dresses like the devil and puts on a strange, mystical stage performance. Is he using actual occult powers or modern technology to control people’s wills? And is there a deeper mystery in the man targeting this family? Can Ravenwood reveal the man’s true motives and free the woman and others?
And finally, from Carson Demmans, we have a story that involves Sterling, as a madman from his past is targeting him. We learn about Sterling’s past as well. Will Ravenwood be able to stop the madman?
It’s another good collection of stories. I hope we get another collection of Ravenwood stories. It’s been too long. It was kind of nice getting a range of lengths. The only complaint is that we usually get info on the authors and their story, but this was only done for one of them. This was a little disappointing.
