‘Semi Dual, Occult Detector,’ Vol. 4

Now I move on to the fourth volume in the chronological reprinting of Semi Dual stories from Steeger Books. I am holding off on the three Semi Dual serials they reprinted that appeared toward the end of the series.

This volume picks up from where Vol. 3 left off. Sort of. For those who forgot who this is, here is a re-introduction.

Semi Dual is really Prince Abdul Omar of Persia (his father was a Persian nobleman; his mother, a Russian princess). He is an astrologer, mystic, telepath, and psychologist. The series appeared from 1912 to 1934 in several major pulp magazines and has never been reprinted until now. It’s being reprinted as part of Steeger Books‘ larger Argosy Library.

His name Semi Dual, we learn, is due to his methods of investigations: “by dual solutions: one material, for material minds; the other occult, for those who cared to sense a deeper something back of the philosophic lessons interwoven in the narrative.”

The series was written by J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith, who both lived in Utah. Giesy was a doctor; Smith, a lawyer. Both were interested in astrology. They both wrote for the early pulps, and Giesy had several popular series himself. We get the brief bios that appeared in Argosy, though I don’t buy into the idea that astrology was ever accepted in a court of law as valid science.

The Web of Destiny: The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, the Occult Detector, Vol. 4, reprints the next two stories that appeared in All-Story Cavalier Weekly, created when The Cavalier was merged with All-Story. It kept that name from May 1914 to May 1915, after which it reverted to just All-Story Weekly.

The first story appeared in Nov. 28, 1914, and was cover featured. The second was serialized from March 20 to 27, 1915, and was also cover featured. However, neither cover was used for this volume. I wish they had used the cover for “The Curse of Quetzal.” Instead, we get the cover from the February 1913 issue.

As before, reporter Gordon Glace is our narrator in these stories; however, in these two stories, Glace is on a honeymoon with his new wife, thus these stories follow from “Rubies of Doom” from the second volume. Because of this, former Police Inspector Bryce, Glace’s associate, does not appear in person.

It’s strange that the works in the prior volume were published out of order, and worse, these two works were also published out of order. “The Web of Destiny” occurs before “The Curse of Quetzal.” I wonder if readers noticed this and commented in the letter column?

First up is “The Curse of Quetzal,” actually a novel (or novella?) that appeared in a single issue rather than being serialized. After the adventure in “The Web of Destiny,” the group is heading back East with a stopover at the Grand Canyon Hotel. There, they run into a small group. This includes Evelyn Wingarde, the daughter of an archaeologist, Spencer Dayton, the second son of some English nobleman and love interest of Evelyn, and Senior Rodriguez Laredo of Mexico, who hints at some Aztec blood.

Things take a strange turn almost immediately when the elderly Professor Wingarde goes missing after going off with a local guide, and Semi Dual knows he is already dead. These all seem tied to the “curse of Quetzal,” or more precisely, to two items found by the professor: an emerald called the Eye of Quetzal and a small bronze statue called the Image of Quetzal. Per a prophecy, once they are found, the native people of Mexico will be freed.

Things get complicated when Dual shows that the professor and the guide had been murdered, and the two items are missing. Does someone desire them to create their own nation? Can Dual expose the person behind this crime?

Second is “The Web of Destiny,” a serialized novel. Here we find our group at the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas in Colorado heading west. Soon, Semi has them divert at Salt Lake City to head to Las Vegas and then Goldfield, Calif., as there is a need for them.

There, reuniting with some old friends from the first volume, they learn what is going on. A young woman, Lilly Lawton, has disappeared, and her fiancé, Howard Reich, is thus worried. He went to Salt Lake City, and while there, Lilly got a telegram saying he had been hurt in a car accident and may die, so she left to see him. But then he returned the day after she left, unharmed. It was all a ruse to get her away, but why?

Semi soon figures that Lilly has been taken by a white-slave ring, and the men are off to Salt Lake City. There, they team up with a female police detective. We will learn that she has a personal connection to the case. Their investigations seem to indicate they need to go to Seattle, but instead, Dual says they need to go to San Francisco. There, they meet up with another police detective and head to Chinatown. After spotting their quarry, matters take them to the tunnels below Chinatown. It’s not until almost the end of the story that they find and free Lilly, and in the last chapter, we learn who was the ultimate culprit behind it all.

I’m not sure what will appear in the next volume, but I know that what follows is a pair of serials from All-Story, so assume that’s what we’ll get. I hope they use the cover for “Box 991” for the volume.