Arthur B Reeve

Arthur Benjamin Reeve (October 15, 1880 - August 9, 1936) was an American mystery writer. He is best known for creating the series character Professor Craig Kennedy, sometimes called "The American Sherlock Holmes", and Kennedy's Dr. Watson-like sidekick Walter Jameson, a newspaper reporter, in 18 detective novels. The bulk of Reeve's fame is based on the 82 Craig Kennedy stories, published in Cosmopolitan magazine between 1910 and 1918. These were collected in book form; with the third collection, the short stories were stitched together into pseudo-novels. The 12-volume Craig Kennedy Stories were released in 1918; it reissued Reeve's books-to-date as a matched set.

"Here is another strange thing. It may or may not be of importance, but it is strange, nevertheless. Before Maitland died they sent for his wife. He was still conscious when she reached the hospital, could recognise her, seemed to want to speak, but could neither talk nor move. It was pathetic. She was grief-stricken, of course. But she did not faint. She is not of the fainting kind. It was what she said that impressed everyone. 'I knew it-I knew it, ' she cried. She had dropped on her knees by the side of the bed. 'I felt it. Only the other night I had the horrible dream. I saw him in a terrific struggle. I could not see what it was-it seemed to be an invisible thing. I ran to him-then the scene shifted. I saw a funeral procession, and in the casket I could see through the wood-his face-oh, it was a warning It has come true. I feared it, even though I knew it was only a dream. Often I have had the dream of that funeral procession and always I saw the same face, his face. Oh, it is horrible-terrible '

Volume 1 (fiction) includes a variety of short stories spanning Reeve's fiction career from 1907-35. All stories have been taken from their original appearances in slick magazines, pulps, and newsprint, and are thus available for the first time since original publication. Both his "scientific detective" fiction and his little-known "anti-rackets crusade" fiction are included. (Volume 2 includes nonfiction material.)