Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 454

This issue of the pulp magazine presents "The Boy Detectives' League," a metropolitan mystery serial by Col. Prentiss Ingraham, subtitled as a companion to "Wizard Will, The Wonder Worker." The narrative follows Police Captain Ryan Daly of New York, who receives a visit from Colonel Ivey seeking aid locating his missing wife (formerly Mrs. Raymond) and her two children—Will and Pearl—who fled his home. Daly soon encounters Wizard Will, a young boy detective wearing U.S. Marshal and Special Police badges, who works as captain of a youth detective organization. Will reveals his mother wishes to remain hidden from Colonel Ivey, though the colonel treated them kindly. Captain Daly resolves to visit Will's mother at her cottage on Long Island Sound to discuss the matter. The narrative establishes the central mystery: why the refined Mrs. Raymond abandoned her wealthy, devoted step-father despite his affection for her children.