Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 943

Museum Catalog Entry This issue of *Beadle's Dime Novels* (Vol. XXXVII, August 20, 1895) features the opening installment of "Sol Sharpe, Detective: Old Hayseed Among Bunco Men," a metropolitan romance by Edward Lytton Wheeler. The narrative introduces Solomon Sharpe, a twenty-three-year-old New York detective recently discharged from clerical work at a commission house after his employer discovers his detective background and falsely accuses him of impropriety toward the owner's daughter. Unemployed and nearly destitute, Sharpe encounters Molly Marble, a resourceful news vendor who supplements her income by charming wealthy English passengers at the docks. She presents him with a mysterious note—a plea for rescue from someone imprisoned in "Doctor Lascar's private mad-house" for four years. Intrigued by evidence of potential criminal confinement, Sharpe determines to investigate the case, beginning with reconnaissance near the location where Molly found the note.