Beadle's New Dime Novels: On the Trail

Catalog Description *On the Trail: Tim Bufton, the Trapper* by Edward S. Ellis (Beadle and Adams dime novel series, No. 352, 1888). The narrative opens as a first-person account by an eighteen-year detective recounting his solitary night work reviewing accounts in his Blankton-street office when a suspicious man in an oil-skin coat and tarpaulin begins pacing outside. The visitor reveals himself as Jake Smith, though the detective quickly identifies him as Evan Grimke through the man's unconscious finger-writing on the desk. Grimke provides urgent warning that the Walsing Bank will be robbed that night. Though suspicious that Grimke himself participates in the plot, the detective resolves to investigate, recognizing the bank president as his brother-in-law. The story combines detective narrative with elements of crime investigation, betrayal among accomplices, and the detective's professional acumen and personal stakes in preventing the robbery.