Beadle's Dime Library, No. 912

Museum Catalog Note This 1896 Beadle & Adams dime novel, "Genteel Joe: Three" by Capt. Howard Holmes, presents a detective mystery. Detective Joe Nichols's year-long contract protecting wealthy Duke Daniels expires at noon tomorrow; Nichols expects to collect five thousand dollars. Hours before the deadline, Daniels is found stabbed to death in his library—killed by a narrow stiletto, leaving only a small red mark on his neck. In a secret room, Nichols discovers a dagger driven through a paper bearing a coffin outline with Daniels's name, though the blade differs from the murder weapon. The messages on the paper are nearly obliterated. Lotty Daniels, the victim's daughter, reports seeing a man outside the house an hour before discovery. Coachman Sam Savage reveals knowledge of Daniels's dangerous enemy and recounts a frightening encounter in the darkened hall a month prior. The investigation unfolds amid mysterious circumstances and hidden antagonists.