Beadle's Pocket Library No. 73

Photograph Phil, the Boy Sleuth; Rosebud Rob's Reappearance By Edward L. Wheeler, author of the "Deadwood Dick" novels. This dime novel installment introduces Photograph Phil, a nineteen-year-old self-proclaimed "Boy of the Period"—a garrulous, entrepreneurial youth operating in the mining town of Cascade City. Phil displays a "rogue's gallery" of four hundred photographic portraits of criminals to an assembled crowd, presenting himself as a detective-photographer with an inflated sense of his own wit and abilities. The narrative follows Phil's evening explorations, including his attendance at the local theater and an encounter with a poorly-dressed girl named Millicent Vere who requests charity after her brother's death. Phil generously gives her his entire fortune—one hundred dollars—then discovers a mysterious piece of paper where she stood, suggesting the beginning of an investigative plot. The story combines frontier detective work, comedy of character, and setup for mystery.