The Old Man narrates his mysteries to a female Journalist who frequents the same tea-shop. They enjoy an antagonistic relationship, as the Journalist attempts to cut the Old Man's ego down to size, and the Old Man trumps her every time.
The mysteries are typical of Edwardian crime fiction, resting on a solid foundation of unhappy marriages and the inequitable division of family property. Other aspects of the time are illustrated by a murder in the London underground system; murder of a female doctor; and two cases involving artists living in "Bohemian" lodgings. Another new and noteworthy feature of these cases: no one is ever brought to justice, and in fact most of the villains cannot be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Included in this volume are:
The Fenchurch Street Mystery
The Robbery in Phillimore Terrace
The York Mystery
The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway
The Liverpool Mystery
The Edinburgh Mystery
The Theft at the English Provident Bank
The Dublin Mystery
An Unparalleled Outrage
The Regent's Park Murder
The De Genneville Peerage
The Mysterious Death in Percy Street