Dorrington Deed-Box

Six stories that invert every convention of Victorian detective fiction. Horace Dorrington is a private investigator, but the only thing he investigates is how to separate fools from their money through blackmail, fraud, theft, or the occasional murder. He does it all with a cheerfully unrepentant grin, and the only thing that slows him down is his own spectacular arrogance. The stories are told through records found in Dorrington's deed-box after he fled, confessions, schemes, and incriminating correspondence narrated by the man who nearly became his final victim. Arthur Morrison created something unprecedented here: a corrupt detective as protagonist, a villain whose intelligence makes him fascinating rather than monstrous. The dark humor cuts like a blade, and the cynicism feels startlingly modern. These six tales prefigure hardboiled crime by decades. They are for readers who have always suspected that the detective and the criminal might be the same person.