Steam-Age Crime Stories

1882 — 1897 · Two Omnibus Paperbacks · Four Newsstand Novels

Steam-Age,
Crime Stories

“At Bleecker Street the train screamed into the station and Desmond was already at the platform’s edge, hand inside his coat. The man with the iron hook had jumped between cars at Houston — Desmond had three minutes to find him before the express hit Brooklyn Bridge.”— Daring Desmond, the Elevated Railroad Detective · 1884

Two omnibus paperbacks — four 1880s newsstand novels. Daring Desmond on the New York Elevated. Gideon Gault on a beheading. The Man in Black, originally serialized in The Boys of New York. Dane Darrell, the Baltimore Detective, from the Old Cap Collier Library. Trade paperback, Kindle, and Audible.

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Start with Volume One ↓

Vintage crime story poster featuring detectives Daring Desmond and Gideon Gault.

Read this first · Volume 1

Begin on the Elevated Railroad.

Two-Novel Omnibus · Originally Serialized 1884 & 1897

Daring Desmond,
the Elevated Railroad Detective
+
Gideon Gault, the Missing Head Mystery

Wall-to-wall murderous exploits, both from the late 1800s. Daring Desmond (1884) chases a hook-handed killer along the rails of the New York Elevated — the trains screaming into Bleecker Street, the platforms slick with blood. Gideon Gault (1897) opens with a headless body in a Brooklyn warehouse and never lets up. Two complete newsstand novels in a single 5″×8″ trade paperback — a fine way to begin your Steam-Age collection.

Two novels in one 5″×8″ paperback First in series

$14.99Trade Paperback$3.99Kindle eBook

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❧ ✦ ❧

Then continue · Volume 2

The other omnibus.

Vintage illustration of a mysterious man in black with a hat, set against a starry night sky.

Originally Published 1882–1886

The Man in Black
+ Dane Darrell, the Baltimore Detective

Two action-packed detective tales together in one oversized 8½″×11″ volume. The Man in Black by Paul Braddon (1882, originally serialized in The Boys of New York) and Dane Darrell, the Baltimore Detective (1886, from a scarce original copy of the Old Cap Collier Library). Ready to read for the first time in over 140 years.

8½″×11″ Paperback · Kindle · Audible

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Both Omnibus Volumes

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Both omnibus paperbacks — four 1880s newsstand novels in two volumes — available now from Dark Lantern Tales. Audible audiobook editions for selected titles.

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From Volume 2 — The Man in Black

He came down the gas-lit stair without a sound, the brim of his hat low, the long black coat brushing the carpet. The valet at the landing, half-asleep over a bottle of Madeira, did not see him pass. By the time the household woke and the bell was rung, the safe in the library stood open, the diamonds were gone, and the only mark on the polished floor was a single boot-print, dry and clean.

— The Man in Black · Paul Braddon · 1882

Editor’s note · Dark Lantern Tales

Why I picked these omnibuses.

The Steam-Age catalog is the colder, harder edge of the Dark Lantern shop. These are not the polished puzzles of the Golden Age. They are the kind of stories newsstand readers in the 1880s and 1890s grabbed for a nickel and finished on the omnibus ride home: railroad chases, severed heads, hooded killers in gentlemen’s clubs, basement fights with iron pipes.

I packaged them in two omnibus paperbacks because most of the source novels are too short to stand alone in trade paperback — they were originally serialized in story papers like The Boys of New York and the Old Cap Collier Library, where length was set by the column inches available, not by anything else. Two novels per volume gives you a satisfying read for the price of one paperback.

Volume 1 is the place to start — it is a 5″×8″ trade paperback you can carry in a coat pocket. Volume 2 is the oversized 8½″×11″ collector edition, and it is also available on Audible. Read whichever cover pulls you in first.