Sexton Blake: The First Cases

Synopsis:
“For some time I have been intending to enter the detective profession. I have been studying and training for it for years, and have lately completed my arrangements. Now I am quite ready for a start. This shall be my first case. Will you entrust it to me?” ~Sexton Blake, How Sexton Blake Won His Spurs, 1896

Three "first cases" from Sexton Blake's early career:

How Sexton Blake Won His Spurs
London, 1878. Sexton Blake, “scarcely out of his teens” offers to help a new acquaintance find his missing fiancée. It's a Victorian tale, with the usual elements: a damsel in distress, melodrama and a villain with a black curly moustache.

Sexton Blake’s First Case
In this tale, Sexton Blake is working as a clerk for a lawyer named Etheridge Dowson. He is around 18 or so, “shy in nature, given more to books than to athletics,” and in love with his employer’s daughter. When his employer is kidnapped, he sets out with fellow clerk Will Bastable to solve the crime.

Sexton Blake: The Clique of Death
After several cases that bring him more work, Blake takes on a case that will make his reputation... if he survives the investigation. The Ring of Death, a powerful secret society of criminals, is at work in the metropolis. Clever, daring, and highly-organised, they perpetrate all manner of crime: forgeries, burglaries, arson, blackmail and even murder. Enter Sexton Blake, a young man trying to establish himself as a private detective in London. When one of his friends is murdered by The Ring, he vows to avenge him and “rid the world of this infamous league of murderers and thieves.”

This is the first time these three origin stories have been collected and re-published. Each tale includes all of the original illustrations! Enjoy!