Sexton Blake & Nelson Lee

Synopsis:
“Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee were keen rivals, of course, but this did not prevent them from being staunch friends. In just the same way, Nipper and I, from a professional point of view, were always at one another’s throats. Yet, really, we were firm pals.” ~Tinker, The Mount-Stonham Murder Mystery

Created in the last decade of the 19th century, detectives Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee were two of the most popular detectives to feature in the British story papers. Blake was by far the more popular of the two, and starred in over 4000 tales, but Lee also had quite the following, appearing in over 2500 tales during his thirty year run.

Nelson Lee was the creation of Maxwell Scott (the pseudonym of Dr. John Staniforth (1863-1927). He first appeared in A Dead Man’s Secret in The Halfpenny Marvel #46, in September 1894. For the next twenty years he appeared regularly in Boy’s Friend, Boy’s Realm, and Boy’s Herald. In 1915 he was given his own story-paper series, The Nelson Lee Library, which ran until 1933.

Scott penned the first Sexton Blake-Nelson Lee crossover, Christmas Clues, in 1895. (Check out Sexton Blake: The Early Years for the complete tale.) Though the two were great friends, the two did not meet up again until Scott published The Winged Terror in 1909. Scott eventually sold his rights to the character to the Amalgamated Press, which enabled new authors to pen Lee adventures, among them notable Sexton Blake authors A. C. Murray, W. M. Graydon, Robert Murray, Edwy Searles Brooks and G. H. Teed. Murray and Teed both wrote tales featuring the two detectives, but the most popular team ups were the tales written by Edwy Searles Brooks, arguably the most popular of the Nelson Lee writers.

Brooks became the lead writer for The Nelson Lee Library in 1917 and in the following year published The Mount-Stonham Murder Mystery, the first of 18 tales for The Union Jack featuring the two detectives and their faithful sidekicks. Uniquely among the Blake authors, Brooks often told tales from Tinker or Blake’s point of view. As a result, there is often more humour in his tales than in the typical Sexton Blake stories.

This anthology collects six tales from 1918: The Mount-Stonham Murder Mystery, The Mystic Cypher, The Dual Detectives, The Flashlight Clue, The Case of the American Soldier and The Crooks of Rapid Hollow. Enjoy!