1st Edition 1907. Signed inscription by the author to the endpaper. Illustrtaed by E J Wheeler. Scarce early 20th century English crime fiction. A collection o nine short stories. According to her preface "To my reader" "These stories a fact, not fiction. They are not the invention of a vivid imagination, but th sober, uncoloured portrayal of criminal lives whose threads have become interwoven amongst my mother's during her labours in prison, workhouse, and slum." Beatrice Chase (5 July 1874 – 3 July 1955) was the pen name for a British writer known during the first half of the 20th century for her Dartmoor-based novels. Her real name was Olive Katharine Parr, and she claimed to be directly descended from William Parr, the brother of Catherine, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. Book is very good++ and quite bright. Contents good. Pages age toned.