The Deadwood Dick Library: Denver Doll's Device

# Denver Doll's Device: The Detective Queen

This installment, by E. L. Wheeler (author of "Deadwood Dick" novels), opens in a mountain gulch where prospectors Walt Christie, Jacob Strauss, a Chinaman named Chug, and a prisoner named Tom Jarvis are camped. When a child's cry pierces the night, Walt ventures alone into a transverse ravine and discovers a murdered woman clutching a silver box and crumpled paper. A young girl, approximately four years old, sits beside the body. Walt retrieves both objects as evidence and carries the child back to camp.

Denver Doll, a celebrated female detective in male attire, has arrived to capture Jarvis, one of notorious outlaw John McParland's gang members. She is determined to dismantle McParland's road-agent operation. The woman's body mysteriously vanishes before a search can be conducted—described as "one night's mystery."

One year later, Shining Bar has transformed into a prosperous mining camp. The stage from Glander's Gulch arrives three hours late, fueling speculation that McParland has resumed his robberies, emboldened by reports of Denver Doll's death. A newspaper reporter named Pygmalion Jones has arrived seeking news.