Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 859

# Catalog Note

This January 1885 issue of New York Detective Library Vol. XXVII contains "The Girl Queen of the Boy Police League," the opening serial by Col. Prentiss Ingraham, featuring Nat (nicknamed "Graveyard Jack" and "New York Nat"), a fifteen-year-old detective who lives in a cemetery vault. The story opens with five masked murderers killing "Miser Max," an elderly, wealthy recluse haunted by tragedy: decades earlier he accidentally shot his own daughter Mabel, who had married a poor sailor against his wishes. When Nat rescues Max's young granddaughter from the murderers seeking hidden gold, she reveals Max was her grandfather. Max's death sparks Nat's investigation. The narrative weaves mystery, melodrama, and crime detection across the mansion grounds and city streets of New York.