Beadle's Dime Library No. 654

This issue of Beadle and Adams' Half Dime Library (No. 65, May 6, 1891) contains "Seven Secrets: A Romance of the Demon Doctor of Gotham" by Captain Howard Holmes, author of the "Captain Coldgrip" novels.

The opening chapter introduces Sol Sphinx, a skilled New York detective, summoned by Mrs. Nancy Harlow to investigate her mysterious upstairs neighbor, Jack Bromley. Sphinx discovers Bromley dead in his tenement room, the body stiff and showing no visible wounds. While searching the corpse, Sphinx retrieves a crumpled, discolored paper hidden in the dead man's coat lining—evidence suggesting foul play. The detective hears mysterious sounds outside the room but finds no one. Back at his lodgings, Sphinx learns an anxious dark-skinned Western visitor inquired after him. Sphinx examines the recovered paper, suggesting its contents hold crucial information to the developing mystery.