Beadle's Dime Library, No. 734

# "A Cunning Woman's Strategy" by Harold Payne

This Detective Burr story, serialized in Adle and Adams (November 16, 1892), concerns detective Thad Burr's assignment to locate Harvey C. Templeton, a man who fled England twenty years prior after allegedly committing murder. English solicitors have hired Burr to secure Templeton's signature on documents necessary for recovering an estate; they promise immunity from prosecution in exchange.

After placing a newspaper personal advertisement, Burr receives a response from "Herbert Bailey" at a West Fifteenth Street address. There he encounters a remarkably clever young woman who guards Templeton's whereabouts—apparently his daughter. She deflects Burr's inquiries with calculated wit, insisting the estate claim is a deception designed to prosecute her father. Despite Burr's attempts at misdirection and psychological leverage, she outmaneuvers him repeatedly, aided by two companions who regard her performance with amusement, leaving the detective frustrated and thwarted.