Beadle's Dime Library No. 774

This Beadle and Adams dime novel (No. 114, Vol. LX) contains two serialized detective stories by William H. Manning: "Steve Starr, the Dock Detective" and "Steve Starr; Or, the Female Race Track Sharp."

In the opening narrative, an adventurer named Asher Windham arrives at a New York townhouse seeking racing tips from "Lady Blanche," a woman who supplies horse-race predictions. While waiting for her, he overhears sounds suggesting violence—a cry of "Murder!"—and witnesses men carrying what appears to be a body. Lady Blanche eventually emerges unruffled, providing Windham with horse tips and charming him with her beauty and wit, though she answers none of his implicit questions about the disturbance.

The second story begins with Benjamin Tereston, one of three owners of the merchant bark Polly Ann, reading newspaper accounts of the ship's sinking off Calcutta. He mutters cryptically that "they don't know all" about the wreck, suggesting hidden knowledge of the vessel's loss. His niece interrupts their conversation.