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Number Seven Queer Street
Number Seven, Queer Street is a collection of supernatural detective short stories by author Margery Lawrence. It was first published by Robert Hale in the United Kingdom in 1945. The first United States edition was published in 1966 by Mycroft & Moran in an edition of 2,027 copies and omits the last two stories. The stories are about Lawrence's supernatural detective Miles Pennoyer.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1945
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About the author
Margery Lawrence
56 books15 followersMargery Harriet Lawrence (alternate pen names: Jerome Latimer, Margery H. Lawrence) was an English romantic fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction and detective fiction author who specialized in ghost stories.
Her father was solicitor Richard J. Lawrence, her mother was called Grace, and she had at least two siblings Allan and Monica. Her father published her early poetry in Songs of Childhood, and Other Verses, in 1913.
Lawrence was also an illustrator, and producing drawings for The Hills of Ruel, and Other Stories (1921) by Fiona MacLeod.
Her earliest collections, the Round Table sequence, include Nights of the Round Table (1926) and The Terraces of Night (1932). Stefan Dziemianowicz describes these stories as "simple but solidly told tales of horror and the supernatural that are mindful of the classic ghost story tradition but adorned with enough contemporary flourishes" to demonstrate that Lawrence was comfortable working variants on this tradition. These stories often appeared in British pulp magazines such as The Sovereign Magazine and Hutchinson's Mystery-Story prior to book publication.
During the 1920s she wrote general fiction, and her 1925 romance novel Red Heels was filmed by the Austrian film company Sascha Film as Das Spielzeug von Paris. A list of Lawrence's published novels to 1945 includes: Miss Brandt, Adventuress; Red Heels; Bohemian Glass; Drums of Youth; Silken Sarah; The Madonna of Seven Moons; Madam Holle; The Crooked Smile; Overture to Life; The Bridge of Wonder; and Step Light, Lady.
In 1941, she published another collection of short fiction, Strange Caravan (Robert Hale, 1941). A list of her short stories to 1945 also includes: Snapdragon; and The Floating Cafe.
Her best-known supernatural works include Number Seven, Queer Street (Robert Hale, 1945), a collection that purports to be the case histories of an occult detective, Dr Miles Pennoyer, as related by his assistant Jerome Latimer. Lawrence stated that this series was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's John Silence stories and Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner series. Like May Sinclair before her, Lawrence became a confirmed spiritualist and believer in reincarnation in later years, and her book is heavy with didactic occultist dialogue. Another well-known supernatural volume is Master of Shadows (1959).
The Rent in the Veil is a fantasy involving a timeslip to Ancient Rome, and Bride of Darkness is a tale of witchcraft in the modern world.
In the foreword to Ferry Over Jordan (Psychic Book Club, 1944), Lawrence explains that during the latter part of 1941 she had written a further group of articles on Spiritualism for Psychic News. It was the resulting large number of inquiries that prompted editor Maurice Barbanell to suggest that Lawrence compile and expand upon those articles in book form, which she undertook at London between August 1942 and May 1943. The book was intended to be a primer on the much-discussed subject of Spiritualism. Apprehensive that her readers might be disappointed that her latest book was not a further novel or book of short stories, Lawrence took care to explain that she had not recently "taken to Spiritualism", but rather had been deeply interested in it for many years:
"My interest in it dates actually from the moment when I saw a near relation three nights after he died, when he gave me specific instructions about the finding of a box containing important papers. They were found precisely where he said--and from that moment I became deeply interested in what, throughout this book, I have called the "Other Side". Somewhere that man was obviously still alive! Somewhere he was thinking of us, anxious to help, caring what happened; in a word, he was still alive somewhere, and I was determined to find out where" [foreword, p. 5].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery...]
Her father was solicitor Richard J. Lawrence, her mother was called Grace, and she had at least two siblings Allan and Monica. Her father published her early poetry in Songs of Childhood, and Other Verses, in 1913.
Lawrence was also an illustrator, and producing drawings for The Hills of Ruel, and Other Stories (1921) by Fiona MacLeod.
Her earliest collections, the Round Table sequence, include Nights of the Round Table (1926) and The Terraces of Night (1932). Stefan Dziemianowicz describes these stories as "simple but solidly told tales of horror and the supernatural that are mindful of the classic ghost story tradition but adorned with enough contemporary flourishes" to demonstrate that Lawrence was comfortable working variants on this tradition. These stories often appeared in British pulp magazines such as The Sovereign Magazine and Hutchinson's Mystery-Story prior to book publication.
During the 1920s she wrote general fiction, and her 1925 romance novel Red Heels was filmed by the Austrian film company Sascha Film as Das Spielzeug von Paris. A list of Lawrence's published novels to 1945 includes: Miss Brandt, Adventuress; Red Heels; Bohemian Glass; Drums of Youth; Silken Sarah; The Madonna of Seven Moons; Madam Holle; The Crooked Smile; Overture to Life; The Bridge of Wonder; and Step Light, Lady.
In 1941, she published another collection of short fiction, Strange Caravan (Robert Hale, 1941). A list of her short stories to 1945 also includes: Snapdragon; and The Floating Cafe.
Her best-known supernatural works include Number Seven, Queer Street (Robert Hale, 1945), a collection that purports to be the case histories of an occult detective, Dr Miles Pennoyer, as related by his assistant Jerome Latimer. Lawrence stated that this series was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's John Silence stories and Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner series. Like May Sinclair before her, Lawrence became a confirmed spiritualist and believer in reincarnation in later years, and her book is heavy with didactic occultist dialogue. Another well-known supernatural volume is Master of Shadows (1959).
The Rent in the Veil is a fantasy involving a timeslip to Ancient Rome, and Bride of Darkness is a tale of witchcraft in the modern world.
In the foreword to Ferry Over Jordan (Psychic Book Club, 1944), Lawrence explains that during the latter part of 1941 she had written a further group of articles on Spiritualism for Psychic News. It was the resulting large number of inquiries that prompted editor Maurice Barbanell to suggest that Lawrence compile and expand upon those articles in book form, which she undertook at London between August 1942 and May 1943. The book was intended to be a primer on the much-discussed subject of Spiritualism. Apprehensive that her readers might be disappointed that her latest book was not a further novel or book of short stories, Lawrence took care to explain that she had not recently "taken to Spiritualism", but rather had been deeply interested in it for many years:
"My interest in it dates actually from the moment when I saw a near relation three nights after he died, when he gave me specific instructions about the finding of a box containing important papers. They were found precisely where he said--and from that moment I became deeply interested in what, throughout this book, I have called the "Other Side". Somewhere that man was obviously still alive! Somewhere he was thinking of us, anxious to help, caring what happened; in a word, he was still alive somewhere, and I was determined to find out where" [foreword, p. 5].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery...]
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2025
Prolific author, artist and illustrator Margery Lawrence wrote under a variety of pseudonyms and across a range of genres. But closest to her own interests were her explorations into the occult and the supernatural. Like authors Charles Dickens, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Aickman, and W. B. Yeats, Lawrence was a member of London's exclusive Ghost Club. A select organisation founded in Cambridge in the mid-nineteenth century to research psychic phenomena from hauntings to likely fraudulent mediums. As time passed, Lawrence’s fascination with spiritualism shifted from professional to highly personal - if you dig around online there are faded images of her taking part in spirit healing ceremonies. Her Pennoyer stories built on these spiritualist beliefs which were widespread in post-WW1 England. Published just after WW2, it’s possible Lawrence was also taking advantage of renewed public interest in the occult sparked by Helen Duncan’s sensational trial. In 1944, Duncan aka “Hellish Nell” was convicted and subsequently imprisoned for violating a centuries-old witchcraft law.
Lawrence’s stories introduced psychic detective Miles Pennoyer and his friend Jerome Latimer. They first met as students at Oxford, Latimer eventually becoming Watson to Pennoyer’s Holmes. Conan Doyle’s obsession with the supernatural definitely mirrored aspects of Lawrence’s own. But Algernon Blackwood was the greater influence on Lawrence’s approach here. In keeping with genre conventions, Pennoyer is an eccentric, outsider figure. He lives alone with his Bavarian housekeeper and a wolfhound named Hans. His society connections are impeccable – his uncle is a respected peer of the realm. But he’s frowned upon at his uncle’s club because he doesn’t drink or eat meat. This collection contains seven separate Pennoyer cases. Initially, Latimer simply listens to Pennoyer recounting his adventures but later becomes an active participant.
Pennoyer’s exploits range from tangles with reincarnated figures from ancient Greek legends to tracking tentacled, Lovecraftian creatures. Lawrence’s narratives incorporate a form of domestic realism that reminded me of numerous interwar woman writers reissued by publishers like Persephone. But Lawrence blends in generous amounts of mystery, folklore and spiritualist religious beliefs. Pennoyer’s an expert in the occult from witchcraft to spirit possession; and highly knowledgeable when it comes to myth and mystical rituals. Pennoyer’s practical skills include astral projection, a concept popularised in the 1920s by bestselling non-fiction purporting to document its actual existence. Not surprisingly, Pennoyer’s ability to leave his body to spy on potential criminals comes in handy in numerous situations. Pennoyer’s eerie investigation of ghostly apparitions in a countryside cathedral echoes M. R. James. A call for help which brings Pennoyer to an orphanage set up by a friend raises questions about the fate of the many unidentified children rescued from the ruins of bombed-out areas. The result’s bizarre but gripping.
Most of the stories were pretty compelling but there were two stand-outs. The first was “The Case of the Moonchild” – the title’s an obvious reference to Aleister Crowley’s infamous novel. It’s a preposterous but richly-imagined page-turner. Latimer joins Pennoyer as a houseguest with a wealthy Devonshire family. There they attempt to help a father rescue his teenage daughter from the clutches of a sinister cult. It’s led by a priest whose character seems indebted to theosophy and notorious educator Rudolf Steiner with more than a hint of Rasputin thrown into the mix. Lawrence taps into conspiracy theories about black magic practitioners preying on innocents and rumours of Nazi research into harnessing occult forces. Her plot resembles aspects of books by then-bestselling, pulp novelist Dennis Wheatley. But her style’s more fluid, less lurid, and far less culturally conservative. Although there are quite a few grating, sometimes uncomfortable scenes, Lawrence was considered relatively progressive for her era. My other favourite “The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe” is very different in flavour, Machen meets Blackwood in a tale centred on Irish folklore and ancient superstitions about what might happen to humans who dare to go against the fairy folk.
Lawrence’s stories introduced psychic detective Miles Pennoyer and his friend Jerome Latimer. They first met as students at Oxford, Latimer eventually becoming Watson to Pennoyer’s Holmes. Conan Doyle’s obsession with the supernatural definitely mirrored aspects of Lawrence’s own. But Algernon Blackwood was the greater influence on Lawrence’s approach here. In keeping with genre conventions, Pennoyer is an eccentric, outsider figure. He lives alone with his Bavarian housekeeper and a wolfhound named Hans. His society connections are impeccable – his uncle is a respected peer of the realm. But he’s frowned upon at his uncle’s club because he doesn’t drink or eat meat. This collection contains seven separate Pennoyer cases. Initially, Latimer simply listens to Pennoyer recounting his adventures but later becomes an active participant.
Pennoyer’s exploits range from tangles with reincarnated figures from ancient Greek legends to tracking tentacled, Lovecraftian creatures. Lawrence’s narratives incorporate a form of domestic realism that reminded me of numerous interwar woman writers reissued by publishers like Persephone. But Lawrence blends in generous amounts of mystery, folklore and spiritualist religious beliefs. Pennoyer’s an expert in the occult from witchcraft to spirit possession; and highly knowledgeable when it comes to myth and mystical rituals. Pennoyer’s practical skills include astral projection, a concept popularised in the 1920s by bestselling non-fiction purporting to document its actual existence. Not surprisingly, Pennoyer’s ability to leave his body to spy on potential criminals comes in handy in numerous situations. Pennoyer’s eerie investigation of ghostly apparitions in a countryside cathedral echoes M. R. James. A call for help which brings Pennoyer to an orphanage set up by a friend raises questions about the fate of the many unidentified children rescued from the ruins of bombed-out areas. The result’s bizarre but gripping.
Most of the stories were pretty compelling but there were two stand-outs. The first was “The Case of the Moonchild” – the title’s an obvious reference to Aleister Crowley’s infamous novel. It’s a preposterous but richly-imagined page-turner. Latimer joins Pennoyer as a houseguest with a wealthy Devonshire family. There they attempt to help a father rescue his teenage daughter from the clutches of a sinister cult. It’s led by a priest whose character seems indebted to theosophy and notorious educator Rudolf Steiner with more than a hint of Rasputin thrown into the mix. Lawrence taps into conspiracy theories about black magic practitioners preying on innocents and rumours of Nazi research into harnessing occult forces. Her plot resembles aspects of books by then-bestselling, pulp novelist Dennis Wheatley. But her style’s more fluid, less lurid, and far less culturally conservative. Although there are quite a few grating, sometimes uncomfortable scenes, Lawrence was considered relatively progressive for her era. My other favourite “The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe” is very different in flavour, Machen meets Blackwood in a tale centred on Irish folklore and ancient superstitions about what might happen to humans who dare to go against the fairy folk.
December 4, 2018
Like a 4.3, actually.
full post here: https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/201...
Unfortunately, my edition (Mycroft and Moran, 1969) was an abridgment of the original 1945 version, which had seven stories. It was published without the last two, so I had to pick up a copy of the kindle edition of the Ash-Tree Press Occult Detectives Volume Two: The First Casebook of Miles Pennoyer to read the entire seven. It was well worth spending the extra money on just two stories to be able to have read the complete collection. Also, I'm really hoping that Ash-Tree decides to publish (as promised at the end of the Kindle version of Volume 1), The Second Casebook of Miles Pennoyer, which the blurb says "will be available soon." Not soon enough for me -- even though these stories can definitely become a bit long winded (and in one case a bit sappy) at times, as the author starts to hone in on the actual problems solved by the "psychic doctor" and their cures, it's eyes on the page without budging an inch.
The title of the book comes from Pennoyer's address, No. 7 Queer Street, where Pennoyer lives with his housekeeper Friedl and his dog Hans; it is a "top-floor eyrie" perfectly suited to his need to be alone, without "too close contact with the crowd." According to Latimer, Pennoyer is a "psychic doctor -- one who deals in ills that beset the soul rather than the body of man;" Brian Stableford says in his entry on Margery Lawrence in St. James Guide to Horror Ghost and Gothic Writers (an indispensable reference) that Pennoyer's "ostensible purpose" is to "put an end to the supernatural disturbances by healing the experiential wounds they symbolize." (350) Over the course of these seven stories, he arrives on the scene to try to understand what is causing someone to act the way they do, but before he can do that and effect a cure, he must get to the root of his or her psychic disturbance. Sometimes he is able to do this alone; at other times he must call on "Them," aka "the Masters" for guidance and help.
My favorite story here is "The Case of the Moonchild," which according to Stableford was "obviously borrowed from Alistair Crowley," and it shows. Talk about creepy! I also quite enjoyed "The Case of the Young Man with the Scar" (from the second book) because it was sheer pulpy goodness, taking place mainly in the forests of Canada.
On the strength of these stories I bought Margery Lawrence's Nights of the Round Table, The Terraces of Night, and The Floating Cafe. While it may not be great literature, Number Seven Queer Street is by an author whose works have been left to drift into obscurity, and that's just a shame. I agree with Brian Stableford, who says that "an eclectic collection of her best supernatural short stories...is long overdue." I'd be first in line to buy it, for sure.
Recommended highly for readers of lost or forgotten authors of dark/supernatural fiction, who also don't mind the pulpy side of horror once in a while.
full post here: https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/201...
Unfortunately, my edition (Mycroft and Moran, 1969) was an abridgment of the original 1945 version, which had seven stories. It was published without the last two, so I had to pick up a copy of the kindle edition of the Ash-Tree Press Occult Detectives Volume Two: The First Casebook of Miles Pennoyer to read the entire seven. It was well worth spending the extra money on just two stories to be able to have read the complete collection. Also, I'm really hoping that Ash-Tree decides to publish (as promised at the end of the Kindle version of Volume 1), The Second Casebook of Miles Pennoyer, which the blurb says "will be available soon." Not soon enough for me -- even though these stories can definitely become a bit long winded (and in one case a bit sappy) at times, as the author starts to hone in on the actual problems solved by the "psychic doctor" and their cures, it's eyes on the page without budging an inch.
The title of the book comes from Pennoyer's address, No. 7 Queer Street, where Pennoyer lives with his housekeeper Friedl and his dog Hans; it is a "top-floor eyrie" perfectly suited to his need to be alone, without "too close contact with the crowd." According to Latimer, Pennoyer is a "psychic doctor -- one who deals in ills that beset the soul rather than the body of man;" Brian Stableford says in his entry on Margery Lawrence in St. James Guide to Horror Ghost and Gothic Writers (an indispensable reference) that Pennoyer's "ostensible purpose" is to "put an end to the supernatural disturbances by healing the experiential wounds they symbolize." (350) Over the course of these seven stories, he arrives on the scene to try to understand what is causing someone to act the way they do, but before he can do that and effect a cure, he must get to the root of his or her psychic disturbance. Sometimes he is able to do this alone; at other times he must call on "Them," aka "the Masters" for guidance and help.
My favorite story here is "The Case of the Moonchild," which according to Stableford was "obviously borrowed from Alistair Crowley," and it shows. Talk about creepy! I also quite enjoyed "The Case of the Young Man with the Scar" (from the second book) because it was sheer pulpy goodness, taking place mainly in the forests of Canada.
On the strength of these stories I bought Margery Lawrence's Nights of the Round Table, The Terraces of Night, and The Floating Cafe. While it may not be great literature, Number Seven Queer Street is by an author whose works have been left to drift into obscurity, and that's just a shame. I agree with Brian Stableford, who says that "an eclectic collection of her best supernatural short stories...is long overdue." I'd be first in line to buy it, for sure.
Recommended highly for readers of lost or forgotten authors of dark/supernatural fiction, who also don't mind the pulpy side of horror once in a while.
April 21, 2022
The Merril Collection had a display of Speculative Fiction detectives and I've been reading or rereading some of the classic psychic detectives.
I had only ever read one of the stories before, so most of the collection was a delightful surprise.
Two standouts: The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe is one of the best fairy stories I've read.
However The Case of the Young Man with a Scar is a bit of an embarrassment. It only dropped the collection a star.
I had only ever read one of the stories before, so most of the collection was a delightful surprise.
Two standouts: The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe is one of the best fairy stories I've read.
However The Case of the Young Man with a Scar is a bit of an embarrassment. It only dropped the collection a star.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews