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Supernatural Detectives 5: The Colour-Criminologist / From Whose Bourne
This is a fifth collection of Supernatural Detectives. The Colour-Criminologist: Dr. John Durston uses colour mentation to study chromatic vibrations, allowing him, among other things, to see visions of events elsewhere. Miss Dalrymple joins him in his research, leading to strange adventures. These stories were first published in 1917 as The Rainbow Mystery: Chronicles of a Colour-Criminologist, by William Le Queux (1864-1927). From Whose Bourne: William Brenton is dead. Was it murder? If so, was it his wife, Alice? The police think so. A detective is needed, but the only one pursuing the inquiry is William himself. As a ghostly investigator, William finds he needs help from both sides of the veil. From Whose Bourne by Robert Barr (1849-1912) was published in 1896.
- GenresOccult Detective
254 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2012
10 people want to read
About the author
William Le Queux
416 books29 followersWilliam Tufnell Le Queux was born in London on 2 July 1864. His father, also William of Chateauroux, Indre, was a French draper's assistant and his mother was English.
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in 'The Petit Journal' that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the magazines 'Gossip' and 'Piccadilly' before joining the staff of the newspaper 'The Globe' in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912-13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was 'Guilty Bonds' (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories 'Strange Tales of a Nihilist' followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled 'Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks' (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2013
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in 'The Petit Journal' that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the magazines 'Gossip' and 'Piccadilly' before joining the staff of the newspaper 'The Globe' in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912-13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was 'Guilty Bonds' (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories 'Strange Tales of a Nihilist' followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled 'Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks' (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2013
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 27, 2022
The Colour-Criminologist
First of all, to address the glaring error on my Coachwhip copy, whereby John Durston’s valued friend, secretary and assistant has been incorrectly transposed to ”Miss Dalrymple” on the back cover synopsis?!?? (Perhaps a misplaced referenced to the heroine of Carola Dunn’s mysteries?)
That aside, inside there are 9 relatively entertaining, short fantastical adventures where this particular crime busting trio use the curious phenomenon of colour mentation as a method to solve their cases. Read in 1917, when this was first published, this must have been considered quite spectacular.
From Whose Bourne
In the curious tradition of ghosts at Christmas this short (88 pages) story, is a vignette of Christmas present in which victim William Brenton tries to exert his influence on the investigation into who spoiled his festive eve party by fatally poisoning him.
First of all, to address the glaring error on my Coachwhip copy, whereby John Durston’s valued friend, secretary and assistant has been incorrectly transposed to ”Miss Dalrymple” on the back cover synopsis?!?? (Perhaps a misplaced referenced to the heroine of Carola Dunn’s mysteries?)
That aside, inside there are 9 relatively entertaining, short fantastical adventures where this particular crime busting trio use the curious phenomenon of colour mentation as a method to solve their cases. Read in 1917, when this was first published, this must have been considered quite spectacular.
From Whose Bourne
In the curious tradition of ghosts at Christmas this short (88 pages) story, is a vignette of Christmas present in which victim William Brenton tries to exert his influence on the investigation into who spoiled his festive eve party by fatally poisoning him.
Displaying 1 of 1 review