Maarten Maartens (1858-1915), the pseudonym of Dutch author Jozuea Marius Willem van der Poorten Schwartz, who wrote in English, wrote four volumes of short stories. Thirty-two of the sixty-two short stories, his best according to his nephew, John Schwartz, are summarized in this book. In 1914, Ezzard Nidden, a well-known British critic, said,"Since Tolstoy died, only one great epic writer is left to us - Maarten Maartens. The book starts with Maartens' first - self-published! - detective "The Black Box Murder" which propelled his writing career. Dr.Anton Lohr, the author of "History of English Literature," ranks Maartens among the highest: "His works stand alone in the English Literature of the day. But this great writer belongs to the literature of Europe."