The Fugitive Sleuth

The Fugitive Sleuth (1918) was Footner’s first mystery story. A struggling artist, Neil Ottoway, is much attracted to a young woman artist living in an adjacent apartment in a poor section of New York City. When he sees her in a park, she appears extraordinarily frightened and asks him to bring two photographs and her drawings to her from her apartment. Upon visiting her apartment Neil discovers the murdered body of their landlord in a closet. Certain that the woman could not be the murderer, rather than reporting the murder to the police, he carries the body to his own apartment where he plans to get rid of it during the night, and scrubs the closet floor. His plans quickly go awry and he’s blamed for the murder. While evading the police he attempts to find the murderer. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is Footner’s detailed description of life in and around 1918 New York City.