Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery

Average Jones

Three men sat in the Cosmic Club discussing the question: “What’s the matter with Jones?” Waldemar, the oldest of the conferees, was the owner, and at times the operator, of an important and decent newspaper. His heavy face wore the expression of good-humored power, characteri...

Chapters

3. Chapter 3

“FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS—The aforesaid sum will be paid without question to anyone furnishing information which leads to the discovery of Roderick Hoff, twenty-four years old, who...

11. Chapter 11

To this day, Average Jones maintains that he felt a distinct thrill at first sight of the advertisement. Yet Fate might well have chosen a more appropriate ambush in any one of...

1. Chapter 1

Three men sat in the Cosmic Club discussing the question: “What’s the matter with Jones?” Waldemar, the oldest of the conferees, was the owner, and at times the operator, of an...

2. Chapter 2

In the outer offices a line of anxious applicants was being disposed of by his trained assistants. To the advertising expert’s offices had come that day but three cases difficul...

9. Chapter 9

Mementoes of Average Jones’ exploits in his chosen field hang on the walls of his quiet sanctum. Here the favored visitor may see the two red-ink dots on a dated sheet of paper,...

8. Chapter 8

In the Cosmic Club Mr. Algernon Spofford was a figure of distinction. Amidst the varied, curious, eccentric, brilliant, and even slightly unbalanced minds which made the organiz...

6. Chapter 6

“Cabs for comfort; cars for company,” was an apothegm which Average Jones had evolved from experience. A professed student of life, he maintained, must keep in touch with life a...

10. Chapter 10

“Naturally. Morrison has declared open war against ‘Pharisee Phil,’ as he calls Governor Arthur. Says he’ll pass the bill over his veto. In his heart he knows he can’t do it. St...

7. Chapter 7

“The thing is a fake,” declared Bertram. He slumped heavily into a chair, and scowled at Average Jones’ well-littered desk, whereon he had just tossed a sheet of paper. His usua...

5. Chapter 5

Some days after the recovery of the houseboat, Average Jones sat at breakfast, according to his custom, in the café of the Hotel Palatia. Several matters were troubling his norm...

4. Chapter 4

Bertram, his elegance undimmed by the first really trying weather of the early summer, drifted to the coolest spot in the Ad-Visor’s sanctum and spread his languid length along...