On Secret Service: Detective-Mystery Stories

# Catalog Note: On Secret Service

This 1918 collection of detective and espionage stories by William Nelson Taft contains twenty-four short cases presented as solved by government agents. The opening story, "A Flash in the Night," concerns Secret Service operative Jimmy Callahan investigating German submarine attacks on American transport ships. After the USS Carolina is sunk by U-37 in the Atlantic, Callahan discovers that advance sailing information is being transmitted to U-boats from the American coast. Suspecting the leak originates from Norfolk rather than the more heavily guarded New York embarkation ports, Callahan establishes himself undercover at the Monticello hotel under an assumed name. He monitors plans for the America's departure with twelve thousand troops, preparing to intercept whoever communicates intelligence to the enemy. The narrative combines wartime espionage, intelligence operations, and detective work drawn from purported real cases.