Manfred's Quest: Or, The Mystery of a Trunk

About this issue

This issue of Old Sleuth Library (No. 36, August 1887) features "Manfred's Quest: or, The Mystery of a Trunk" by Old Sleuth. The detective story, published by George Munro, concerns Manfred, a ventriloquist detective, who becomes intrigued when a railroad baggage-master confides his unease about an unclaimed trunk marked "Miss M.M.S." that has sat at the station for two weeks. The baggage-master has had dreams about a veiled woman demanding the trunk be opened and increasingly hears a mysterious voice calling from within. He suspects a connection to the unsolved death in the nearby C— mystery—an apparent suicide of an elderly man for whom a will cannot be located. The detective pursues the case, noting the trunk arrived on a stormy evening train. The baggage-master's second dream involved discovering a missing will inside the trunk, raising questions about whether foul play occurred.