Flaxman Low

Flaxman Low was created by "E. and H. Heron," the pseudonym of Hesketh V. Prichard (1876-1922) and Kate O'Brien Ryall Prichard (1851-1935). They were a mother-son writing team, and both were successful writers outside these stories. There is not a lot of information available about Mrs. Prichard. Hesketh, however, was known for being a big-game hunter and for favoring sniper tactics rather than mass charges in the Great War.

Appearing first in Pearson's Magazine in 1898 and 1899, Flaxman Low was the original true Occult Detective. Rather like Nick Charles in The Thin Man stories, he's called in on cases at the request of his friends or the law, rather than being directly hired. Still, it does appear that he might be the first (in literature anyway) full-time specialist summoned specifically to investigate and solve supernatural mysteries.

The "Occult Detective" genre was very popular going into the 1920s, and saw characters such as Saxe Rohmer's "Dream Detective" and "Doctor Thirteen" as well as various creations of novelist Dion Fortune. Flaxman Low as one of the first "Occult Detectives" first appearing around the turn of the century.

While a decent character in concept, Flaxman Low has two problems. First, there is little evidence of who the Beetle is, and there are few leads on how to capture her. The one clue Flaxman does have is probably the result of a plot disconnect. It points at Yen How, who has nothing to do with the Gold plot.

Even if he could, it is unclear he has any result but getting a gang of people together to go attack the character (which in fact happened) to get some of her dung. However, in some runs, Walker may have made dung available. Sadly the Dung doesn't do anything (violating an implicit genre concept in which mystical sources are invariably correct). Walker's sense of humor - the lesson being that "old papyruses" are often wrong. At least the dung was usually simulated by some sort of chocolate pastry.

This must have been a fun character to pose, and generally is seen as "mixing it up" successfully with the "good guys" despite handicaps.

Finally, Flaxman Low contains a poison pill. He is supposed to have knowledge that would keep Dr. Raleigh from accidentally marrying Lady Grey his sister. However Walker outright perverted that, and added a completely different paragraph which leads Low to encourage Dr. Raleigh's marriage to Lady Grey.

Flaxman Low

"In time, my dear Monsieur Flaxman, you will add another to our sciences. You establish your facts too well for my peace of mind."
--M. theirry, "The Story of Yand Manor House

As a psychologist, you are proud to say that you are the sort of man one could rely on in almost any emergency. When your old school chum Roderick Houston called upon you to investigate his "unlucky" house, you did. When Professor Jungvort, of Nuremburg, asked you to look into his troubles with the Baelbrow Ghost, you did. You visited the Yand Manor House. And the Konnor Old House. And so on, and so on.

You reach your conclusions through logic, rather than relying upon tomes of forgotten lore. You are a learned man, but you try not to seem a braggart when you use your native intellect and knowledge to solve puzzles. You try to be genial and reasonable, but one must be persistent to get to the bottom of things. You strongly believe that "everybody who, in a rational and honest manner, investigates the phenomenon of spiritism will, sooner or later, meet in them some perplexing element, which is not to be explained by any of the ordinary theories."

You have had to deal with Chinese secret societies, always a terrible thing. The Yellow Peril is a menace that cannot be discounted. Chinamen are inscrutable, always looking to take over the world. Time travel cannot be discounted, and if Chinamen from the future should appear, woe betide the United States!

You have encountered apparitions, mummies, ghosts, and vicious African fungi. The Shining Man. Your arch-enemy, the evil Dr. Kalmarkane, is an occult investigator with more knowledge but far fewer morals than you.

In this adventure, you are on the trail of the sinister "Beetle." Some supernatural force has been creating gold and channeling it into the world economy. In a few more months the economy will collapse, and bring ruin to the world, probably allowing for an Anarchist uprising.
Your alchemical analysis indicates the gold is being made by supernatural means - and there is only one creature who has the wherewithal to do such a thing - "The Beetle."

This supernatural creature giant, malignant, deformed beetle. However, it hosts the soul of an ancient Egyptian Princess, who is an avatar of Isis. As the leader of an African Sect - the Children of Isis - who gain magical powers from human sacrifice, she is a dangerous enemy. She can take the form of the Beetle, and also an old man, and a sinister androgynous figure.

She has hypnotic powers and can read and control minds. Except for yours. You can detect supernatural mental influences, and they cannot affect you because of your training and discipline.

You know of one way to destroy the beetle. An ancient Egyptian papyrus details how to take the supernatural dung of the beetle (in Egyptian lore, the ball of dung rolled by the beetle has special supernatural powers, and is often used in cures and potions), which contains its essence, and by consuming it, symbolically consume the beetle, and take its power. But few have the will to commit such an act.

You have traced the origin of the gold to Tibet. One expedition there has already failed, as the Airship Astronard and it's elephant conveyance was destroyed under the command of Dick Lightheart.

You must determine what needs to be done, identify the servants of the Beetle, and halt the dispersal of the gold. Perhaps your friend Dr. Roquelaure can help.

You would also like to help Dr. Roquelaure's acquaintance Dr. Raleigh. He is a very upset and frustrated man, full of neuroses. You would like to calm him. Possibly he needs a relationship. You happen to know that Lady Grey is his sister, however it is obvious that there is a sexual attraction between them. The odds of a major problem in reproduction are actually fairly slight in one generation (according to Mendel) so you see little reason to interfere - in this case the need for neurotic release outweights the relatively remote chance of misadventure. Perhaps you can facilitate them getting together.