The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt

An artist's work is vindictively vandalized, and the artist is found murdered in his smoking room. Gold bullion totaling 10,000 pounds mysteriously vanishes from the ill-fated steamship Nicobar as it sinks en route to Plymouth. A clerk disappears from a large London bank along with a rather substantial amount of the company's money. A lunatic Frenchman, discovered beaten and bloody in the street, screams in terror when offered a loaf of bread. These dark occurrences have two things in common: The obvious solutions are not the solutions, and private detective Martin Hewitt is on the case.