Police detective Angus Campbell, a dour and methodical Scottish
American policeman, cordially disliked his partner, the ebullient and
overweight Irish cop Patrick O'Rourke. And the feeling was cordially
reciprocated by O'Rourke. Both were annoyed--but not really
concerned--about orders to guard the frantic millionaire John Cobb on a
late-night journey on the New York-Chicago train. After locking Cobb in
his compartment, they would look forward to the pleasure of antagonizing
each other in the club car. That is, until Cobb turned up missing.
Whoever was responsible--and there were several possibilities among the
passengers, including an incomparably strong and handsome man, a
breathtakingly beautiful woman, and an improbably villainous
stranger--had perhaps discounted each detective individually, and
perhaps justly so. But what the malefactor could not know was the
insight of their superior, Inspector Corrigan: "Separate they're not
much, but, when they're together, they hate each other so much that they
grind one another sharp as razors."
Seven Faces originally appeared as six installments in Detective Fiction Weekly
during October and November 1936. This edition--the first to collect
the installments in book form, uncut and as the author
intended--introduces today's readers to a most memorable detective duo.
