There are forty stories by Ellis Parker Butler; 37 written for The Red Book Magazine about his ludicrous paper-hanger-detective, Philo Gubb, graduate in twelve complete lessons of the Rising Sun Correspondence School of Detecting.
That’s surely a record—37 stories about the same character in the same magazine! The reason, of course, is simple: Mr. Butler has used his wonderful facility for writing humor and added a rare sense of detective-mystery plot-making. Each of the Philo Gubb situations, handled seriously, might have made a good straight detective story.
We think these are the most consistently funny stories any American magazine ever published. Long live Philo Gubb!
In 1913 the great American humorist created the one of the best comic detectives of all times in the paper-hanger sleuth Philo Gubb, who received his training from The Rising Sun Correspondence School of Detecting. He had, wrote Butler, "a number of notable successes. It was true that ... he had never succeeded in solving a mystery he had undertaken or in capturing a malefactor he had sought, but as he invariably solved something else or caught some other malefactor, he was well satisfied." For the first time, this book collects all of Philo Gubb’s "notable successes."
Sources
All the stories except for the final three were first published in The Red Book Magazine.
"Philo Gubb, The Correspondence School Detective," May 1913. This story was retitled "The Hard-Boiled Egg" as the first story in Philo Gubb, The Correspondence-School Detective (Houghton Mifflin, 1918)
"Philo Gubb and the Oubliette," June 1913. Story 4 of Philo Gubb.
"Philo Gubb and the Un-burglars," July, 1913. Story 5 of Philo Gubb.
"Philo Gubb and the Two-Cent Stamp," August 1913. Story 6 of Philo Gubb.
"Philo Gubb and the Chicken," September 1913. Story 7 of Philo Gubb.
"Philo Gubb and the Dragon’s Eye," October 1913. Story 8 of Philo Gubb.
"The Progressive Murder," November 1913. Story 9 of Philo Gubb.
"Red Cedar!" July 1914.
"The Pet," August 1914. Story 2 of Philo Gubb.
"The Eagle’s Claws," September 1914. Story 3 of Philo Gubb.
"The Missing Mister Master," October 1914. Story 10 of Philo Gubb.
"Waffles and Mustard," November 1914. Story 11 of Philo Gubb.
"The Anonymous Wiggle," December 1914. Story 12 of Philo Gubb.
"The Half of a Thousand," January 1915. Story 13 of Philo Gubb.
"Dietz’s 7642, Bessie John," February 1915. Story 14 of Philo Gubb.
"Buried Bones," March 1915. Story 16 of Philo Gubb.
"Philo Gubb’s Greatest Case," April 1915. Story 17 of Philo Gubb.
"The Togbury Jool," May 1915.
"One Hundred Dollars Reward," June 1915.
"Henry," July 1915. Story 15 of Philo Gubb.
"The Disappearance of Ma’y Jane," August 1915.
"The Premature Death of Philo Gubb," September 1915.
"The Stolen Umbrella," October 1915.
"Four Tufts of Golden Hair," November 1915.
"The Inexorable Tooth," December 1915.
"The Carnival of Crime," January 1916.
"This Style, $20," February 1916.
"The Parmiller Pounds," March 1916.
"The Kinwiller Case," April 1916.
"The Ghatghee," May 1916.
"In the Dark!" June 1916.
"The Needle, Watson," July 1916. "Introducing a new character in the stories of Philo Gubb, the correspondence-school deteckative."
"The Dark Closet," August 1916.
"Too Much Gubb," September 1916.
"The Hound of the Tankervilles," October 1916.
"The Tenth of June," November 1916.
"Who Would Steal a Pump?" December 1916.
"The Last Case of Philo Gubb," January 1917.
"The McNoodle Brothers’ Radio Mystery," Radio News, September, 1923.
"Philo Gubb Gets the Murderer" Washington Star February 14, 1932
"The Sword Swallower Murder," St. Anthony Messenger, 1933.