The Somnambulist and the Detective

The Kent State University Press is excited to reissue these classic true crime detective stories by Allan Pinkerton, the Scottish American detective and spy who founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1850. His agency was the largest private law enforcement organization in the world at the height of its power, and its well-known logo of a large, unblinking eye actually served as inspiration for the term private eye. In The Somnambulist and the Detective, Allan Pinkerton Pinkerton travels to Atkinson, Mississippi, to investigate the murder of bank teller George Gordon and the theft of more than $130,000 in the City Bank of Atkinson. Atkinson appears at first to be no more than a quiet town of shopkeepers, laborers, and businessmen. But dark secrets lurk beneath the town’s Southern facade, and Pinkerton wastes no time in discovering them. Traveling under the guise of a cotton speculator, Pinkerton makes inquiries into the crime without drawing suspicion.

Although George’s body was discovered in the morning, he was in the habit of remaining in the bank after hours. And upon learning that George would never let anyone into the locked bank save only one or two personal friends, Pinkerton is certain George must have known his killer! But without much hard evidence, the Scottish detective must use all of his cunning to deduce the identity of the murderous thief and extract a confession.