Journalist Joseph Josephin, aka Rouletabille, is an idealized projection of its creator, Gaston Leroux, and was originally conceived as a rival of Sherlock Holmes and Arsene Lupin. He borrows his prodigious deductive powers from Auguste Dupin, M. Lecoq, Holmes and Hercule Poirot, and solves the mysteries he encounters using what he calls the good bit of reason. The Rouletabille series has justly become a classic of detective literature.

Martin Gately, author of the authorized sequel to Philip Jose Farmer’s The Green Odyssey, has also written the Starblazer comic book published by DC Thomson and occasionally contributes to the British edition of the Fortean Times. His latest work is an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pirate Blood as a comic book.

Martin is also a regular contributor to Tales of the Shadowmen, where the Rouletabille stories gathere in this collection were first published..