Literature / Number Seven Queer Street

Number Seven Queer Street, full title Number Seven, Queer Street: Being Some Stories Taken from the Private Casebook of Dr. Miles Pennoyer Recorded by His Friend and Occasional Assistant Jerome Latimer, is a collection of supernatural detective short stories by Margery Lawrence. First published in 1945, these tales introduced readers to the adventures of the peculiar "psychic doctor" Miles Pennoyer as relayed by his part-time accomplice and enthusiastic chronicler Jerome Latimer.

The collection features seven cases (though later reprints would omit the last two stories) in which Pennoyer investigates various supernatural phenomena plaguing his patients in the form of ghosts and specters, persistent past life memories, or malign fairy mischief. Pennoyer's preoccupation with the occult often puts him at odds with the skeptics and nay-sayers of modern Britain; but for the desperate, the haunted, and the cursed there is no-one better suited to help than the psychic doctor of Queer Street.

Short stories included in the original printing are:

• The Case of the Bronze Door: Miles Pennoyer agrees to investigate the case of a former classmate whose recent purchase of an antique set of doors has caused strange happenings and a rift in a once-blissful marriage.
• The Case of the Haunted Cathedral: After an architect dies before the altar of his recently completed church, Pennoyer is summoned to exorcise not one but two ghosts that haunt the building.
• The Case of Ella McLeod: Pennoyer relates the tale of a lady's maid, a dog, and a fateful friendship that transcends the bounds of time.
• The Case of the White Snake: When his cousin Jane Ormond calls on him to help solve the case of a supernatural serpent appearing in the orphanage under her care, Pennoyer discovers that the spectral serpent is much more than it seems.
• The Case of the Moonchild: When the daughter of an old friend and fellow mystic begins to display unsettling behavior, Pennoyer and Latimer must race against the clock to prevent her burgeoning powers from being twisted for evil purposes.
• The Case of the Young Man with the Scar: The heir to a fortune in Canadian land prospects asks Pennoyer for help in dispelling a scar that comes and goes intermittently, only for the doctor to discover a legacy of deception, jealousy, and magic that haunts him too.
• The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe: A sweet child has suddenly turned cruel and hostile towards his family. Pennoyer suspects a changeling has taken the boy's place and must devise a way to recover the human child before his duplicate can wreck any more havoc.

Unmarked spoilers in the folders below.

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Tropes in Number Seven, Queer Street:

Tropes Present Throughout the Foreword and Stories

• The Case of...: All the stories in this volume have titles beginning with "The Case of..."
• Funetik Aksent:
  • The Case of Ella McLeod: When Ella gets worked up, her heavy Scottish accent grows stronger, reflected in the text:
    "Och, sir, wud ye do it?" In her excitement she was growing more and more Scotch. "But mind ye this—ask for yerself, sir, not for me! Say ye've found the dog hurrt on the moors, and gi'en to me to look after for ye—or till his owner's found! I ken fine his lorrdship 'ull do anythin' ye ask—but it's different for me. I dursn't ask her leddyship for myself."
  • The Case of the White Snake: Pennoyer interviews several London natives while on the trail of a mysterious young orphan's parentage, noting their "rich and fruity Cockney accent." Lawrence spells it out on the page:
    "Naow, this the the gent'man, Jenny—name of Gratton, mister. Missis Gratton—and don't you get thinkin' he's a wrong 'un or after anything he shouldn't, see? I wouldn't 'a' spoken to 'im if I 'adn't known 'e was all right... Gawn naow, Lizzie—tell the gent what you know about the kid in the photygraph I showed you. You knew 'er, you said."
    "Yerse. 'S a wop kid," said the child called Lizzie promptly. "Come dahn 'ere wiv its muvver on'y abaht a munce before the big smash... Come dahn wiv a bunch of uvver wops, cos they'd been busted aht o' their 'omes, an' a munce later—wham! They was killed, every one of 'em."
  • The Case of the Young Man with the Scar: Played Straight and Discussed, both Francine's cultured French-Canadian accent and Jacques' thick French-Canadian drawl are spelled out.
    • In Francine's case the changes are small; most of her uses of "is" are replaced by "ees" and vowels elongated:
      "All thees stuff about spirits, and magic, and ghosts... it ees plain rubbish. Onlee fairy-tales fit for children."
    • Narrator Jerome describes how he's rephrased Jacques' tale "in my own words, lest the reproduction of Jacques' oddly accented English might grow tedious after a while."
      "Eh bien, messieurs! So you are come—my leetle girl-friend lead you all right, eh? It was time—eh, yes, it was time. Come, come—you come down and sit close, eh? It will not wake our boy—my leetle charge... He sleep well—and I, Jacques Lorraine, have much to tell you."
  • The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe: Kathleen, the Irish nurse of young Patrick Flaherty, is described with a "soft brogue" transcribed as such:
    "Och, I'll tell, I'll tell!" She sobbed. "And mebbe it'll bring the peace to me sowl at last that it hasn't known for years an' years. I'll tell—and be able to face the praste again widout blushin' at the black shame of the thing I've been hidin' all these years..."
• Heroes Love Dogs:
  • Pennoyer has a wolfhound called Hans. Though the detective is often away on business, Hans is clearly fond of his master.
  • In The Case of Ella McLeod, Lady Sybil's maid Ella finds an injured collie dog and nurses him back to health. She takes to calling the dog Phryxos and the two are soon inseparable. Pennoyer helps her to take care of the dog and even puts in a good word with Lord August so that Ella can move Phryxos from a cave in the highlands to the estate's stables.
  • Overlaps with Evil-Detecting Dog in The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe. Pennoyer is told how Patrick's faithful puppy wouldn't come anywhere near him after the sudden change in the boy's personality. This fuels Pennoyer's theory that Patrick is a changeling, as "dogs are the creatures closest and most sensitive to mankind."

• Living Battery:
  • The Case of the Haunted Cathedral: Jerome asks Pennoyer how it was that he (a trained psychic doctor and a spectator of the exorcism) passed out after the Banishing Ritual and not the Dean (a clergyman with no psychic training who was performing said ritual). Pennoyer claims he was lending his strength to the Dean to enable the other man to see and interact with the Cathedral's ghosts.
  • The Case of the Moonchild: When Pennoyer performs a ritual to ask for aid from the Other Realms, Jerome allows Pennoyer to draw on him as a psychic battery. The process involves both men fasting and refraining from alcohol or tobacco in the day leading up to the ritual so as not to "muddy the waters." Jerome then has to sit still for a few hours with arms and legs uncrossed so as not to "block the flow" of psychic energy Pennoyer draws on.
    ...I knew too well the importance of fasting before an important psychic task such as the one that now faced us. My job would merely be that of a "psychic battery" on which Pen could draw for power—but that battery must be clean and strong.
    My friend would need all the power he could get to make contact with his Brothers on the Other Side, and to maintain it for as long as might be needed! And if that channel from which he must draw the power was clogged with food and drink, the supply would be poorer, as mud clogs and makes cloudy and impure a stream that should run swift and clear...
• Most Writers Are Writers: The character of Jerome Latimer introduces himself in the "foreword" as a former solicitor and current writer. The stories are written largely as accounts of cases solved by Pennoyer and later relayed to Jerome. In "The Case of the Moonchild" and "The Case of the Young Man with the Scar," the stories are told from Jerome's point of view as he tags along on one of Pennoyer's cases.
• Murder the Hypotenuse:
  • The Case of the Bronze Door: Princess H'sien ordered her servants to kill Min Tau, the wife of her lover Chen Hwang. Chen Hwang knew of Princess H'sien's plans and did nothing to stop the Princess from killing Min Tau.
  • The Case of the Young Man with the Scar: Francine Legross secretly murdered Taliseh, the wife of Paul Kynaston. Paul did not harbor romantic feelings for Francine, but was ultimately cajoled into marrying her by Francine's father to save Francine's reputation and provide a mother for Paul's young son George.
• Past-Life Memories:
  • In the Foreword Jerome relays that Pennoyer has told him they've worked as partners in previous lives. Pennoyer claims that it will be easy to "reawaken" Jerome's old skills as knowledge is never really forgotten between lives, only buried.
  • In The Case of the Bronze Door, John Satterthwaite is haunted by the specter of a lover from his past life as Chen Hwang of Imperial China. As Princess Tang H'sien captures more and more of his soul John starts to sleep-talk in Chinese. In his waking hours he begins to find his faithful wife Margaret insufferable as he's filled with longing for the specter of Tang H'sien. Miles also calls upon his past-life knowledge as a "Master" of mystic arts and former tutor of Princess H'sien, both to foil her attempts to overtake John's soul and to appeal to her pride to release him.
  • In The Case of Ella McLeod, Ella is able to dimly recall memories of her past life as an Amazonian warrior name Helle.
• Reincarnation: Past lives are a recurring theme in the stories, with Pennoyer expressing the belief that friendships, knowledge, and even debts can carry over from one lifetime to the next.
• Reincarnation Friendship:
  • Miles Pennoyer tells Jerome that they have both been reincarnated many times and have worked as partners in lifetimes past.
  • Several characters in The Case of the Bronze Door are reincarnations of lovers from an Ancient Chinese love triangle (and someone who witnessed the carnage it brought about). John Satterthwaite is the reincarnation of Chen Hwang, who was married to Min Tau before he fell in love with Princess H'sien. Margaret Satterthwaite née Trehoweth is the reincarnation of Min Tau, who was murdered by the princess' agents so that Hwang and H'sien could be together. And Miles Pennoyer is the reincarnation of a "Master" of esoteric arts who once tutored Princess H'sien.
  • In The Case of Ella McLeod, Miles discovers that Ella and her dog Phryxos are the reincarnations of an ancient Amazonian and faithful hunting hound.
  • In The Case of the White Snake, Miles performs a ritual to see if there's a connection between Colonel Nicholas Milward and baby Collette. He discovers that their souls are intrinsically linked. They've reincarnated many times over as lovers, siblings, friends, and now as a father and daughter.
• Ritual Magic: Pennoyer's training in the mystic arts has granted him knowledge of rituals that can detect, identify, control, summon, and banish the paranormal forces and supernatural creatures his confronts.
  • In The Case of the Bronze Door he mentions a battery of tests used to try and identify the "force" on the other side of the doors, like the Yimghaz Sign or the Ritual of Hloh.
  • In The Case of the White Snake, Pennoyer conducts a ritual to determine the connection between Colonel Nicholas Milward and the young orphan Collette. After collecting a lock of hair from both, he seals the hair in an envelope and sleeps while holding it and appealing to Hathiel (a spirit of connection and relationships) for guidance. Pennoyer awakens from a vision of their past lives to find that the individual hairs have become intertwined like a pad of felt, confirming his suspicion that Collette and the Colonel are blood relatives.
  • In The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe, Pennoyer conducts a ritual to get the attention of Kileen's Shee (i.e. fairies) and compel them to bargain for Patrick's life. He also creates a magic circle to protect himself and his accomplices from those same angry, extremely powerful Shee.
• The Storyteller: Jerome Latimer makes a living as a writer and has taken it upon himself to chronicle Pennoyer's more interesting cases. The stories often begin with Miles telling Jerome that he's got a new story for his friend to record.
• The Teetotaler: Miles Pennoyer doesn't drink alcohol or smoke tobacco, as he claims it interferes with his "vibrations."
• Together in Death:
  • The Case of the Bronze Door: The ghost of Princess Tang H'sien attempts to kill John Satterthwaite (the reincarnation of her lover Chen Hwang) so that his spirit can join her in the afterlife.
  • The Case of Ella McLeod: Ella and Phryxos are the reincarnation of an Amazonian warrior and her faithful hunting hound, but their circumstances in modern Britain prevent them from staying together. They throw themselves off a cliff and drown in the loch beneath.
• The Watson: Jerome has a bit of psychic training under his belt thanks to his friendship with Pennoyer, but still serves as the grounded, everyman-question-asker to the genius detective.

The Case of the Bronze Door

• Agony of the Feet: Pennoyer makes mention of H'sien's bound feet and small, graceful steps several times when describing the apparition's foreign beauty.
• Betty and Veronica:
  • "Betty" here is Margaret Satterthwaite née Trehoweth/ Min Tau. Originally the faithful wife of Chen Hwang, Min Tau was killed on Princess H'sien's orders so that the princess might have Chen Hwang all to herself. Reincarnated as Margaret Trehoweth, she married Chen Hwang's reincarnation John Satterthwaite and they started a family. She is a kind, simple soul that Pennoyer describes as "childish," and though utterly devoted to helping her husband Pennoyer describes her as lacking an essential force of will or personality to keep her beloved rooted in the mortal world.
  • "Veronica" is Princess Tang H'sien. Regal, beautiful, and willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of her love (up to and including the reincarnation of her lover, so that they can be Together in Death). Pennoyer recognizes that H'sien may be Chen Hwang's true love or soulmate, but Chen Hwang can never properly join her in the afterlife until his karmic debt to Min Tau is paid.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Princess H'sien and Chen Hwang fell in love, though Chen Hwang was already married to Min Tau. The Princess had Min Tau killed. After H'sien and and Chen Hwang had died, the Princess' spirit continued to wait for him in some form of limbo. When H'sien does locate the soul of her love, he has been reincarnated as John Satterthwaite and married Min Tau's reincarnation Margaret Trehoweth. Having finally found the object of her affection after 3,000 years of waiting, H'sien attempts to capture John/ Hwang's soul so that they can be together in death. Pennoyer points out that Chen Hwang is not free to join H'sien and move on to "whatever comes next" since he owes a debt to Min Tau, and if it is not paid as John Satterthwaite it will have to be paid in another life. H'sien remains unmoved. It takes an impassioned argument from Pennoyer, the reminder that Chen Hwang's soul will meet her again after his debt is paid, and finally an appeal to H'sien's familial honor to convince her to release her hold on John/ Hwang.
• A Deadly Affair: Chen Hwang married Min Tau before meeting Princess Tang H'sien. Chen Hwang and Princess H'sien fell in love, and the Princess ordered her servants to kill Min Tau so that she could have Chen Hwang to herself.
• Discreet Drink Disposal: Pennoyer pretends to accept a drink from John in order to get the other man to loosen up and imbibe. He disposes of the drink in a potted plant.
• Imperial China: Depicted in the loosest sense of the word, as author Lawrence seems to have throw a handful of cultural touchstones in a blender and call it "Old China." The apparition of Princess Tang H'sien of the House of Chung claims to have waited "three thousand years and more" to reunite with Chen Hwang. Jerome estimates that the bronze doors she stepped through are from the "Sung Dynasty" [sic] (which lasted from 960 CE until 1279 CE). Pennoyer notes that Princess H'sein has bound feet — a tradition which did not start until after 1000 CE.
• Inscrutable Oriental: Pennoyer describes Princess Tang H'sien's faultless composure and ability to disguise her emotions as one of her most attractive features.
• Love Triangle: Chen Hwang was happily married to Min Tau before meeting and falling in love with Princess Tang H'sien. Princess H'sien loved Chen Hwang back, and being a Clingy Jealous Girl she ordered her servants to kill Min Tau so that she could have Chen Hwang to herself.
• Purgatory and Limbo: Implied, strangely enough for a work that focuses on Reincarnation Romance. Rather than enter the cycle of reincarnation, Princess Tang H'sien has been waiting in the afterlife for Chen Hwang's reincarnated soul to stumble over a relic of their time together. Pennoyer makes it clear to H'sien that even if she snares Hwang's soul, they won't be able to "move on" together until his karmic debt is paid off.
• Reincarnation Romance: As part of a Love Triangle, nonetheless: In the past, Chen Hwang was happily married to Min Tau before meeting and falling in love with Princess Tang H'sien. H'sien reciprocated Hwang's feelings and had Min Tau killed. Hwang is reincarnated in the twentieth century as John Satterthwaite and Min Tau as Margaret Trehoweth. They are blissfully happy as a married couple until the spirit of H'sien finds them and tries to ensnare John/ Hwang's soul, re-awakening his Past-Life Memories of his devotion to her.

The Case of the Haunted Cathedral

• Banishing Ritual: Pennoyer and the Dean perform an exorcism of the specters haunting the cathedral. After causing the two spirits to manifest at the same time, they ask the little girl to forgive the spirit of Gregg Hart. Once she has done so, her "pure soul" is free to pass into heaven and Hart's soul is free to move on to whatever comes next — based on Pennoyer's views on reincarnation, it probably involves repaying his karmic debts in the next life.
• Blood for Mortar: Architect Gregg Hart became obsessed with the idea that the delays in completing his cathedral were due to occult forces working against him. In his madness, he killed a child and buried her body beneath the paving stones of the church to appease these forces and ensure that his work could be completed. When Pennoyer and the Dean discover this, the girl's body is moved out of the cathedral and buried properly in the graveyard.
• Creepy Cathedral: Even before work was completed on the Nants Cathedral, the artisans and builders report seeing a ghost wandering the building or hearing childish laughter around the corners. Architect Gregg Hart refused to set foot in the construction site after dark, and after the church was completed he killed himself at the altar. When the Cathedral was opened for service parishioners reported seeing ghosts and feeling an overwhelming sense of dread or fear while in the building. A visiting Bishop even fainted while administering communion, reporting that he'd seen an apparition during the service. All these creepy occurrences are because the building was haunted by two spirits — the ghost of a little girl Gregg Hart murdered in a fit of madness, and the sorry specter of Gregg Hart.
• Driven to Suicide: After the cathedral is finished and consecrated, Gregg Hart regains enough of a grip on his sanity to realize the magnitude of his actions. He poisons himself on the steps of the altar while begging the ghost of the little girl he murdered to forgive him.
• Human Sacrifice: Driven to despair, paranoia, and finally madness by the delays in the construction of his masterwork, Gregg Hart murdered a young girl and buried her body near the altar. A part of him believed that doing so would placate whatever forces were hindering the completion of the cathedral.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The people of Nants first get the idea that something is wrong with Gregg Hart when he begins to act strangely. Formerly The Teetotaler, Hart begins drinking to excess. While he had previously kept to himself and refused all social invitations, Hart goes out of his way to attend dinner parties, teas, luncheons, and will overstay his welcome in a bid to keep from being left alone. This culminates in Hart's suicide in the newly completed cathedral.
• Shout-Out: When describing the Dean and Nun who put him up in Nants, Pennoyer describes them as looking like a pair of "Kewpie" dolls.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Pennoyer stakes out the Cathedral during the night and notes that ghosts and hauntings tend to appear most commonly around midnight, when the barrier between worlds is thinnest. Like clockwork, the same two ghosts appear in the cathedral every night at midnight.
• Would Hurt a Child: Descending into madness, Walter Gregg Hart murdered a child and buried her body in his church.

The Case of Ella McLeod

• Hypno Fool: Lord August's wife Sybil invited Pennoyer to their estate show him off as a curiosity for her friends. Pennoyer is annoyed with her but eventually shows off by hypnotizing other guests for Sybil's amusement, convincing them to flirt with suits of armor or retell shameful family secrets.
• Mister Muffykins: Sybil keeps a Pekinese called "Pooti," which Pennoyer notes is just as spoiled and yappy as its mistress. This stands in contrast to Ella and her collie dog Phryxos, who is described as a noble and intelligent creature.
• Nobility Marries Money: Pennoyer expresses his disappointment with August's choice of wife as Sybil is an American, a widow, and a social climber who was only truly interested in Lord August's title. Though she brought her own money to the marriage, she didn't bring much else.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Ella McLeod claims that the name "Ella" has never truly fit her, and she instead prefers to be called "Helle." When she finds an injured collie dog, she names him Phryxos.Helle/Ellie and Phrixus/ Phryxos are a pair of twins from Greek mythology. The mythological Helle drowned in the Mediterranean sea. Ella and Phryxos drown in the loch near Lord August's estate.
• Shout-Out: Ella McLeod's last name may be a reference to "Fiona MacLeod", the pen name of Scottish writer William Sharp.

The Case of the White Snake

• Abandoned War Child: Collette was orphaned when a German air raid destroyed the bomb shelter in the basement of the Exeter Assurance Building in London where she and her mother had taken cover, killing nearly everyone inside. Collette was one of the few survivors pulled from the wreckage. With her mother dead and father unknown, the little girl was sent to Jane's orphanage.
• Awful Wedded Life: Colonel Nicholas Milward and Mrs. Milward had something of an arranged marriage that neither of them enjoyed. The Colonel's one desire was to have children, but Mrs. Milward is described as vain, shallow, mean-spirited, and determined not to have children solely to spite her husband. She frequently engaged in extramarital affairs and flaunted her infidelity. The Colonel took up a post with the British Army in India to get as far away from her as possible. When Mrs. Milward was injured and institutionalization, the Colonel refused to abandon her as she lingered in a state of delirium for years. When he found true happiness and companionship with Marie-Louise, he was forced to keep their love a secret to protect both of their reputations.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Jane Ormond, who is six feet tall and "broad as a caryatid." Pennoyer describes her as having been too large to be beautiful when she was younger but having grown into her height and build as she aged so that she now looks quite handsome.
  She was a "big" woman in every sense of the word—big-hearted, courageous, good-humoured, tolerant—and her body seemed to me the only body type that could ever truly express her. As tall as myself—and I am nearly six foot—with a broad and noble breast behind the severe white apron, hips and shoulders as wide as a Caryatid's...
• Blitz Evacuees: Little Collette was one of the few survivors of an air raid that destroyed the bomb shelter in the basement of the Exeter Assurance building in London. After her rescue, she was sent to an orphanage in the countryside.
• Costume Porn: Mrs. Drury's extravagant dinner outfit gets a paragraph of detailing about the gold stitching and black fox fur trim. (Meanwhile, Pennoyer's wardrobe is never described until he gets dressed for bed.)
  Mrs. Drury was a plump, pleasant-faced widow of roughly sixty or perhaps a little less, dressed in black satin with one of those vague, rather bitty garments that used to be known as "Bridge-coats" —made, as far as I could see, of a sort of flowered brocade trimmed with a bordering of black fur. Jane later informed me that the lady had probably paid a great deal of money for the said garment, as it was shot with gold thread and the fur was black fox—but I am bound to say it still looked to me like a rather ornate sort of dressing-jacket. Still, I could see that the diamonds she wore were obviously fine—two or three rings, an old-fashioned but handsome butterfly brooch, and ear-rings to match—and she carried a bag made of beautiful French petit-point work with a jeweled fastening.
• Madwoman in the Attic: Colonel Milward's first wife was horribly injured in a riding accident with one of her many extramarital affairs, and even when she had recovered physically she was never quite the same mentally. Between bouts of wellness where she was deemed sane enough to live with her husband's sister Mrs. Drury, Mrs. Milward would have to be sent back to the sanitorium for medical supervision.
• Meaningful Name: The character of Jane Ormond (a woman who loves children and has dedicated her life to caring for the orphans under her charge) is likely named after Great Ormond Street Hospital (a hospital that caters specifically to children).
• Orphanage of Love: Miles Pennoyer's cousin Jane Ormond is the matron of the orphanage at Abbot's Holme, and she has dedicated her life to making the institution as comfortable and loving as it can be. She led the charge to see the dreary 1870's building renovated with cheerful murals of Disney cartoons painted on the walls and sprawling green lawns for the children to play on. Jane had a gymnasium built for the children, with plans to build a swimming pool and add self defense courses to their physical education curriculum. The children's gray uniforms were replaced with colorful clothes at her insistence, and even the caretakers wear brightly colored dresses instead of drab habits. Jane's first priority is to make sure the children know they are loved and cared for, and she is clearly beloved by her charges.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: Played With, as the plot trinket that proves Collette's identity as Colonel Milward's daughter was not in her possession but kept safe by a friend. When Pennoyer investigates the site of the bomb shelter where Collette was found in London, he brings along her photo and asks neighbors if they remembered the toddler. A local girl named Liz volunteers that the toddler in the photo is named "Nicky," and that she used to babysit for her. Nicky's mother was a foreigner with no husband and "a Roman" (i.e. Catholic) and largely kept to herself — but she lent Liz a small prayer card on the night before she died in the bombing. Liz kept the card and gives it to Pennoyer, who sees a handwritten prayer for the safety of Ms. Marie-Louise Poulain and her baby Nicolette. On seeing the card Colonel Milward recognizes Marie-Louise's handwriting immediately. She was his lover and the mother of his child. Marie-Louise had suddenly vanished two years ago with their baby Nicolette and the Colonel had been searching for them ever since.
• Parental Substitute: Overlaps with Promotion to Parent — Pennoyer's cousin Jane Ormond raised him after his parents died. Years later he still thinks of her exceedingly fondly.
• Promotion to Parent: Downplayed, though it overlaps with Parental Substitute — Jane Ormond is Pennoyer's cousin rather than a sibling, but she took him in and "mothered" him after the death of his parents.
• Shout-Out:
  • The case of the "Gleaming Dog" and Pennoyer mentions may be a reference to The Hound of the Baskervilles.
  • All the dormitories in the orphanage are named after Disney animations including Western Animation/Dumbo, Western Animation/Bambi, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • Pennoyer describes the size of the snake as larger than anything even Münchausen would have claimed to encounter.
  • Colonel Milward is described looking like the White Knight of Alice in Wonderland — given that the the short story was published in 1945, Pennoyer is probably referring to Gary Cooper as the White Knight in the 1933 film.

The Case of the Moonchild

• The Antichrist: Although the word "antichrist" is never used in-story, the Nekromis Cult aimed to bring about the birth of an evil super-human entity who would subjugate the world's populace in the name of their evil moon goddess. The entity can only enter the world through immaculate conception in the body of a psychically-sensitive virgin. Priests of Nekromis cloak themselves in the trappings of Christian mystics, and Father Aloysius even wears a jeweled crucifix with an image of Nekromis engraved on the back — the whole thing can be flipped around and suspended upside down for his evil ceremonies.
• Astral Projection: Used liberally in the short story:
  • After Jerome and Miles examine Father Aloysius' cross, Miles projects himself onto the grounds of Aloysius' sanctuary to snoop around.
  • Later in the story, Miles enlists Jerome's aid as a Living Battery of psychic energy so that Pennoyer can project himself into an otherworldly council of fellow-mystics and powers from beyond the mortal world.
  • Finally, Pennoyer allows Jerome to tag along when it's time to stop the cult's ritual — but as an astral projection rather than in-the-flesh. Pennoyer claims that it's far too dangerous for Jerome to attend in person, and Jerome reluctantly agrees to this protective measure on remembering his extreme reaction to the ritual chanting they heard when they spied on the grounds in-person.
• Backup from Otherworld: Implied — Pennoyer requests the assistance of various psychic masters whom he meets on the spiritual plane. They are able to assist him in destroying the Cult's leaders with incredible displays of power, appearing as towering flames surrounding Pennoyer's body.
• Brown Note: Jerome is paralyze with fear by supernatural chanting the girls at the sanctuary are made to practice in the gardens. Pennoyer is able to use his psychic powers to temporarily block Jerome's sense of hearing so that he can escape.
• Damsel in Distress: Mona, the teenage daughter of Pennoyer's friend and fellow mystic, is being hypnotically groomed by the leader of an evil moon cult into participating in a ritual that will kill her and bring about the birth of The Antichrist.
• Hypnotize the Captive: The all-female student body of Father Aloysius' "Sanctuary" have been repeatedly hypnotized (and likely drugged) into compliance with the cult's goals. Mona herself has been routinely hypnotized by Father Aloysius so as not to divulge the contents of her "private lessons," which were actually sessions to psychically prepare her for taking part in the Cult's ritual.
• God of the Moon: Pennoyer battles a cult that worships the evil moon goddess Nekromis.
• Virgin Sacrifice: The "great evil" that the Nekromis Cult wants to summon can only enter the world by incubating in the body of a psychically sensitive virgin born on a particular date under a particular star sign. Pennoyer states that the birth of such a horrid creature would kill its "mother," having drained her life energy to create a corporeal form. The prior death of two girls in "Sanctuaries" headed by the Nekromis Cult leads Pennoyer to suspect Mona isn't the first virgin they've tried to use as a host.
• Western Zodiac: The cult's Virgin Sacrifice is required be a Cancer (due to the sign's ancient association with the moon) and must have been born on either June 21 or July 22 — technically making the victim a "cuspal" Gemini/Cancer or Cancer/Leo.

The Case of the Young Man with the Scar

• Comforting the Widow: Francine insinuated herself into the Kynaston household even before she caused Taliseh's death. In the month's following Taliseh's drowning, Francine spent as much time as possible with Paul and his family to try and seduce him. When that failed, her father Gaspard shamed Paul into marrying Francine by claiming Paul has ruined her reputation (and therefore her marriageability) by allowing her to spend so much time alone with him, an unmarried man.
• Demonic Possession: George is possessed by the ghost of his father's best friend Jacques Lorraine. Jacques is trying to help George break free of Francine's spell so that the boy can regain his memories, restore his true personality, and return to Canada where he belongs.
• Easy Amnesia: Francine and Gaspard are able to cast a spell on young George that overwrites his personality and causes him to forget most of his childhood. She is later able to reverse the effects of the spell with a few gestures and mumbled chants over his unconscious body.

• Idle Rich: Francine and George have boatloads of money from George's inheritance. They spend lavishly on travel, clothes, parties, and other frivolities without needing to work. Francine is aiming to get even more money once George comes of age, at which point she can bully him into selling his father's Canadian land for millions of dollars (of which she will be "entitled" to half).
• Karma Houdini: Francine is confronted with irrefutable evidence of her crimes (killing Taliseh, killing Paul Kynaston, brainwashing their son George, and attempting to steal the boy's inheritance) and forced to release George from her spell, but she never faces any true punishment for her misdeeds. Pennoyer states that the widow's stipend from Paul's will allows her to buy a beachside house in the South of France. She retires there to live out the rest of her days in Mediterranean comfort, with no comeuppance other than time to stew over her defeat.
• Magical Native American: Played Straight and Exaggerated. This tropes is present in spades in this short story:
  • Francine Legross and her father Gaspard are both capable of casting spells and brewing up quasi-magical concoctions. They're able to wipe out all of George's memories and personality from his early life.
  • Jacques Lorraine performs a ritual (using his native mother's "Seminole magic") to bind George to the "Brotherhood of the Trees" so that he will always be called back to Canada.
  • Pennoyer claims that any amount of "red Indian blood" makes one more psychically sensitive.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Francine kills Paul's wife Taliseh so that she can marry Paul, and then when Paul begins to grow suspicious of Francine she kills him as well. In both cases, she makes the deaths look like tragic accidents:
  • Taliseh drowns in a rushing river while the Kynaston family is on a picnic (with Jacques and Francine along for the day). Paul, Jacques, and George had gone for a short walk, only for Francine to chase them down and tell them Taliseh fell into the river. Francine describes how the other woman "lost her balance," and points out the spot where a section of the riverbank appears to have suddenly subsided into the waters. Even so, Jacques has his doubts. When he returns to the spot to investigate he finds a mud-covered "spike of wood" hidden behind a tree that may have been used to dig away at the river bank, but no other solid evidence that could implicate Francine. Taliseh's spirit later confirms that Francine hit her over the head and pushed her into the river.
  • Francine marries Paul, but he begins to discover something of her true personality when she throws a screaming fit because he refuses to leave their home on the frontier to participate in "high society." Paul dies soon afterwards when his best horse bucks him off during a ride through the woods. Jacques discovers a strange sore under the horse's saddle that makes him suspicious, but again there is no irrefutable evidence of Francine's involvement. Later on it is revealed that Francine was responsible for Paul's death — she snuck a packet of caustic chemicals beneath the saddle that drove the horse mad with pain, causing it to throw Paul to his death and leaving Francine a wealthy widow.
• Mountain Man: Jacques Lorraine was a semi-itinerant hunter, trapper, and guide before being hired on a permanent basis by Paul Kynaston. He retained all of his survival skills after settling down, and passed on a love of the natural world to Paul's son George.
• Naturalized Name: Francine and her father Gaspard Legross changed their names to sound less-indigenous and more-French-Canandian when they moved to Beauvallet. Francine's birth name (and the name the specter of Jacques Lorraine threatens her with) is Miretonka, while her father's name is "Chichekeewis, Chief of the Wapokes."
• Nested Story: Downplayed — Pennoyer and Jerome follow the sleepwalking George out into the countryside and discover that his unconscious body is possessed by the ghost of his father's best friend and right hand man Jacques Lorraine. The two interview Jacques, who goes into a lengthy digression about George's family tree (including the story of how Jacques came to work for George's father Paul Kynaston; how Paul met Francine and spurned her for Taliseh; how Francine plotted to kill Taliseh and marry Paul for his money, then killed Paul when he grew suspicious of her; how Jacques used ancient Seminole magic to bind young George's soul to the Canadian wilderness; and how Francine brainwashed her stepson George into believing she was his birth mother so that she could extract a greater share of the Kynaston fortune from him) and how he came to be possessing the son of his best friend. This backstory revealing tale takes up a third the total page length of the short story (roughly 32 of 98).
• Nouveau Riche: Discussed. Though the Kynastons have funds aplenty, Pennoyer notes that all the money in the world can't buy Francine the upper class manners or ease around other wealthy individuals that she so desperately desires. There's also a tinge of racism wrapped up in this analysis when he discovers her native ancestry, claiming her Magical Native American blood makes her closer to the Earth and more susceptible to supernatural phenomenon.
  Mrs. Kynaston wore a silver brocade gown with a blue fox cape thrown over her thick shoulders, with diamonds in her ears and on her bosom and glittering on her arms—stones that threw Dolly Endean's simple string of pearls and Lady Leila's old-fashioned amethysts completely in the shade. She dressed like a noveau riche, that was true—but at the same time she had a sort of barbaric queenliness that was not unimpressive.
• Sleepwalking: George starts sleepwalking when he visits Endean and Dolly's country manor. The butler is the first to notice, watching an unconscious George walk out the parlor doors and disappear into the garden in the middle of the night. It turns out the spirit of Jacques Lorraine was causing him to sleep in the woods as it attempted to reawaken George's dormant memories.
• Unfinished Business: The spirits of Jacques Lorraine and Taliseh haunt George Kynaston in order to protect him from his Wicked Stepmother Francine. Jacques even possesses George's unconscious body on multiple occasions to try and get help.
• Wicked Stepmother: Francine killed George's mother Taliseh so that she could marry his father Paul Kynaston and have access to Paul's fortune. When Paul discovered Francine's true personality, she killed him too. She would have killed George to get her hands on his inheritance if Paul's will didn't specify that George's survival was the only way she could get access to the fortune. Then she brainwashed the young George into believing she was his birth mother and leaving his home in Canada (where his faithful guardians Mere Bionet and Jacques Lorraine could keep an eye on him) in a bid to steal away a greater portion of his inheritance.

The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe

• Changeling Tale: Patrick, a child whose personality has suddenly shifted, turns out to be a changeling. The real Patrick was stolen away when his nurse left him sleeping in a fairy glen belonging to the "Shee" — the same fairy glen Patrick's father had clear-cut in an ill-advised bid to construct a nine-hole golf course on his Killeen estate. Knowing that the changeling will continue to wreck havoc in the human realm if left unchecked, Pennoyer enlists the help of the child's Aunt Cathie and her chauffeur Hammond to "exorcise" the changeling and demand the Shee return the real Patrick. When they succeed, the real Patrick is restored with no memory of his years spent amongst the fairies.
• Creepy Child: Patrick Flaherty used to be a sweet, normal child until his personality changed overnight. Suddenly he began to exhibit unusual cruelty, secretiveness, and manipulative tendencies that upset everyone he comes in contact with. Other children and even adults avoid him, sensing that there's something wrong with the child.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Patrick's concerned Aunt reports to Pennoyer that before the change in the boy's disposition, Patrick had a puppy companion from whom he was inseparable — after the change, his puppy wouldn't go near him. The other dogs of the household also avoid the child, which Pennoyer pays close attention to as "dogs are the creatures closest and most sensitive to mankind." It fuels Pennoyer's theory that the boy is a Changeling that had been swapped for the real Patrick. Interestingly, Patrick acquired a pet cat after his sudden personality change. The cat was only friendly towards the boy and hated all other members of the household (and was even compelled by Patrick to attack and nearly cause the death of his Aunt Cathie). Patrick demonstrates the ability to call wild animals like birds and bats to his side by imitating their cries, even being able to command them to cause mischief.
• Familiar: Discussed — Hammond the chauffeur compares a cat Patrick kept to a familiar, calling them animals given to witches by the devil with which to work evil deeds. (Mind, this is the cat Patrick ordered to attack his Aunt Cathie. The cat nearly scratched her eye out before the Cathie shoved it away, but then she tripped down the stairs and broke her hip. Hammond saw the whole thing happen and had good reason to suspect Patrick and the cat of misdeeds.)
• Fat and Skinny: Aggie Flaherty née Cargill is plump and round, while her sister Cathie Cargill is lean and narrow. Aggie is emotional and easily swayed, Cathie is stern and steadfast.
• Give the Baby a Father: A subplot sees young Patrick meddling in the courtship between the Flaherty's gardener George and housemaid Molly; Molly winds up pregnant after an affair with "Bert the gypsy tramp" (encouraged by Patrick's deliberate manipulations) and George nearly dies after a violent confrontation with the father of the child. The gardener survives the assault. He proposes to Molly to protect her honor and raise the child, as Bert has disappeared to avoid the responsibilities of fatherhood and attempted murder charges for stabbing George.
• Halloween Episode: Pennoyer chooses to conduct his negotiations with the Shee on Halloween, since it's the time of year "when the borderline between the two worlds grows so slender that one may step across it more easily than at any other time of the year..."
• Noodle Incident: The story opens with Pennoyer describing how he's just solved "The Case of the Dumb Child," which is not among the twelve canonical Miles Pennoyer stories.
• Psychometry: Pennoyer uses his occult training to investigate Patrick's belongings, including a sketchbook filled with pictures that radiate malevolence. Patrick displays similar powers and claims to know Pennoyer rifled through his belongings because he could feel Pennoyer's energy signature on them.
• Shout-Out: Patrick plays a literally haunting rendition of Sibelius' "Valse Triste" on the piano — Pennoyer describes how the music seems to summon figures that dance in the shadows of the room and holds the listeners spellbound.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Two figures can be saddled with the blame for Patrick's Changeling Tale woes:
  • The first is Patrick's father, who engendered the anger of the local Shee (or fair folk) and gave them a motive to target Patrick. Mr. Flaherty built a golf course on his estate in Kileen and in the process he clearcut an important site for the local Shee. Mr. Flaherty bore the brunt of the Shee's wrath when he was killed in a suspicious car accident (implied to have been caused by the Shee), but the Shee's campaign of vengeance extended to Patrick when they kidnapped the child and substituted one of their own youngsters for the human boy.
  • Patrick's nursemaid Kathleen provided the Shee with the opportunity to kidnap Patrick. Kathleen was the one who took little Patrick on a walk through the golf course, then left him unattended at the very spot the Shee claimed as their "Council Room" while she went off on a romantic tryst with a peat cutter. This was when the Shee swapped Patrick for one of their own.

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