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Flaxman Low

Occult Detective

Part of MIT Press / Radium Age

Author E. and H. Heron

Introduction by Alexander B. Joy

Edited by Alexander B. Joy

Paperback

$19.95 US

The MIT Press

5.31"W x 7.94"H x 0.72"D (13.5 x 20.2 x 1.8 cm) | 9 oz (244 g) | 33 per carton

On sale Mar 10, 2026 | 260 Pages | 9780262051651

Sales rights: World

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Fiction > Science Fiction

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The weird—and weirdly delightful—adventures of fiction’s first occult detective.

Flaxman Low, literature’s first professional, full-time “occult detective”—that is, an intrepid investigator who deploys the scientific method when tackling paranormal phenomena—appeared in a dozen stories first published from 1898–1899. His creators, the mother-and-son team Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard and Hesketh “Hex” Prichard (who published as “E. and H. Heron”), endowed the Oxford-trained psychologist with the bravery and acumen to tackle every sort of adversary from ghosts, mummies, and vampires to a mushroom mannequin. Both less credulous and less cynical than earlier fictional investigators of the spirit world, Low always triumphs in the end . . . but not before scientifically demonstrating that even the most outré incidents and situations can’t hold a candle to the bizarre capacities of the human mind.

ENDORSEMENTS

“At once dashing and cerebral, Flaxman Low is a supernatural Sherlock Holmes investigating the surreal and impossible, created by a mother and son duo who themselves seem to have come from a pulp story. Great to see these stories in a new edition!”
—Daniel Polansky, author of the Low Town book series

“New, disgusting, delightful thrills.”
—The Outlook (1899)

E. and H. Heron was a collective pseudonym used by the English writers Hesketh Prichard (1876–1922) and his mother, Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard (1851–1935). “Hex” was an explorer, cricketer, naturalist, soldier, and travel writer. Kate, also an intrepid globetrotter, voyaged with her son to many remote locations; Rio Caterina, in Patagonia, is named after her. In addition to creating Flaxman Low, one of the first modern occult detectives in fiction, the duo wrote stories about Captain Rallywood and Don Q.

Alexander B. Joy earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Legend of the River King.

E. and H. Heron View titles by E. and H. Heron

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Table of Contents:
Series Foreword
Joshua Glenn
Introduction: All Is Natural
Alexander B. Joy
Introduction
The Story of “The Spaniards,” Hammersmith
The Story of Medhans Lea
The Story of the Moor Road
The Story of Baelbrow
The Story of the Grey House
The Story of Yand Manor House
The Story of Sevens Hall
The Story of Saddler’s Croft
The Story of No. 1 Karma Crescent
The Story of Konnor Old House
The Story of Crowsedge
The Story of Mr. Flaxman Low

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