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The Exploits of Fidelity Dove
“The smartest crook in London, in the world, in history.” ~Detective-Inspector Rason, The Great Kabul, 1924
Charming, angelic-looking, and always dressed in grey, the strict, puritanical Fidelity Dove is hardly what she seems. Head of a gang of highly skilled men, consisting of a lawyer, an actor, a scientist, and other devoted servants, Fidelity rights the wrongs committed against those unable to help themselves, generally turning a handsome profit.
The twelve tales in this volume were first published in 1924 by William Edward Vickers under the pseudonym David Durham. The collection was re-issued in 1935 under the author’s pseudonym, Roy Vickers. Though a few of the stories have appeared individually in anthologies over the years The Exploits of Fidelity Dove remains one of the rarest volumes of crime fiction of the twentieth century. This is the first re-issuing of the complete original work in almost 90 years.
William Edward Vickers (1889–1965) was an English mystery writer. He authored over 60 crime novels and 80 short stories publishing under the pen names of Roy Vickers, David Durham, Sefton Kyle, and John Spencer. He is best remembered for his series of short stories featuring the fictional Department of Dead Ends at Scotland Yard, a special crimes unit that specialized in solving cold cases. Other notable works include The Girl in the News (1938), She Walked in Fear (1940), Murder of a Snob (1951), Murder in Two Flats (1952), and Find the Innocent (1961).
This is the second of four anthologies that collects the classic tales of the Great Ladies of Crime. The volume includes: A Face and a Fortune, Suspense, The Genuine Old Master, A Classic Forgery, The Gulverbery Diamonds, The Merchant Princess, Fourteen Hundred Percent, A Deal in Reputations, The Laughing Nymph, Proverbs and Prophets, The Meanest Man in Europe, and The Great Kabul. Many of these stories have been republished for the very first time. Enjoy!
Charming, angelic-looking, and always dressed in grey, the strict, puritanical Fidelity Dove is hardly what she seems. Head of a gang of highly skilled men, consisting of a lawyer, an actor, a scientist, and other devoted servants, Fidelity rights the wrongs committed against those unable to help themselves, generally turning a handsome profit.
The twelve tales in this volume were first published in 1924 by William Edward Vickers under the pseudonym David Durham. The collection was re-issued in 1935 under the author’s pseudonym, Roy Vickers. Though a few of the stories have appeared individually in anthologies over the years The Exploits of Fidelity Dove remains one of the rarest volumes of crime fiction of the twentieth century. This is the first re-issuing of the complete original work in almost 90 years.
William Edward Vickers (1889–1965) was an English mystery writer. He authored over 60 crime novels and 80 short stories publishing under the pen names of Roy Vickers, David Durham, Sefton Kyle, and John Spencer. He is best remembered for his series of short stories featuring the fictional Department of Dead Ends at Scotland Yard, a special crimes unit that specialized in solving cold cases. Other notable works include The Girl in the News (1938), She Walked in Fear (1940), Murder of a Snob (1951), Murder in Two Flats (1952), and Find the Innocent (1961).
This is the second of four anthologies that collects the classic tales of the Great Ladies of Crime. The volume includes: A Face and a Fortune, Suspense, The Genuine Old Master, A Classic Forgery, The Gulverbery Diamonds, The Merchant Princess, Fourteen Hundred Percent, A Deal in Reputations, The Laughing Nymph, Proverbs and Prophets, The Meanest Man in Europe, and The Great Kabul. Many of these stories have been republished for the very first time. Enjoy!
320 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1924
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About the author
Roy Vickers
141 books6 followersWilliam Edward Vickers (1889 - 1965) was an English mystery writer better known under his pen name Roy Vickers, but he also wrote under the pseudonyms Roy C. Vickers, David Durham, Sefton Kyle, and John Spencer.
He is now remembered mostly for his attribution to Scotland Yard of a Department of Dead Ends, specialising in solving old, sometimes long-forgotten cases, mostly by chance encounters of odd bits of strange and apparently disconnected evidence.
He was educated at Charterhouse School, and left Brasenose College, Oxford, without a degree. For some time he studied law at the Middle Temple, but never practised.
He married Mary Van Rossem and they had one son.
He worked as a journalist, court reporter, magazine editor and wrote a large number of non-fiction articles which he sold in the hundreds to newspapers and magazines.
Between November 1913 and February 1917, 20 short stories by Vickers were published in the 'Novel Magazine', which he edited. And in 1914 he published his first book, a biography of Field Marshal Frederick, Earl Roberts entitled 'Lord Roberts The Story of His Life'.
In September 1934, 'The Rubber Trumpet', the first of 37 stories featuring the fictitious Department of Dead Ends, appeared in Pearson's Magazine. This was subsequently collected with other stories in 'The Department of Dead Ends' (1949). Another series of his books featured his heroine Felicity Dove.
In 1960 he edited the Crime Writers' Association's anthology of short stories 'Some Like Them Dead'.
The Manchester Evening News called one of his collections, 'one of the half-dozen successful books of detective short stories published since the days of Sherlock Holmes'.
Some of his work has been adapted for film such as 'Girl in the News' (1940), 'Violent Moment' (1959) and there were three of his stories used as episodes in television's 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' series (Season 3: 1957-58).
He died in Hampstead in 1965.
Note: He was born in the first quarter of 1889 and he died in the third quarter of 1965 so the dates of death above reflect that no definite date is known for either event.
He is now remembered mostly for his attribution to Scotland Yard of a Department of Dead Ends, specialising in solving old, sometimes long-forgotten cases, mostly by chance encounters of odd bits of strange and apparently disconnected evidence.
He was educated at Charterhouse School, and left Brasenose College, Oxford, without a degree. For some time he studied law at the Middle Temple, but never practised.
He married Mary Van Rossem and they had one son.
He worked as a journalist, court reporter, magazine editor and wrote a large number of non-fiction articles which he sold in the hundreds to newspapers and magazines.
Between November 1913 and February 1917, 20 short stories by Vickers were published in the 'Novel Magazine', which he edited. And in 1914 he published his first book, a biography of Field Marshal Frederick, Earl Roberts entitled 'Lord Roberts The Story of His Life'.
In September 1934, 'The Rubber Trumpet', the first of 37 stories featuring the fictitious Department of Dead Ends, appeared in Pearson's Magazine. This was subsequently collected with other stories in 'The Department of Dead Ends' (1949). Another series of his books featured his heroine Felicity Dove.
In 1960 he edited the Crime Writers' Association's anthology of short stories 'Some Like Them Dead'.
The Manchester Evening News called one of his collections, 'one of the half-dozen successful books of detective short stories published since the days of Sherlock Holmes'.
Some of his work has been adapted for film such as 'Girl in the News' (1940), 'Violent Moment' (1959) and there were three of his stories used as episodes in television's 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' series (Season 3: 1957-58).
He died in Hampstead in 1965.
Note: He was born in the first quarter of 1889 and he died in the third quarter of 1965 so the dates of death above reflect that no definite date is known for either event.
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July 21, 2025
A girl out of her era.
Miss Fidelity Dove is a Victorian miss if I ever met one. Her ethereal beauty (corn gold hair, violet eyes) owes everything to nature and nothing to beautification products. If she wears cosmetics, they're so muted no one knows. Her dress is modest, always Quaker grey, with touches of white. Her manners are timid and lady-like. She spouts sentimental, high-flown moralisms like a fountain spouts water.
Her outlook is somber and womanly. Innocent girls must be protected from lecherous men. Greed must be defeated and the greedy shown the error of their ways. Everything she does is with a view toward upholding the morals she cherishes. She's also a crook, but nobody's perfect.
She's a criminal mastermind heading a gang of respectable, professional men who would never have stepped out of line except that they're madly in love with the beautiful Fidelity. They worship at the feet of this divine goddess of All That is Pure. And worshipping her is all they get to do, too. Impossible to imagine a man finding his way into Fidelity's chaste bedroom. Utterly impossible.
Vicker's stories about her fit beautifully into the days when Queen Victoria (also an upholder of purity, but not as decorative as Fidelity) sat on the throne. But these stories were published in 1925, the era when society was turned on its head by the antics of young women. They showed off their legs in short skirts, smoked like bad chimneys, drank cocktails, swore like sailers, and partied at night clubs until dawn. They were openly promiscuous and proud of it.
I figured that Roy Vickers was an elderly gentleman when he wrote these stories and was harking back to a bygone time. I was wrong. Vickers was less than forty years old when he published these stories. I'm at a loss to explain it.
When the police detective who's been made a fool of by the cunning Fidelity calls her the most brilliant criminal in the world, he's not exaggerating. Her campaigns to get her hands on the money, lands, and jewels of the wicked (for their own good, you know) are as meticulously planned as D-Day and come off with fewer screw-ups. No man can believe that this innocent young girl is plotting against him, much less that she'll out-wit him every time.
All in the name of punishing the wicked and rewarding the virtuous. If there's always a nice profit for Fidelity and her crew in the deal, that's merely a triviality. She's motivated by morality and the desire to right wrongs, NOT the love of riches.
If you can imagine Miss Dove back in the gaslight era, riding around in a horse-drawn carriage, and being treated like a delicate porcelain figurine, you'll enjoy these stories more. No one can match Fidelity's brilliance and executive skills. And the men of her generation can't believe such brilliance and ability are contained in such an attractive package. Until their pockets have been picked and then it's too late.
The Victorian sentimentality is syrupy, but there's hard humor behind it. I'm glad these stories have been resurrected. There's not a spark of realism in the entire book, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Miss Fidelity Dove is a Victorian miss if I ever met one. Her ethereal beauty (corn gold hair, violet eyes) owes everything to nature and nothing to beautification products. If she wears cosmetics, they're so muted no one knows. Her dress is modest, always Quaker grey, with touches of white. Her manners are timid and lady-like. She spouts sentimental, high-flown moralisms like a fountain spouts water.
Her outlook is somber and womanly. Innocent girls must be protected from lecherous men. Greed must be defeated and the greedy shown the error of their ways. Everything she does is with a view toward upholding the morals she cherishes. She's also a crook, but nobody's perfect.
She's a criminal mastermind heading a gang of respectable, professional men who would never have stepped out of line except that they're madly in love with the beautiful Fidelity. They worship at the feet of this divine goddess of All That is Pure. And worshipping her is all they get to do, too. Impossible to imagine a man finding his way into Fidelity's chaste bedroom. Utterly impossible.
Vicker's stories about her fit beautifully into the days when Queen Victoria (also an upholder of purity, but not as decorative as Fidelity) sat on the throne. But these stories were published in 1925, the era when society was turned on its head by the antics of young women. They showed off their legs in short skirts, smoked like bad chimneys, drank cocktails, swore like sailers, and partied at night clubs until dawn. They were openly promiscuous and proud of it.
I figured that Roy Vickers was an elderly gentleman when he wrote these stories and was harking back to a bygone time. I was wrong. Vickers was less than forty years old when he published these stories. I'm at a loss to explain it.
When the police detective who's been made a fool of by the cunning Fidelity calls her the most brilliant criminal in the world, he's not exaggerating. Her campaigns to get her hands on the money, lands, and jewels of the wicked (for their own good, you know) are as meticulously planned as D-Day and come off with fewer screw-ups. No man can believe that this innocent young girl is plotting against him, much less that she'll out-wit him every time.
All in the name of punishing the wicked and rewarding the virtuous. If there's always a nice profit for Fidelity and her crew in the deal, that's merely a triviality. She's motivated by morality and the desire to right wrongs, NOT the love of riches.
If you can imagine Miss Dove back in the gaslight era, riding around in a horse-drawn carriage, and being treated like a delicate porcelain figurine, you'll enjoy these stories more. No one can match Fidelity's brilliance and executive skills. And the men of her generation can't believe such brilliance and ability are contained in such an attractive package. Until their pockets have been picked and then it's too late.
The Victorian sentimentality is syrupy, but there's hard humor behind it. I'm glad these stories have been resurrected. There's not a spark of realism in the entire book, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
Displaying 1 of 1 review